The 2024 UK General Election

[EnterName]

On 11/04/2024 at 20:48, J.R. said:

 

I read it as the owner decided unilaterally that all the old duffers and old dears would have voted Conservative anyway so he took the easy way out and did it for them probably because it would have taken far too long getting each of them to understand the question.

That is the charitable interpretation, but I doubt it is in reality correct.

[BTandSid]

On 09/04/2024 at 11:29, lol-lol said:

 

As somebody who has had a K500 code, ie taxation starts at minus £5k, higher rate started at about £7k I know you pain.

 

Few can fathom why the Con party decided to wack pensioners.  The clue is in Hunt's making work pay comments ad he appears to want people of all ages, over 18 it seems, even those late sixties and above to work and earn and pay income tax.

 

Only way round I have found is to put masses into pension and the quarter thar is lump sum is the bit that avoids the tax, and national insurance hits.

 

I retired three years ago tomorrow and was fortunate enough to have been able to have received a lump sum part of which I used to pay off the remaining mortgage, so that immediately saved me £850pm. My service pension, state pension and a couple of small annuities attract tax which I can’t avoid but my net monthly income now exceeds my pre-retirement situation. So from that point of view I suppose I’m fortunate; being able to get shot of the mortgage each month was the deciding factor on my retiring when I did

Edited 18 April by BTandSid

[lol-lol]

44 minutes ago, BTandSid said:

I retired three years ago tomorrow and was fortunate enough to have been able to have received a lump sum part of which I used to pay off the remaining mortgage, so that immediately saved me £850pm. My service pension, state pension and a couple of small annuities attract tax which I can’t avoid but my net monthly income now exceeds my pre-retirement situation. So from that point of view I suppose I’m fortunate; being able to get shot of the mortgage each month was the deciding factor on my retiring when I did

 

This is the question and to some the answer as well ie how much does one need to live comfortably in retirement and with lump sum and annuity income, or drawdown, at what point does working became basically uneconomic ?

 

It is still just over 4 years until I get my state pension, about £11.5k at the moment I gather, but recent report reckoned 20k is needed for subsistence living, 30k for a few niceties and £50k for comfortable living but that was for 2 people though I do not think it is far off for one person actually.

 

A tax free lump sum can be kept in high interest accounts so it does not erode thankfully due to the current relatively high interest rates.

 

Think I will take about half my current pension pot, which is no 4 pot to me, first was civil service, second pwc and third a tiny one I just get a small sum annually. Only the civil service one will keep up, our better inflation, other two private ones are tragic and will soon look very sad.

 

Without a crystal ball it is a crap shoot. I still have £50k on a mortgage and with the markets now saying interest rates are going to stay higher for longer it is a worry about what interest rate I will be offered for its remaining years.

 

Salary sacrifice in to pension remains one of the best tax avoidance and I look to use it to near the max to avoid 40% income tax and the national insurance tax too. Still paying lots of tax with the allowances frozen but at least the Con government has not only preserved but extended the annual amount one can put in to pension tax free and therefore only pay the lower rate of tax upon removal and no NI !

 

Edited 18 April by lol-lol

[BTandSid]

@lol-lol it would have been a different situation for us had I not been able to have got rid of that monthly mortgage repayment 

[lol-lol]

3 hours ago, BTandSid said:

@lol-lol it would have been a different situation for us had I not been able to have got rid of that monthly mortgage repayment 

 

I have largely kept mine as it was at 1.5% and now is at about 3% so it is clearly much better to continue to put tens of thousands in my pension pot rather than pay off the mortgage as avoiding the 42% tax and NI is significantly better than the mortgage at a low interest rate.  This is despite the UK Gilts and stock market being quite flat.

 

Despite inflation falling another couple of tenths of a percent it has been huge over the last few years and means, I think, that I have revised upwards the amount I need as a lump sum and monthly payment. Tax office is going to be very busy with all the new tax payers and those paying tax in higher bands.

 

[@Lee]

Hopefully Ben Habib, an immigrant from Pakistan who is high up in the Reform Ltd. political outfit has hammered in another nail in that group's coffin.
He's openly said he'd let migrants drown to their deaths in the Channel. Even Julia Hartly-Brewer was aghast at that level of anti migrant hatred.
What a disgusting little man he is and what an insight into the mind of the most extreme wing f Reform Ltd.
 

 

 

[@Lee]

John McDonnall (ex Lab MP) was saying on Peston that there's been rumblings of a June or July election inside Westminster.

The sooner the better IMHO.

Makes me wonder if the Tories are expecting a hammering in the May Council and Mayoral elections. 

 

Polling guru Prof. Sir John Curtice still betting on a November GE.

