Danny
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Post by Danny on Nov 14, 2024 13:33:46 GMT
Theres nothing special about a family farm. My mother grew up on a farm, and others in her wider family had farms. When I was young we would fly over and stay, and I would get introduced to farming life. Even aged eight they had me milking cows (not very well), making honey, driving the tractor though my feet couldn’t reach the pedals. Me and my cousin would huff and puff dragging the milk churn on the trolley up the rather steep hill to the dairy. Everyone knew each other and traded with each other… it’s not just a job but a way of life that you build up over the years. And you can indeed do unique things - the honey might be quite unique and you can make things from what you farm to unique recipes. People take their cars to France to get wine from particular vineyards. Particular cheeses etc. Even aspects that aren’t as unique might be things you wish to preserve and do your bit to promote, like organic farming. Sure, farming has its own microcosm lifestyle, but its still the case farmers are essentially interchangeable. There was even a reality TV show recently where the prize was the tenancy of a farm, to the lucky winner from several contestants competing to be chosen to take it on. Are you arguing that as a nation we should preserve a hillbilly lifestyle, that we should specifically be giving tax breaks for this because its good to see some people living such an old fashioned lifestyle? Its not at all certain the children will want to continue such a lifestyle anyway: in fact it seems more likely than not that a farmer will not have exactly one child wanting to take on the farm, but will have zero, or more than one so the tax bill is irrelevant and the estate has to be split anyway, or one child who doesnt want it.
Now I have lived that lifestyle somewhat myself and come from a just about unbroken mutliple generation line of agricultural workers or farmers (one side anyway), but its really not for everyone. Nonetheless I rather think theres more people wanting to take it on than opportunities, not least because of the massive cost of a farm, so no shortage of new people to take one on. The issue should never be about difficulties passing it onwithn one family even where there is just one person wanting to take it on. It should be about why land is so expensive when the return is so low, whats causing that price hike, and is it because it has become an investment, not least part of that tax breaks on inheritance and other farm related tax avoidance schemes? But I return to be original theme. Under current law there is no reason a farmer needs to pay one penny in death duties to pass on a farm to his children on his retirment at standard retirement age. Its utterly extraordinary that so much has been made about closing a tax loophole which shoul never affect anyone passing on a family farm to their family anyway. What it might affect is tax dodgers.
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Nov 14, 2024 13:35:25 GMT
I don't think bringing down house prices down should be a policy as such, it should be a bonus that may happen if more social housing is built (and needs to be built). Fair enough, you are entitled to your views. But why? Do you not recognise how much harm has been done to society and especially the poorer half of society by allowing house prices to just keep climbing? |
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Nov 14, 2024 13:43:14 GMT
And even if we accept the idea of improving productivity overall.. I am pretty staggered anyone would even question this as a hugely desireable goal. How you make it happen, thats a problem, but surely there must be universal agreement its the golden goose? I mentioned I have only to walk round the town to see why hospitality is in crisis. There are far too many outlets. Just making up some numbers, one restaurant 5 staff, ten customers a night immediate bankruptcy, 50 customers break even, 100 customers merriment and profits all round. It is helping none of the businesses that there are twice as many of them as there are customers to make them profitable. A 2% tax rise is pretty gradual. trump is proposing 10-60%. We have had a policy of providing cheap labour. As a result companies have responded by creating industries whih use cheap labour. To change that you need to get rid of the cheap labour, and then they will consider whether maybe buying a machine would be a better idea. We have masses of demand for labour in the care sector without creating makework jobs in hospitality. |
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Nov 14, 2024 13:47:09 GMT
Interesting comment by a tame expert interviewed just now on R4 about the import tariffs trump is likely to place on Chinese (and other) goods. He suggested that because China needs to maintain its export markets, their reaction to import tariffs might be to lower the cost of the goods to compensate for the additional tax and so maintain their competitiveness in foreign markets. in other words, it might simply create a revenue stream for the US government at the expense of the Chinese government. What, so China throws away Billions and looks weak? The implication would seem to be China is making a massive markup on everything its selling abroad, so can afford to absorb tax rises to stay competitive to locally produced goods. China has already destroyed many local production activities, so its very hard to say to what extent theay are now enjoying their monopoly and just ripping us off. |
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Nov 14, 2024 13:53:59 GMT
Council rents are too low to be sustainable. Indeed the service charges that primarily cover maintenance costs onmy privately owned flat are more than the rent on a similarly-sized council flat. No. post ww2 we built cheap housing through policiees which ensured land was purchased at agricultural rather than developed prices, and then the estates were run on a not for profit basis. They still turned a profit though, but they also acted to keep down private rental sector rents, because you could always get a cheap house from the council. There is absolutely nothing preventing a government building cheap housing, except they seem to prefer policies which help private land owners and landlords to maximise their profits. |
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Nov 14, 2024 13:55:22 GMT
steve has gone very quiet about the final results in the House of Representatives, after clinging on to the faint hope that the Democrats could still win. CBS, the BBC's USA partner, has called the 218th seat for the Republicans, meaning that they now have control of all branches of the US Government. Don't be surprised if they try impeaching Biden and Harris (and probably Mike Pence as well). Trump's desire for revenge will know no bounds. Is it 2/3rds they need of each house to impeach? It would not amaze me if we saw the republican congress impeach Trump, should he get too out of control. |
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graham
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Post by graham on Nov 14, 2024 13:59:16 GMT
It looks as if the Pennsylvania Senate race is heading for an automatic recount with the current margin at 0.4%.
