[Tubby Isaacs]

It's not gone down well BTL.

In fairness, the IFS do say that private pensions tax relief should be reformed.

https://ifs.org.uk/taxlab/taxlab-key-qu ... s-taxation

But there seem to be some errors in this article.

[Youngian]

Who is this twat? Whoever he is, he can fuck right off.

Private pensions are a publicly subsidised gift to the wealthy

His maths look sound, the richer you are the more tax you can avoid by funneling spare cash into a private pension funds. There are arguments as to why this isn't a bad idea.

[Watchman]

What about those of us on defined benefits schemes, we are PAYE, and automatically get 20% taken off

[Boiler]

What about those of us on defined benefits schemes, we are PAYE, and automatically get 20% taken off

Correct. Bloke's a twat.

A mate of mine has two defined benefits pensions from previous employment. Add in the state pension and hey presto - he's now in the 40% tax bracket. Explain to me how that's a "gift".

[Boiler]

Is this for real?

Harry Potter fans force relocation of £430m undersea cable to avoid Dobby’s ‘grave’

We're really not a serious country any more, are we? (See also, the Clacton by-election)

[Youngian]

Is this for real?

Harry Potter fans force relocation of £430m undersea cable to avoid Dobby’s ‘grave’

We're really not a serious country any more, are we? (See also, the Clacton by-election)

Did the PM use his executive powers to intervene? At least Andy will have Benji's back if he wanders back onto Salisbury Plain (Yes PM episode).

[Abernathy]

Yes, I was somewhat bemused by this too. Presumably, it wasn’t too much trouble to avoid the non-existent grave of a fictitious being.

[Andy McDandy]

Apparently it generates a lot of tourist coin.

It's a fucking kid's book.

[Boiler]

See also The Jacobite steam services operated over Glenfinnan viaduct, which also apparently generates a lot of dosh for the economies along the line (and also generates a lot of twats dressed as Rubeus Hagrid, according to a mate of mine who used to holiday at Glenfinnan and Fort William).

[soulboy]

See also The Jacobite steam services operated over Glenfinnan viaduct, which also apparently generates a lot of dosh for the economies along the line (and also generates a lot of twats dressed as Rubeus Hagrid, according to a mate of mine who used to holiday at Glenfinnan and Fort William).

Now if they could just invest some of that dosh in central door locking...

Heritage railways operators got away with operating without central door locking due to a "temporary" exemption that rattled on for over 20 years. When the ORR decided enough was enough, West Coast Railways, who operate the Jacobite service, took it to judicial review, lost, and still appear to be dragging their heels. They have now committed to install the safety system, but I've not seen the timeline for the works to be completed.

[Boiler]

See also The Jacobite steam services operated over Glenfinnan viaduct, which also apparently generates a lot of dosh for the economies along the line (and also generates a lot of twats dressed as Rubeus Hagrid, according to a mate of mine who used to holiday at Glenfinnan and Fort William).

Now if they could just invest some of that dosh in central door locking...

Heritage railways operators got away with operating without central door locking due to a "temporary" exemption that rattled on for over 20 years. When the ORR decided enough was enough, West Coast Railways, who operate the Jacobite service, took it to judicial review, lost, and still appear to be dragging their heels. They have now committed to install the safety system, but I've not seen the timeline for the works to be completed.

I'm sure it'll get stretched out for ages, not least because of the labyrinthine number of businesses West Coast operates through.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The Guardian have made a lot of Pedro Sanchez being liberal on immigration, in contrast to Bad Starmer. The Spanish Government isn't sounding particularly liberal towards the people who entered Ceuta from Morocco. And of course, they can't be.

Which brings me to this article.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... n-for-left

What's the actual policy preference here? That anybody who wants to go to Europe from Africa and Asia should be able to do so? Liew talks about the debate getting much worse in the last decade, and indeed it has, but did anybody much ever support that position?

[The Weeping Angel]

The Guardian have made a lot of Pedro Sanchez being liberal on immigration, in contrast to Bad Starmer. The Spanish Government isn't sounding particularly liberal towards the people who entered Ceuta from Morocco. And of course, they can't be.

Which brings me to this article.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... n-for-left

What's the actual policy preference here? That anybody who wants to go to Europe from Africa and Asia should be able to do so? Liew talks about the debate getting much worse in the last decade, and indeed it has, but did anybody much ever support that position?

No, it never had any support to begin with, and no country or countries are going to agree to such an arrangement.

[The Weeping Angel]

This is really bad from the Good Law Project

https://goodlawproject.org/the-guardian ... son-arday/

There are also questions for her to answer about the decision to place Lanre Bakare at the heart of its news coverage. That having been said, as I said above, “I think he wrestled conscientiously in the piece with the points we discussed. And after the piece I wrote to him saying ‘I think that’s pretty fair, in all the circumstances… (Just in case you care.)’”

I imagine Mr Bakare is devastated by Professor Arday’s death. How does he now feel about the role he was given in circumstances where, as I have said, Kath Viner knew of Mr Bakare’s history with Professor Arday?

There may be legal consequences for the Guardian. But there must be editorial consequences.

Why were Black and Brown journalists at the Guardian asked to do so the heavy lifting? Isn’t it the responsibility, too, indeed especially, of white people to help clear up a mess that white people have made?

Why doesn't Jolyon go the whole hog and just call them Uncle Toms?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Yeah, dreadful. No surprise from one of the chief "Wes Streeting murderer!" types.

Lanre Bakare's approach was to hold Arday to account while also bringing out the wider context of the culture war, which he probably knows more about than any other journalist at the paper. It's not like they went hunting high and low for a black guy and roped in guy from the finance team or sports pages. I understand that Bakare actually rebutted some allegations in his investigation.

Old Joly would of course have been fine with a white journalist doing the story. He'd not have called that racist.