Updated to reflect John McDonnell is a current MP

Edited 25 April by @Lee

[Ootohere]

@Lee   John McDonnell MP  if it was him is the Ex Shadow Chancellor but very much a MP. 

So just another one guessing and if his lips move you know it is likely because he is  blowing smoke up Jeremy Corbyn MP,s back end. 

He is also not an Ex MP. 

They stay on the gravy train until kicked off. 

[Ootohere]

The SNP / Scottish Green party coalition is over in Scotland.

Now the SNP are a minority government.

 

Tara to the Green Snouters and Ministerial Cars for their Co-leaders.  Not very Green Transport being used by them and entourage.

'Get on yer bikes.'

[EnterName]

22 hours ago, @Lee said:

Hopefully Ben Habib, an immigrant from Pakistan who is high up in the Reform Ltd. political outfit has hammered in another nail in that group's coffin.
He's openly said he'd let migrants drown to their deaths in the Channel. Even Julia Hartly-Brewer was aghast at that level of anti migrant hatred.
What a disgusting little man he is and what an insight into the mind of the most extreme wing f Reform Ltd.
 

 

 

Selective editing is very difficult to defend against when people actually say things, instead of implying and inferring things. Habib was making a valid point, which selective editing has carefully omitted.

The MO is this: People enter the Channel in an attempt to illegally enter the country. As they enter British waters, they scupper the dinghy safe in the knowledge their self-imposed "plight" will be quickly reported to one of the the UK Channel taxi services, RNLI, Coastguard etc. and they will be taken safely across to the UK where they can tie the UK immigration services up in human rights red tape for the next decade, all at the taxpayer's expense.

It's a scam, but it's a clever scam, because failing to fall for the scam allows full-time shriekers to shriek in dismay and disgust at any people publicly admitting to not be taken in by the scam, as Habib did here.

 

Imagine someone insuring their car and then setting fire to it deliberately, videoing themselves doing it and laughing about all the lovely money they're going to get from the stupid insurance company.

They go to the insurers and demand 100% of the insured value of their car.

The insurer refuses to pay out.

Cue performative shrieking from the shrieking community about insurance company "hatred" and the shrieker's disgust at the "far-right" insurance company, who have left a poor man hugely out of pocket and with no car.

"Let's be clear: Something must be done about these extremist insurance companies!!!!!"

 

I'm surprised these old lefty tricks still work on people, but like those 419 advance fee scams, there are still some people daft enough to fall for them.

Edited 25 April by EnterName
gramatical error corrected

[Ootohere]

^^^ While this might be an actuality so is the Millions and Millions that the UK are giving to France to enable this very thing.

To Albania to supposedly have them discourage their citizens from doing it after they are back from being paid to leave the UK.

[@Lee]

@Rooted thanks, George.

[EnterName]

1 hour ago, Ootohere said:

^^^ While this might be an actuality so is the Millions and Millions that the UK are giving to France to enable this very thing.

To Albania to supposedly have them discourage their citizens from doing it after they are back from being paid to leave the UK.

Yes, It's quite a perverse set-up. I want to assume it's just incompetence, but other countries have shown that the problem can very easily be resolved if you have the will to do so.

So I am inclined to believe the failure is malicious, rather than due to incompetence.

[J.R.]

7 hours ago, EnterName said:

Selective editing is very difficult to defend against when people actually say things, instead of implying and inferring things. Habib was making a valid point, which selective editing has carefully omitted.

 

I dont think that small part of the exchange was selectively editted, he simply was talked over and not allowed to explain why he believes they should suffer the consequences of their actions, perhaps he did so afterwards if so then it was selective editting, I doubt though that he could get a further word in.

[@Lee]

He doesn't come out looking any better in a longer clip I found. A disgusting specimen. 

Worth remembering that small boat crossings have increased massively since Brexit. UK no longer has the right to return migrants to e.g. France either because of Brexit (no longer a Dublin agreement out of the EU). Oops 🤫 

 

 

 

Edited 25 April by @Lee

[J.R.]

How could anyone on this forum forget anything to do with the B word when we have you to constantly remind us?

 

Or indeed many things nothing to do with the B word.

[@Lee]

Just posting a couple of facts relevant to the aforementioned, John nothing more. 

It's no good people burying their heads in the sand or even sticking their fingers in their ears IMO. 

[@Lee]

The level of knowledge of those we (some of us) trust to govern us couldn't be lower. That's not just an opinion. It's a matter of fact. Wasn't it Truss who confused the Black Sea with the Red Sea when she had a crack? 