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Post by guymonde on Nov 14, 2024 14:05:51 GMT
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Post by turk on Nov 14, 2024 14:33:31 GMT
Danny
I’m sure you just talk nonsense to get a reaction especially about farming which I’m guessing from what you say ,your knowledge of is gained from the internet or watching some show on TV. And your knowledge of how food is produced is restricted to going to Tesco’s to buy the end result.
As to people coming into farming with no history of farming well that is very few although exact figures are hard to find but there use to be about 102,000 farm holdings in the U.K. the vast majority family owned or rented, the average age of a U.K. farmer is 59 so not exactly flowing with young farmers and farming is in the main part reliant on passing the farm on to there next of kin. Incidentally a lot of the small holdings less than two hundred acres are rented from larger land owners many of these could be forced to close if the larger land owner goes out of farming due to inheritance tax.
As to anybody could be a farmer nonsense your be hard put to find the right sort of person to farm, very long hours ,absolutely no guarantee of a income a couple of bad years weather could put pay to that. A mountain of regulation, high cost of fertilisers, learning what will grow, changing crops as fashion changes from the consumer and being constantly ripped off by the Commodities markets or the Supermarkets . It’s not just a job it’s a love of working the land looking after your animals feeling some pride in producing food for your country.
For those coming in to farming a farming apprenticeship takes 1-4 yrs to complete aged 16-24 yrs including handling livestock general farming crop rotation, a machinery use, use of chemicals and fertilisers . The governments own figures state it takes 5-10 years to establish a business for a new comer into farming. There is also a University route into farming which takes either 3 or 4yrs or more if doing it part time.
So no it’s not easy farming it is a special calling with not much financial reward but a lot of personal satisfaction for those few who make a success of it.
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Post by pete on Nov 14, 2024 14:41:01 GMT
and yet I know of working people who struggle to pay their council rent. Of course, but that is primarily because there are many people living on poverty wages. I recently observed that the 'national living wage' is no such thing. But bear in mind that people on benefits (round here) will receive rent allowances which are far in excess of council rent. The government will pay £229 pw to a private landlord, compared with council rents of £127 pw and market rent of about £390 pw. It is all quite crazy. Do people get rent allowances more than their actual rent? Never heard of that before. As an example, I had to do a claim for UC for my neighbour during lockdown and they only paid him his exact rent plus £74/84 or whatever it was a week (can't remember now). |
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Post by leftieliberal on Nov 14, 2024 14:53:10 GMT
steve has gone very quiet about the final results in the House of Representatives, after clinging on to the faint hope that the Democrats could still win. CBS, the BBC's USA partner, has called the 218th seat for the Republicans, meaning that they now have control of all branches of the US Government. Don't be surprised if they try impeaching Biden and Harris (and probably Mike Pence as well). Trump's desire for revenge will know no bounds. Is it 2/3rds they need of each house to impeach? Just a simple majority in the House to impeach, but I believe a 2/3 majority in the Senate to convict. It doesn't stop the Republicans doing it just to cause trouble, but I don't think any impeachment is likely to be successful. In the history of the USA there have been five impeachments of a President, ex-President or Vice-President, none of which succeeded. Trump has two of these. The one that might have succeeded is Nixon in 1974, but he resigned before the House voted on his impeachment. |
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steve
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Post by steve on Nov 14, 2024 14:53:56 GMT
leftieliberalsteve has gone very quiet about the final results in the House of Representatives, after clinging on to the faint hope that the Democrats could still win. I didn't see much to add the big top is fully erected and the circus of horrors is back in town.
