[Youngian]

What sort of holiday in Hull or Skegness would cost hundreds of Pounds more with a five percent tourist tax? Tells you more about what Farage pays for swanky breaks in luxury resorts.

[kreuzberger]

Tells you more about what Farage pays for swanky breaks in luxury resorts.

Sochi charges a tourist tax calculated as 1% on your accommodation, but I guess he enjoys a freebie.

[Tubby Isaacs]

What sort of holiday in Hull or Skegness would cost hundreds of Pounds more with a five percent tourist tax? Tells you more about what Farage pays for swanky breaks in luxury resorts.

Danny Kruger family with lots of (white) kids, staying for about a month. Of course, Lincolnshire might use the money to make Mablelthorpe or wherever more attractive, with more things for the kids to do, and compete on quality. Shame that's already ruled out, so I guess

Talking of Mablethorpe, as nobody else was, I wouldn't mind going there. I read GBH by Ted Lewis recently, a fantastic novel worthy of the author of Jack's Return Home (Get Carter). Fantastic noir atmosphere created. Modern Mablethorpe has lots of poverty. Farage's message to the locals is that they need to pay more council tax themselves.

[Tubby Isaacs]

JP Morgan boss meets Burnham and Healey to warn against bank tax rise
Jamie Dimon tells UK politicians before October budget that investment could be at risk, it is understood

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... k-tax-hike

Can someone tell me why banks should pay more tax than other corporations? Won't these just be passed on the public anyway. Just within the City, there are some very senior lawyers who are getting more favourable tax treatment than banks, and are kicking up a fuss about possible changes. They can pass those on to the very rich corporations who are their customers, which would make that a more progressive tax than the bank tax.

I don't get why banks are particularly to be a target, but the Guardian has decided they should. And the narrative "Useless Labour Government Bows To Lobbying", and the BTL audience will lap it up.

[Youngian]

Talking of Mablethorpe, as nobody else was, I wouldn't mind going there.

Better than Skeggy but that's not a high bar. The wilder coastline and rural villages in between these two towns are well worth visiting.

[davidjay]

Out of season a lot of seaside resorts are run down with high unemployment. A tourist tax would help that.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Another month of respectable quarterly growth in July. I’m as nervous as the next man about inflation and borrowing, but perhaps the fiscal expansion has been what’s needed to give us some impetus?

Anyway, the “useless” PM and Chancellor who did it have departed.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Only slim chance target of building 1.5m homes in England will be met, minister says
Angela Rayner says manifesto pledge is not being dropped but focus is now on building council houses

Another unforced error. Why not say raise home building to 300,000 new homes a year, or more if you thought you could get there? Having to hit the ground running before the planning reforms were even bedded in, that was virtually impossible.

[Oboogie]

Only slim chance target of building 1.5m homes in England will be met, minister says
Angela Rayner says manifesto pledge is not being dropped but focus is now on building council houses

Another unforced error. Why not say raise home building to 300,000 new homes a year, or more if you thought you could get there? Having to hit the ground running before the planning reforms were even bedded in, that was virtually impossible.

Fucking council houses again!
I've yet to hear Rayner, Burnham or anyone else explain how they're going to prevent the Tories recycling one of their most successful policies ever and flogging off all those council houses the moment they get back into power? Because they will, they'd be insane not to.
Until they have an iron-clad block on that, all Labour are doing is using taxpayers money to buy the Tories some life-long supporters.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I don't know if they mean literally council houses. They might mean housing association too, which I would think are harder for the Tories to sell. Iain Duncan Smith once talked about right to buy for housing associations, but I don't think it happened.

Advice here for the Government from shit-stirrer, George Osborne.

George Osborne calls for UK to rejoin EU customs union and boost trade
Ex-Tory chancellor says economy has ‘fallen off a cliff’ since Brexit but rejoining union could be ‘quite simple’

I tried to read around this subject a bit some time ago. "The customs union" as in what Turkey has, seems to be regarded as a bad idea. So we're talking some sort of bespoke thing, and that's not "quite simple". I think Osborne knows this.

[Oboogie]

If they mean Housing Association they should say so because using the term "council houses" just makes them look ignorant. Legally there's a world of difference between "council" (state owned) and "housing association" (privately owned), the government, especially a Tory one, is not going to be able to commandeer private property belonging to a business and sell it anymore than they can seize an owner occupier's house - that's called stealing. They'd first have to buy the Housing Association homes at market rate in order to flog them off cheap which would be enormously expensive and therefore self-defeating.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I agree, they should say what they mean. But lots of the comms seems to be pitched at people who think in terms of "council houses" because they're 70.

Be interesting to hear how close the Tories got to running on right to buy for housing associations, and why they didn't. I expect that as you say, they couldn't force private associations to sell at a price that suits Tory electioneering.

[Oboogie]

I agree, they should say what they mean. But lots of the comms seems to be pitched at people who think in terms of "council houses" because they're 70.

Be interesting to hear how close the Tories got to running on right to buy for housing associations, and why they didn't. I expect that as you say, they couldn't force private associations to sell at a price that suits Tory electioneering.

Never forget the golden rule, "everything Iain Duncan Smith says is wrong". I expect a brighter Tory tried to explain it to him and he wandered away looking confused.

[Youngian]

I tried to read around this subject a bit some time ago. "The customs union" as in what Turkey has, seems to be regarded as a bad idea.

Was some time ago before it was self evident that smaller nations needed leverage and parity against an erratic protectionist US president and a sneaky Bejing pulling strokes?
The technocratic problems would be even more tricky if a proposal coming out of Scandinavia was pursued; the EU joins the CPTPP. But from a geopolitical perspective, that's bold thinking amidst Europe's vacuum of leadership.

[Tubby Isaacs]

More advice for the government. Wide ranging view of corporate governance launched. Having graciously allowed that the existing rules might be a bit over the top, Guardian goes through it, likely barely understands it, and picks out a couple of points and comes up with "entrenching neoliberalism".

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... -ending-it

Comments open- unlike on a much more informative article on how big the government's ambitions are on decarbonising the grid, which made the government sound good- BTL engagement, job done. And they wonder why lots of people think politicians are all the same and bad.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I tried to read around this subject a bit some time ago. "The customs union" as in what Turkey has, seems to be regarded as a bad idea.

Was some time ago before it was self evident that smaller nations needed leverage and parity against an erratic protectionist US president and a sneaky Bejing pulling strokes?
The technocratic problems would be even more tricky if a proposal coming out of Scandinavia was pursued; the EU joins the CPTPP. But from a geopolitical perspective, that's bold thinking amidst Europe's vacuum of leadership.

Fair point, yeah, it was before Trump 2. But you can informally align with the EU, Canada etc, can't you? I'd be surprised if formal "Turkey" were better than that.