 

 

 

 

Edited 26 April by @Lee

[EnterName]

11 hours ago, @Lee said:

He doesn't come out looking any better in a longer clip I found. A disgusting specimen. 

Worth remembering that small boat crossings have increased massively since Brexit. UK no longer has the right to return migrants to e.g. France either because of Brexit (no longer a Dublin agreement out of the EU). Oops 🤫 

 

 

 

 

BREXIT BINGO! Winner, winner, chicken dinner! 😄

 

Here's the full interview with transcript, people can see exactly what he said, in full, rather than your hyperbolic account of him.

I assume it's just the very notion that someone might not give in to emotional blackmail, but if you are able to, could you point out what Habib said, in context, that has got your knickers in such an performative twist?

God forbid we shouldn't give in to people threatening harm to themselves or others if we don't do what they want(!)

I expect if someone approached you on the street and demanded "Give me your wallet or I'll hurt myself!!!", you wouldn't hand over YOUR wallet, you'd insist a passing stranger hand over THEIR wallet and call them a "disgusting specimen" if they objected.

 

Incidentally, don't take my posting defending Habib as in any way support of the shamefully supine Reform UK party, who, led by the feeble Richard Tice, are getting played spectacularly well by Hope not Soap.

I have no time for those losers. But when someone makes a point I agree with, whoever they are, I'm happy to back them up.

[EnterName]

13 hours ago, J.R. said:

 

I dont think that small part of the exchange was selectively editted, he simply was talked over and not allowed to explain why he believes they should suffer the consequences of their actions, perhaps he did so afterwards if so then it was selective editting, I doubt though that he could get a further word in.

I've included a link to the full interview and transcript in my earlier post, @J.R..

I very much doubt we'll see a coherent description of what the actual objection to what Habib said is, but if any reply is given, it will be more hyperbole about how it's our responsibility to prevent any harm coming to anyone, anywhere, at any cost*.

(*IF they are expected to be politically aligned with the Shrieking Communityᵀᴹ.)

Whatever, it's quite amusing to see Lee and JHB shrieking in harmony. It's music to my ears! 🎵

[J.R.]

14 hours ago, @Lee said:

Just posting a couple of facts relevant to the aforementioned, John nothing more. 

It's no good people burying their heads in the sand or even sticking their fingers in their ears IMO. 

 

Relevant facts would be the number of asylum seekers returned to France before the Dublin agreement ended in 2021 preventing it happening which lack several zeros compared to the numbers arriving.

 

2015 - 510 returns

 

2016 - 362 returns

 

2017 - 314 returns

 

2019 - 209 returns of which 51 to France.

 

The modus operundi of the people smugglers evolved in response to tightened security at the Channel ports, it proved to be a much more successful and profitable strategy for them, they and their customers care not how few were returned, what is important to their business model is how many get over there, small boats is working very very well for them.

[lol-lol]

Con MP defects to Labour.

Suffolk MP, Dr Paulter,a NHS Doctor, defects, crosses the floor !!!!!

Edited 27 April by lol-lol

[@Lee]

I'm surprised it took him so long to figure out how far the tory party has shifted tbh. 

[lol-lol]

5 hours ago, @Lee said:

I'm surprised it took him so long to figure out how far the tory party has shifted tbh. 

 

As the Con party lost so many, if nit all, of the areas it was supposed to be good at ie economy etc, there is no reason to support the Cons, the NHS and public service in general ie education and benefits, taxation etc, I am amazed even the dozens that have stayed are standing. 

 

News outlets not doing much reporting as just how interest rates for mortgages not falling but actually rising and the misery of a few million having to pay thousands a year more on their mortgages or give up their home. Shall we watching Trevor Phiiips and Laura K in a few hours time. The defecting Doctor was not even a moderate but mid spectrum.  With the Leigh Anderson types the Con party is looking like the Titanic, like the SNP also.

 

[Ootohere]

'Lee Anderson'.

 

They as in the Defecting Doctor constituency workers are saying how he was the missing man.  Maybe he would have been better being a full time doctor rather than a MP.

Other MP's do seem to have time to be a MP and hold down other jobs, but then they do seem to be 'Highly paid' and not many hours actually worked jobs.

 

As to the SNP.  I actually think they must be nearly bankrupt and need to get out of power in Scotland and then see what the opposition parties are going to actually do rather than what they are saying they will do.

There is nobody to turn around the SNP from within the ranks.

As for Ash Regan MSP who was elected as a SNP member before defecting to Alba.  She would be out at the next Holyrood election anyway.

 

The opposition leaders of the Scottish Conservative & Unionists, Scottish Labour Party, Scottish Liberal Party and the Scottish Greens (co-leaders) are all pretty hopeless.