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Post by lululemonmustdobetter on Nov 14, 2024 15:00:49 GMT
steve has gone very quiet about the final results in the House of Representatives, after clinging on to the faint hope that the Democrats could still win. CBS, the BBC's USA partner, has called the 218th seat for the Republicans, meaning that they now have control of all branches of the US Government. Don't be surprised if they try impeaching Biden and Harris (and probably Mike Pence as well). Trump's desire for revenge will know no bounds. The Supreme Court's ruling that Presidents have immunity for virtually everything applies to Biden as well, so ironically he is pretty safe even after 20 January. And Pence is not in office so can't be impeached. I suspect that the focus will be much more on policies to further enrich big business and billionaires by shedding already weak environmental and employment protections and generally wrecking government.
Trump will use the DOJ to go after his political opponents/critics. I really don't think he will do/be able to anything much domestically beyond this - and if the R's lose control of Congress he really wont be able to get anything done in the last 2 years when he will be a lame duck president. As is the case with other leaders of his ilk, its what comes after him. How much is he a one off or the model for future US presidents. While their system will pretty much survive the first, doubt it would the second. |
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steve
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Post by steve on Nov 14, 2024 15:00:49 GMT
leftieliberalAssuming all congressmen in the republican party would vote to impeach , they're totally spineless but two did vote to impeach the rapist and probably won't and in the Senate while the only republican senator with an ounce of credibility Mitt Romney is retiring in January there's at least two or three others who wouldn't and they'd need 5 democrats any way so dead on arrival. That doesn't of course mean the clowns won't do their cult leaders bidding and waste yet more time on his malicious infantile vendettas.
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steve
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Post by steve on Nov 14, 2024 15:24:50 GMT
The must have game for Christmas parties. Spot the rapist.  |
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Post by guymonde on Nov 14, 2024 16:04:28 GMT
Of course, but that is primarily because there are many people living on poverty wages. I recently observed that the 'national living wage' is no such thing. But bear in mind that people on benefits (round here) will receive rent allowances which are far in excess of council rent. The government will pay £229 pw to a private landlord, compared with council rents of £127 pw and market rent of about £390 pw. It is all quite crazy. Do people get rent allowances more than their actual rent? Never heard of that before. As an example, I had to do a claim for UC for my neighbour during lockdown and they only paid him his exact rent plus £74/84 or whatever it was a week (can't remember now). No. They get paid the least the Department can get away with. In most cases around here it is quite impossible for people on modest incomes to access private rent properties at £390 per week. The government will not pay that either and have a limit, which varies according to area. In most of the borough it is £229 pw which means somebody has to find an extra £160. That is a bad joke for people who are living on benefits or meagre pay so the problem falls to the council who have a duty to house people who are homeless. A lot of them end up in B&Bs or some other unsuitable multiple occupation or similar. I have heard of some people from West London being housed in Durham or more commonly in Birmingham or NW England where the pressure is less severe. Bit hard for them to look after their aged parents or for grandparents to help with baby sitting. Not an easy commute for their jobs either. There are a few places in my borough where they are assessed for a slightly higher rent which makes a few ex-council properties attainable. My council has bought a few of them, turned them into fit to live (I looked at one last year previously owned by a private landlord: we had a team of about 6 on site for several weeks, dealing with black mould which was all over the walls and ceiling and many other defects) and letting them at the 'official' maximum via a third party (to avoid giving them a home for their whole life and access to the aforementioned discounts) |
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Post by alec on Nov 14, 2024 16:17:12 GMT
domjg - "It was, as it almost always is, the right who get the 'identity' bandwagon rolling, forcing a response." Yes, but the response is a choice. If, say, Badenoch opts to wage a culture war over trans rights, Labour can just say 'respect to everyone's wishes, not up to us to interfere with personal choices, we're focusing on what really matters and Kemikaze can get lost in the weeds of a vanishingly unimportant issue if she wants'.
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Post by alec on Nov 14, 2024 16:20:34 GMT
shevii - not arguing to ignore social identity issues, but only to place them in the correct context. Make the right look foolish for their obsessions, which, after all, they only really use to sow division because they think that helps them.
