Gripe of the day - What is yours?

[DJ123]

Originally Posted by ethariel

Want to take bets on an attempted Media redirection form current Government issues to a juicy Spy Story instead?

of course. Deflection/distraction is what they do to stop you looking at the real issues.

The Borders Bill has tried to be buried by other things when that's come around in the news.

[redtrummy]

They will have to start a war - that's the usual way to deflect attention from sleaze and corruption and dishonesty.

[Ruffy]

Originally Posted by svenrico

Alleged Chinese spy found in parliament ...

I got confused by the press reports I scanned. All it seemed to suggest was that a Chinese woman with connections was making donations to MPs etc., presumably seeking to get information/influence in return.

So what makes that so threateningly different to the motivations of all the other party donors? Why does this one suddenly shake the foundations of our system? Isn't it just the chinese variant of the old "cash for questions" scandal? (Putting aside what the security service may not be disclosing, of course.)

[Sir Trev]

My new towbar cycle carrier arrived and when I went to fit it... towbar said no. Flip.

My car has a fixed flange standard towball and Thule carriers, I now know, need a longer stem. The website I bought the carrier from said it fits all bolt on (ie flange type) balls which is clearly wrong. Thankfully, after a bit of Googling, I've found I need to swap to an Al-ko compatible fitting and everything should fit.

I feel a snotty email to Roofbox.co.uk coming on.

[Seeker]

Write offs: How do you write off £4.3 billion with a shrug?


https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/ri...000107381.html

[SV650rules]

Originally Posted by Seeker

Write offs: How do you write off £4.3 billion with a shrug?


https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/ri...000107381.html

The Furlough payments scheme and other 'covid' schemes was always going to have fraudsters rubbing their hands, more open to fraud than even postal voting. The government writes off large sums all the time, they could not make ends meet on the average household budget. The government has no money, they only have what they extort by legal means out of the population, those eye watering sums mean nothing to them, and it is not only one party that does it, Liebore are more culpable than most for waste.

[Bibio]

more to the point.. if thats what the scammers got then how much did the whole furlough and other schemes cost the tax payer.

its all relative as the gov get 60+% back in various vat and duty especially if you drive a car or smoke or drink. add to that people are taxed at source before they even spend anything. if you happen to be a high earner then its even worse.

[Craig380]

It's almost as if there IS a magic money tree. Odd that Sunak found it so soon after May declared that there wasn't one.

[Ruffy]

Originally Posted by Seeker

Write offs: How do you write off £4.3 billion with a shrug?

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/ri...000107381.html

All too easily. Even if it is less than 0.5% of the national annual revenue, it's still a staggering sum and I agree a little more care would be appropriate.

Originally Posted by SV650rules

The government writes off large sums all the time, they could not make ends meet on the average household budget. The government has no money, they only have what they extort by legal means out of the population, those eye watering sums mean nothing to them, and it is not only one party that does it, Liebore are more culpable than most for waste.

A quick glance at Wikipedia tells me that since 1998 there've only been three years when the budgets balanced or forecast a (very small) surplus. Most years see a dramatic deficit (typically 5-10% of total expenditure), irrespective of 'colour' of government. Seems no-one is really bothered about balancing the books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget...United_Kingdom

Originally Posted by Craig380

It's almost as if there IS a magic money tree. Odd that Sunak found it so soon after May declared that there wasn't one.

Be careful of the breeze of inflation that's caused by waving the branches of that tree. It mght be turning into a gale!

[Ruffy]

Originally Posted by Bibio

... how much did the whole furlough and other schemes cost the tax payer.

I've not comprehensively researched but it seems that furlough scheme cost about £70bn gross. Allegedly about 20-25% of the total cost to date of Covid to UK Treasury.