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malvolio
malvolio
More fingers than teeth
Last Activity: Today, 15:01
Joined: 6 July 2005
Location: Walking in the garden, dreaming of Olivia...
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  • malvolio
    replied to Water Company Nationalisation
    Perhaps if they use their profits to improve the infrastructure before paying out large divis to the shareholders, they would not be in such a mess in the first place. Thatcher's original (if somewhat optimistic!) idea was to privatise to incentivise competition and hence performance, not enrich private...
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  • Exactly what I've done for the last 28 years.......
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  • malvolio
    replied to "Retire" early...?
    I was. I'm now rehearsing a small but important role Sister Act. All go, innit!...
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  • malvolio
    replied to "Retire" early...?
    Our options are somewhat limited by SWMBO's rheumatoid arthritis ruling out a lot of activity based options. Even visiting places in the motorhome has its limitations (although we still do it, usually on a day on day off basis so she can recover!).

    But among other hobbies and pursuits SWMBO...
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  • Got to say that a payroll services provider that doesn't understand pension payments is not a company to be dealing with. Perhaps escalate your question to someone in the company who actually knows what they're talking about rather than the office junior on the phone line.
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  • malvolio
    replied to GDP per head falling
    Not really sure I agree. Job-related pensions and non-state pensions are coming from invested funds, not capital, so that argument doesn't stand up. State pensions are paid for out of taxation, but that is not a huge cost in terms of overall GDP. There has also been an increase in inward investment...
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  • malvolio
    replied to Facebook is down
    To be fair, the Mail Online is a different beast to the Mail online newspaper, with a different demographic and its own editorial team. If you have to read the Mail, the latter is the one to aim for.....
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  • malvolio
    replied to Spring budget - what tax to cut?
    [QUOTE=Smartie;n4286020]

    The IFS disagree with you: https://ifs.org.uk/articles/health-s...ing-top-likely /[quote]
    ...compared to this year. If you hink any plans for this year and next will lsurvive the election, then you haven't been paying attention.

    They have enough...
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  • malvolio
    replied to Spring budget - what tax to cut?
    Again, untrue. The figures as a percentage of GDP are compared to 2020/21, when there were significant extra funds ploughed in. Generally the actual budget has grown in real terms for quite a while. Obviously recent high inflation will have had an impact - but only a short term one....
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  • malvolio
    replied to Spring budget - what tax to cut?
    Tl;DR

    Obvious, but they are looking at the wrong question. Perhaps if they examined the proportion of taxes paid to the exchequer by the various groupings, you might get a more realistic response...

    Personally, as someone who won't be affected by a cut in NIs, the level of...
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  • malvolio
    replied to Spring budget - what tax to cut?
    Absolutely. The NHS being underfunded is a total myth, they have around 10% of GDP. What they can't do is spend it properly, mainly caused by long running support contracts via PFI, pension commitments and utterly stupid compartmentalisation of areas like procurement (localised competitive tendering...
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  • malvolio
    replied to Spring budget - what tax to cut?
    I used to be around that level for the Telegraph, routinely completing it inside a 15 minute tea break. Haven't tried it for a while.

    My par for the Times was to complete it between Swindon and Didcot on the 125 to London - so around 15 minutes. These days I have most of the early morning...
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  • malvolio
    replied to Spring budget - what tax to cut?
    Or perhaps I'm being economical with the truth in the pursuit of winding up the gullible?

    As regards crosswords, the Guardian one is defiantly obtuse on occasion - I don't mind difficult, but there are limits. I prefer the Times daily, which takes a satisfying 20-30 minutes on average....
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  • It's not precisely answering your question, but this article might throw a little light on the overall factors...
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  • malvolio
    replied to Spring budget - what tax to cut?
    Starmer is nowhere near as good as Blair. For all the latter's faults at least he had a clear idea of his path forward (or backward, depending on your point of view!)....
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  • malvolio
    replied to Spring budget - what tax to cut?
    And how is that relevant? I have a Guardian one as well, just for the comedy value (actually no, it's for the crossword).

    When will it get into your thick head that people are not defined by the papers they read, apart from those who are scared of having their own opinion so have to rely...
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  • malvolio
    replied to Private care for father-in-law
    I agree that an IFA or a Wealth Manager are the people to ask for how to sort the finances. Also, have a word with Social Services - some care costs can be claimable but the application process terrifies most people (and certainly all likely OAP candidates) so an insider view is valuable.
    ...
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  • malvolio
    replied to Spring budget - what tax to cut?
    NICs is a non-starter. What government will increase the baseline tax level by 20% or so, which is what that would imply? "Mail readers" is a lazy trope, incidentally, it's not like "Guardian readers" are a bastion of common sense and reality. Any radical change in taxation would...
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  • malvolio
    replied to State of the Market
    An HMG role perhaps, the rate is about right for a Grade EO office worker of around £28k pa. Not the first time a civil servant has calculated a contractor rate by dividing a grade salary....
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  • malvolio
    replied to No whites!
    No no no. "Safe" is not about safety in any shape or form, it is about not having your ignorant prejudices challenged by an alternative and possibly much better informed viewpoint, so allowing you to meander along in your cosy little bubble untroubled by harsh reality. It's how u universities...
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