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Post by turk on Nov 14, 2024 20:14:34 GMT
Alec
Isn’t Starmer the one on LBC couldn’t even define what a woman was. Instead aligning himself with those in the LGBTQ movement rather than the 50% of the U.K. who are women, seems like Starmer likes a bit of the identity bandwagon himself.j
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Post by turk on Nov 14, 2024 20:20:12 GMT
Alec
At wasn’t that old Starmer bending his knee on the Black Lives Matter before it was exposed as a bit of a scam by those running the money side of itit. Seems like a bit of identity bandwagon to me.
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Post by colin on Nov 14, 2024 20:52:47 GMT
Alec Isn’t Starmer the one on LBC couldn’t even define what a woman was. Instead aligning himself with those in the LGBTQ movement rather than the 50% of the U.K. who are women, seems like Starmer likes a bit of the identity bandwagon himself.j I'm not sure that the L bit of that movement would see Starmer's contortion as aligning with them. I know this is where angels fear to tread but I have the impression the L bit have a very clear idea of what a woman is. |
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Post by eor on Nov 14, 2024 21:02:53 GMT
So the sexual predator president elect picks sexual predator Matt Gaetz as his nomination for Attorney General .Gaetz then promptly resigns as a congressman effective immediately , two days before the house ethics committee was due to report on the allegations of his sexual impropriety including allegations of rape. As Gaetz no longer is a congressman the committee has no ability to publish the results of their investigation. The rapist old boy club definitely working well. The clown car administration filling up fast. youtu.be/-UJfAdv613E?si=QLRJjJXX1rJ6UYw7It does have the upside that Senate Republicans can now veto his appointment as AG without earning the emnity of their House colleagues for sending him back there. Four nay votes and everyone's rid of him, and Trump can't be accused of welshing on any deal they had to put him in the Cabinet. Plus I think you'll find that every Congressional committee can find plentiful ways of getting that sort of info into the public domain  |
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Post by eor on Nov 14, 2024 21:25:08 GMT
I think it's worth remembering that all conquering as he may appear at the moment, Donald Trump is not the Republican party. Many traditional republicans dislike him greatly but tolerate him because of his apparent electoral usefulness (questionable as any republican would probably have won this time) and the grass roots not being able to get enough of him (echoes of Johnson). Trump isn't really a republican (and in fact was a registered democrat not that long ago) but these elections were not won just by Trump, a party of one. In winning the Senate and House the Republican party has also won on it's own merits and the appointment of John Thune as Senate leader is an early sign of muscle flexing on it's part and the new confidence they feel in themselves. They're no longer reliant on Trump and they're already showing it. The fact that they now control everything and the contradictory and 'interesting' nature of some of Trump's appointments sets the scene for some epic republican infighting I suspect. Indeed - that plus the vacuum created by the fact he can't run again and at this stage does not have a presumptive successor for the next Republican nomination. |
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neilj
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Post by neilj on Nov 14, 2024 21:40:35 GMT
Just when you think Trump's picks couldn't get any worse...they do
Today Trump picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist who dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Trump, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services
It would be akin to picking David Icke to be the UK Health Secretary
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steve
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Post by steve on Nov 14, 2024 21:45:50 GMT
neilj Apparently trump voters have taken to social media asking why no one told them trump was a fucking lunatic. It's reminiscent of the day after national shoot yourself in the foot day when brexitanians started googling " what is the European union " Kennedy has himself been one of the biggest disseminators of disinformation on the efficacy of vaccines and other "health information. A 2019 study found that Kennedy’s organization was one of two groups funding the majority of Facebook ads spreading misinformation about vaccines."
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Post by alec on Nov 14, 2024 22:13:58 GMT
turk - "Isn’t Starmer the one on LBC couldn’t even define what a woman was. Instead aligning himself with those in the LGBTQ movement rather than the 50% of the U.K. who are women, seems like Starmer likes a bit of the identity bandwagon himself.j" Yes, I believe he was. "At wasn’t that old Starmer bending his knee on the Black Lives Matter before it was exposed as a bit of a scam by those running the money side of itit. Seems like a bit of identity bandwagon to me." Yes he did, although I'm uncertain about the 'scam' accusation. But what's the point of your posts? Do you think I'm actually Keir Starmer? Or do you believe I hold a responsibility for Labour? Or alternatively, are you just being a bit of a twat? I'll let you decide.
