NJS

It's about upbringing and attitude imo - I don't like it when people think they've been "promoted" just because they get a good job/earn a decent wage/buy a semi-detached house. I think mobility is possible in the sense that peoples kids could grow up middle class without them really noticing it but that's about it.

Those figures do show (I think) that last year aside, this years top 2 sales were "excessive" compared to other years. I'd also say they completely destroy the industry bullshit that illegal downloads are affecting sales.

The way I read it from The Guardian was that they showed the funds were available in order to enter due diligence but once that had finished, they couldn't then produce the funds - sounds like the usual shite to me.

I don't necessarily support high taxes - I just support fair ones. By that I mean no engineered evasion and no excessive inherited wealth.

I was thinking last night that the contest has probably meant that the the X factor one sold more than previous ones so from a purely financial pov, Cowell will probably be happy. Being a cynic I recognise the counter arguments about Rage and the Charts etc but I'm still happy from a childish fun angle.

Another 3 points but 90 minutes with one moment of football (Guthrie's cross) makes me despair for the future.

As I said I get the already paid argument but I just think theres a difference between "obvious" tax evasion - for example when I was a contractor taking dividends instead of salary which reduced the tax - versus taking it "seriously" as the rich and people like Wogan do. I know it sounds like I'm splitting hairs but I think its about levels. Again he already has more than enough to live on so I just feel its taking the piss for the sake of it. I'm a hypocrite I know (seriously) - I've mainly worked in two industries which from a political/intellectual pov I despise but wanting to make a decent living has always won - no offence taken. Of course I don't think what I call wanting a decent living compares with the mega-riches we're on about here - as I said its about levels. Absolutely - the top of my hate pyramid is the aristocracy (and the churches) especially as you say because of the undoubted theft in history. However I would argue that going forward it will be the descendants of people like Beckham, Cowell etc who will be the "aristocracy" of the future. I accept that money now is earned within the system/society but the kids should make their own money imo.

Looking back that was too general - I mean the rich who bend over backwards and plan their get-outs for years using the parasites in the Financial Services and Legal industries to do so.

Terminator Salvation I was sort of enjoying it but there was an nagging feeling something was wrong. Then when I checked out the IMDb entry and clicked on a link where James Cameron gave his opinion I realised what it was - there were too many nods to the first two films and not enough fresh ideas. The nods seemed initially welcome but just kept coming to the point of excess. The final scene also reminded me of the season 1 finale of Dark Angel - maybe I've got to the stage where I've seen so much cult/action/Sci-fi that its all jaded unless it's truly original. That pilot woman was fucking sexy though.

My whole point is that the tax laws are a conspiracy between the establishment, the upper classes and the rich. They are deliberately defined year after year to keep the rich sweet.

Of course there are individual stories which are exceptions and there are decent people like you who think the "right way" - My Man spent the last years of her life worrying about having her house taken off her to pay for home care (cancer got there first) to the point where she signed it over to my brother but these stories only apply to the "little people". They don't apply to people like Wogan who get paid far too much (of my fucking money which I also resent) and squirrel it away in all sorts of hidey-holes to stop the government getting at it. They have more than enough money to lead a decent life (and indulge their kids for that matter) but get so wrapped up in the status symbol of how much money they have that they go too far. I know only 6% of people pay IHT (which kills the argument of how it affects everyone) and I also know the real rich avoid it anyway (see the deal the Queen did to avoid it for her mother) but I still feel its a fair contribution to society. Of course I'd also point out that it isn't "all" of the persons estate by a long way.

It's not the dead person who pays IHT - its the person who gets the "unexpected" windfall. I accept that tax may have been paid on it (but then again not always as non-paye people have other fiddles) but its still unearned income imo for the person who gets it. As I've also said before the arguments over IHT always include too many people who seem to be eagerly anticipating their parents death (whether unspoken or not) as a convenient and modern route into much sought after wealth which I find distasteful. I have a PAYE job at a bank in the city - I don't see what's that got to do with it.

