Political Bollocks

[MCC is the place for me]

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If Boris does not grant a Section 30 order for her referendum she says she will use the next GE as a de facto referendum and if SNP win most seats (note she does not say get most votes) then that is her green light to be an independent country.

If we do get to the point of a GE/referendum then I think that the sensible thing the unionist parties can do is to ditch party politics for the GE, appoint the best candidate from the unionist parties and go head to head on that basis. Unionists consistently get more votes than SNP so it should shut her up for good. Then get the unionist MPs to resign and have a regular no-holds barred by-election with the usual suspects fighting it out.

 

[Supportive Dad]

And how would you propose to do that? Without strangling entrepreneurial innovation of course.

Do you honestly believe that only the multi-billionaires can make and produce stuff?

 

[Sumo]

Do you honestly believe that only the multi-billionaires can make and produce stuff?

Most couldn't make a cup of tea, they just employ someone who can.

 

[Dredd]

Do you honestly believe that only the multi-billionaires can make and produce stuff?

Yes. Not by themselves, but the organisations that they create and manage.

 

[Dredd]

If Boris does not grant a Section 30 order for her referendum she says she will use the next GE as a de facto referendum and if SNP win most seats (note she does not say get most votes) then that is her green light to be an independent country.

If we do get to the point of a GE/referendum then I think that the sensible thing the unionist parties can do is to ditch party politics for the GE, appoint the best candidate from the unionist parties and go head to head on that basis. Unionists consistently get more votes than SNP so it should shut her up for good. Then get the unionist MPs to resign and have a regular no-holds barred by-election with the usual suspects fighting it out.

Unfortunately, that is exactly the type of activity that can (rightly) be seen as gerrymandering, and that is unpalatable. It is the curse we have for having Party representation.

What could be done though is see where you do not usually do well and simply not put up a candidate in that constituency - after all, it is FPTP - and this makes it a binary choice. Of course, the Lib Dems would never got for that and so it would still leach off the Unionist vote, and there are those who would NEVER vote for "the other side" and probably not vote at all, so how well such a strategy would work is very much open to question.

 

[LifebuoyGhost]

I'm Welsh, been around for 67 years so have seen a variety of governments. The present trajectory of this lot fills me with dread. I would vote for an independent Wales tomorrow without hesitation.

The situation is the same for many areas outside the SE of England. Start afresh. No Ex-Etonians allowed. No multi billionaires. No offshore accounts. Try a bit of honesty for a change. Seriously, the UK is going downhill fast and Westminster will do nothing for us or Scotland.

Well they certainly wouldn’t do anything if you left - no pensions no benefits no cash - I really wonder if any nationalist - Scots or Welsh has any idea of how they are going to pay for anything when Westminster digs up the money tree

 

[LifebuoyGhost]

Central gov is borrowing it now. We are 3 trillion in debt. Why couldn't we do the same as a nation? Then maybe we could stop a lot of it going to a few individuals, which is what happens in the UK to a large extent.

But central govt can actually pay it back - at some point not in my lifetime - I doubt if whoever it is that lends these billions to countries would be in a rush to Dole it out to Wales or Scotland in the certain Knowledge theyd never see it again

 

[Supportive Dad]

Yes. Not by themselves, but the organisations that they create and manage.

You do realise there are only a few hundred of these people? How do the many thousands of other smaller businesses make a profit? Are Generals and Admirals multi-billionaires, are the CEOs of the FTSE1000 companies all multi billionaires? Hint, no they are not. These people hoard money and keep fortunes offshore. Why would you support that? What possible good does it do you and your family?

 

[Ballistic]

Erdogan emerges from the toilet but there was no hand drier so he improvised...

 

[Dredd]

You do realise there are only a few hundred of these people? How do the many thousands of other smaller businesses make a profit? Are Generals and Admirals multi-billionaires, are the CEOs of the FTSE1000 companies all multi billionaires? Hint, no they are not. These people hoard money and keep fortunes offshore. Why would you support that? What possible good does it do you and your family?

I didn't say I supported it. But I don't subscribe to the politics of envy and the sometimes simplistic view that people have of how the world works.

Does it harm me or my family that there are people who have shedloads of money (most of it notional rather than actual)? Not in any significant way. Would it help me if they were stripped of that wealth? No, not in any significant way. Do it think that it harms others? Again, no, not in any significant way.

Hence the reason I am not that bothered about it.

 

[huwshpis]

You do realise there are only a few hundred of these people? How do the many thousands of other smaller businesses make a profit? Are Generals and Admirals multi-billionaires, are the CEOs of the FTSE1000 companies all multi billionaires? Hint, no they are not. These people hoard money and keep fortunes offshore. Why would you support that? What possible good does it do you and your family?

No, they don’t. I used to work in offshore finance, and the truth of the matter is that, if you’re UK domiciled and tax resident (you spend more than 186 complete periods of 24 hours in the UK between 6 April one year and 5 April next year) you can’t use an offshore financial centre to avoid tax. If you’re a billionaire, your money is invested either directly or indirectly in hundreds, and possibly thousands, of businesses all over the world, so you have lots of different tax regimes to worry about. It makes sense to be domiciled in a low tax jurisdiction and travel frequently, while your investments are administered from 5 or 6 other low tax jurisdictions that you only visit for less than 24 hours three or four times a year.

 

[Supportive Dad]

No, they don’t. I used to work in offshore finance, and the truth of the matter is that, if you’re UK domiciled and tax resident (you spend more than 186 complete periods of 24 hours in the UK between 6 April one year and 5 April next year) you can’t use an offshore financial centre to avoid tax. If you’re a billionaire, your money is invested either directly or indirectly in hundreds, and possibly thousands, of businesses all over the world, so you have lots of different tax regimes to worry about. It makes sense to be domiciled in a low tax jurisdiction and travel frequently, while your investments are administered from 5 or 6 other low tax jurisdictions that you only visit for less than 24 hours three or four times a year.

They don't hoard money? I'll park this conversation there.