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Post by mercian on Nov 14, 2024 22:37:18 GMT
Of course, we do need greater rights to roam on private land. It makes no sense one person should be able to monopolise such a national natural resource. Fancy having some dickhead wearing an anorak in your back garden? Or is it only for people with a bit more land than you? Thought so. If anyone comes into my garden without permission they may well get an arrow coming into them. |
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Post by mercian on Nov 14, 2024 22:39:02 GMT
Looking at the batshit crazy appointments by Trump I predict 2 things 1. Most of them won't be in their roles in four years time, either having upset Trump or failed to deliver on the impossible 2. After Trump's Presidency there will be legal consequences for Trump and those he appointed Didn't the Supreme Court rule that anything he does as a Presidential act is automatically legal? |
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Post by alec on Nov 14, 2024 22:41:30 GMT
I noticed a discussion between c-a-r-f-r-e-w and others regarding mRNA vaccine recently which I think Carfs said had screwed up his gut flora? Not the first time I've come across this, and sadly, we are now starting to see an increasing body of evidence showing elevated risks associated with the covid jabs, alongside more evidence of reducing efficacy. The latest CDC data shows that the efficacy against hospitalisation of the 2023/24 boosters for over 65 yos waned substantially after four months, with very limited additional protection (Although v important to note that this is not the same as saying no protection; the baseline was against those who hadn't had the 23/24 booster, not those who had never been vaccinated, so there will still be protection, it's just that any additional protection afforded by boosters is reducing and becoming shorter lived). Perhaps more concerning are the slew of papers coming out, mainly from eastern researchers where there doesn't appear to be the same reticence to critique the vaccines, showing risks associated with the vaccines themselves. This one is quite odd - www.nature.com/articles/s41380-024-02627-0 It's in Nature, so there are no presumed issues with credibility or quality, and it's a large (2m) cohort study from S Korea. They looked at the 3 month period after receiving the vaccines and while they found that schizophrenia and bipolar disorders incidence was significantly reduced compared to having no vaccine, incidence of a range of other depression, anxiety, dissociative, and stress-related episodes was significantly raised. They note that these same conditions are known to be elevated by covid infection also, and postulate that the spike protein is responsible. As with a range of autoimmune conditions and gastric issues, the covid vaccines are starting to look like the kinds of vaccines which it would be better to have less frequently, as they are relatively high risk in vaccine safety terms, with these risks starting to appear as cumulative (the more shots, the more elevated the risks). It needs to said that all the evidence still suggests that the risks from the vaccines aren't as great as the risks from infection, but if the protection against infection lasts but a matter of weeks, it does start to raise significant questions about the dependence on vaccines alone when it comes to covid. The JVCI today announced their recommendation that free covid jabs are further restricted to the over 75s, so despite a welter of evidence that covid remains around 3 - 5 times more serious than covid, the UK government is offering flu jabs to the over 60s but covid to the over 75s. It's a complete mess, and I suspect comes as a result of inertia within public health agencies, none of which wish to start seriously addressing covid transmission, as to rock that boat now would be an effective admission that the adoption of a vaccine only strategy in 2022 was a mistake. Meanwhile, the Irish Health & Safety Executive have published guidance recently that says recent covid infection is a risk factor for stroke and cardiovascular disease. This has been known about within the scientific literature for several years now, but is rarely acknowledged publicly by government agencies, so it's inclusion in updated guidance from the Irish HSE is noteworthy |
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Post by norbold on Nov 14, 2024 23:24:17 GMT
So the sexual predator president elect picks sexual predator Matt Gaetz as his nomination for Attorney General .Gaetz then promptly resigns as a congressman effective immediately , two days before the house ethics committee was due to report on the allegations of his sexual impropriety including allegations of rape. As Gaetz no longer is a congressman the committee has no ability to publish the results of their investigation. The rapist old boy club definitely working well. The clown car administration filling up fast. youtu.be/-UJfAdv613E?si=QLRJjJXX1rJ6UYw7It does have the upside that Senate Republicans can now veto his appointment as AG without earning the emnity of their House colleagues for sending him back there. Four nay votes and everyone's rid of him, and Trump can't be accused of welshing on any deal they had to put him in the Cabinet. Plus I think you'll find that every Congressional committee can find plentiful ways of getting that sort of info into the public domain Or....with Marco Rubio standing down as senator for Florida and if Matt Gaetz doesn't get the AG post, he stands for the vacant Senate post, wins and the Senate Republicans get him themselves. |
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