Inherited wealth is what fucks up this country more than anything else imo. I think parents should be able to do as much as they like to raise their kids and prepare them for life as best they can but the wholesale underwriting of childrens lives makes a mockery of a supposed meritocracy. I've said this before and I know it makes me sound like a miserable, family hating idealist (which I don't think I am) but I just think people should have to pay their fair share in taxes according to the laws of the land but without all of the deliberate get-out clauses only invented for those who don't actually need any help. I was reading something about an interview with Cherie Blair where she said she lies awake at night worrying whether they've got "enough" money despite being multi-millionaires. That's the kind of unashamed avarice that I despise and that's what leads to tax fiddle laws.

tbh how is that his fault? The government of the time introduced the scheme - the only thing Wogan can be blamed for is taking advantage of what he had available to him. I think you'll find that given the same situation, most of the people posting on this forum would have done the same. If your vitriol should be aimed at anyone, it should be at the government. Of course its aimed at the government - but tax fiddles are setup by the establishment by and for the rich - and I don't care who it is who "takes advantage" of such things - they're all fucking scum. And before you say he's earned his money by being such a cherished entertainer it's his kids who benefit who've done fuck all.

I used to work for a company that wrote software for Financial Advisers and I used to have a good knowledge of the IFA industry as a result. In the late 80s the Tories introduced a classic deliberate tax evasion fiddle involving inheritance tax which was for people to invest in "sustainable forests" (just to make it sound green and wholesome) which would mean that the investment could be passed on tax free. The first high profile person to take advantage of this fiddle was Wogan - I've hated the twat ever since.

Excellent. I thought the one of the mother showing the baby her dead husband in his coffin was incredibly wrong and upsetting.

4-5 inches lying in Chelmsford this morning - yesterday was my last day at work so fuck it.

Not sure it's backed up by facts but I always had an idea that one of the factors in the German and Japanese post WWII economic strength was that they didn't have to spend billions on defence.

Single - Magic Fly by Space - 1977 I think - electronic synth intrumental - not a genre I like any more but still okay for nostalgia purposes. Album - Black Sabbath - Vol 4 - off a lad at School - a great start.

Shit decision by the coppers - the Mackems might be in the Premier but our crowd will be bigger and Cardiff will be bringing 10 times as many fans as Wigan. If theres trouble on the Saturday in town because of Welsh lads staying up and not having the game it'll serve them right.

Colonial guilt that the extreme poverty that still exists is still our fault - it isn't.

Team curry/piss-up last night fortunately left before shots ensued - only human present today (just). Company do on Thursday in the office - free drink/food - I'm not going because everyone else are cunts.

This is obviously a completely "outside looking in" view but it seems to me that the US believes its own "ideals" too much - people think if you work hard enough you can become millionaires without realising that doing 2 or 3 minimum wage jobs isn't going to get you anywhere. I would suspect people that would benefit from some kind of socialism for want of a better word to try and adjust the economy are so invested in the entrepreneur myth that they reject it out of hand - they also know that if they lose their jobs they'd be fucked healthcare wise but still don't want reform as they fear help. Obviously at the other end of the scale there are people in the UK who are stupidly benefit dependent who actually could use an American style "get up and go" style kick up the arse.

That's the crux for me - I read that Darling was trying to shift the emphasis back to manufacturing etc away from finance. I would welcome that shift but the question is whether the horse has bolted - since Thatcher we've been told its Services or bust but as I said on that other thread, other countries still seem to have a better mix than us. I think Brown's mistake ( I don't really blame him for not regulating) was talking up the City as if it was the answer to everything in perpetuity. Fair enough the government did make a shit load out of them when times were "good" but I can't believe that there weren't people who knew how much quicksand it was all built on - whether of course anybody with the courage to speak up would have been listened to is another matter.

I'd echo the comments about how this was just like a lot of games this year but on this occasion we just did concede killer goals. Another thing that got me was that I remember when we got promoted under Keegan that when we did slip up on the odd occasion I remember biting like fuck at the relish that the opposing fans celebrated the result with. That phenomenon also occurred when he had a good team in the Premier and I noticed on Saturday that its back going by the reaction at Barnsley - though to be fair I think Blackpool was the same. In a way you could say its a "good" thing that people enjoy beating us - my only worry is that in the previous times we were actually good.