UK Politics XIII: The Kingdom for a Horse

[Werthead]

UK courts confirm it's illegal to force people to work without paying them.

Something that everyone knew already, but that the government clearly had troubles with. The great news is that under this ruling, it means everyone who had to do one of these unpaid work courses may be entitled to a rebate. And that includes me, since in 2010 I did 12 weeks unpaid work in a shop at the government's behest. When can I expect this money then?

The court ruling means tens of thousands of unemployed people who have been sanctioned under schemes such as Work Experience and the Work Programme are entitled to a rebate. However the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said it would not be paying out money until all legal avenues had been exhausted.

That'll be about about 2032 then.

[Alex.]

Great news.

[Hereward]

What? Am I expected to do my own manual labour now? Damned communists.

[Daeric]

Just pay them a chicken Hereward, they can then barter it for lovely potato vodka.

[Lummel]

How is the economy going to ever recover if hard drinking entrepreneurs and captains of industry have to pay the serfs who work for them? Did the courts think about that?

[Lyanna Stark]

Just pay them a chicken Hereward, they can then barter it for lovely potato vodka.

But is it really chicken, or something else? And who guaranteed that the Vodka is made from potatotes? Don't want the FSA to knock on poor Hereward's door.

[Daeric]

But is it really chicken, or something else? And who guaranteed that the Vodka is made from potatotes? Don't want the FSA to knock on poor Hereward's door.

Whats worse the FSA or it being FSA morphing into agents,

[The Iceman of the North]

Bah, you know were most of them are :P (denmark or sweden)

Not really many medieval Norwegian kings in either of those countries, most of them were actually laid to rest at the cathedral of either of the three major cities that happened to be the capital at the time of the death. But I believe all (or most of) those buried in Bergen was lost when the old cathedral was pulled down to improve the city's fortifications almost 500 years ago.

But is it really chicken, or something else? And who guaranteed that the Vodka is made from potatotes? Don't want the FSA to knock on poor Hereward's door.

Nothing a little bribe wouldn't handle.

[Talleyrand]

What? Am I expected to do my own manual labour now? Damned communists.

Well it just says you can't force them, nothing about making strong suggestions you might burn down their hovels if they don't oblige.

[Hereward]

You see, this is why I keep Talleyrand, Murdoch & Moseley on retainer.

[Datepalm]

Aha! This was really all about poisoning the French!

I love the way they put it - both in the article and on BBC World which I was watching:

entered the food chain in France

[Alex.]

Ed Milliband and Labour on the warpath. Big mansion tax to pay for a 10 pence tax rate for 25m people. Actively disavowing Gordon Brown and his New Labour. Even Tim Montgomerie and that Guido Fawkes joker think it's a good idea.

Let me tell you about one crucial choice we would make, which is different from this government.

We would tax houses worth over £2 million. And we would use the money to cut taxes for working people.

We would put right a mistake made by Gordon Brown and the last Labour

government.

We would use the money raised by a mansion tax to reintroduce a lower 10 pence starting rate of tax, with the size of the band depending on the amount raised.

This would benefit 25 million basic rate taxpayers.

Moving Labour on from the past and putting Labour where it should always have been, on the side of working people.

Good stuff.

Edit: Clarity in the original and to add in Ed Balls' Evening Standard article...

[Lyanna Stark]

Aha! This was really all about poisoning the French!

I love the way they put it - both in the article and on BBC World which I was watching:

Before that, it was just dead horse, but in France it suddenly entered the food chain!!!

Apparently they also found pork in Waitrose's beef meatballs now, and from I understand supermarkets in Sweden and Germany are now withdrawing Lasagne and other ready meals from shelves.

[Zoë Sumra]

Two and a half years ago: "It's complete nonsense to suggest that large numbers of people will need to leave London due to changes in housing benefit."

This week: Camden becomes the latest council to begin the process of moving large numbers of people out of London, following (IIRC) Westminster, Brent, Croydon and Haringey.

[Maltaran]

So Labour have nominated a candidate for Eastleigh who once said he was disappointed that Thatcher wasn't killed by the IRA in the Brighton bombing. Well, they were never going to win that seat anyway.

[Darth Visenya]

So how is this 'Mansion Tax' going to work exactly?, will it be an increase on Stamp Duty, or will it be a yearly tax that will cause some people who have owned their house for decades and have happened to have it increase in value to be forced to sell as they can't afford Ed Balls spite tax?.

Here's hoping his evident love of high cholesterol food catches up with him before 2015, I can't think of a worse Chancellor.

[RWHamel]

It's all good, because it's organic.

[mormont]

So how is this 'Mansion Tax' going to work exactly?, will it be an increase on Stamp Duty, or will it be a yearly tax that will cause some people who have owned their house for decades and have happened to have it increase in value to be forced to sell as they can't afford Ed Balls spite tax?.

It's a little like the Tories' housing benefit changes, where people who have lived in their family home for decades and happen to have seen surrounding homes increase in value (at no benefit to them) will be forced to move. Or the Tories' bedroom tax, where people who have lived in their home for decades and happen to have their children grow up will also be forced to move.

Except it's not like them, because Labour's plan will actually tax accumulated wealth, a thing that governments do tend to do: whereas the Tories' policies are a tax on being poor and really are motivated by spite.

ps if you think nobody has had to sell their home because of coalition policies, you need to think again. Also, if you think that taxing wealth is unfair when that wealth is a windfall rather than being earned, you really have some odd ideas about fairness. And finally, I really think that wishing death on someone because you don't agree with (or possibly, in this case, understand) one of their economic policy proposals is a little over the top.

[Darth Visenya]

It's a little like the Tories' housing benefit changes, where people who have lived in their family home for decades and happen to have seen surrounding homes increase in value (at no benefit to them) will be forced to move. Or the Tories' bedroom tax, where people who have lived in their home for decades and happen to have their children grow up will also be forced to move.

Except it's not like them, because Labour's plan will actually tax accumulated wealth, a thing that governments do tend to do: whereas the Tories' policies are a tax on being poor and really are motivated by spite.

ps if you think nobody has had to sell their home because of coalition policies, you need to think again. Also, if you think that taxing wealth is unfair when that wealth is a windfall rather than being earned, you really have some odd ideas about fairness. And finally, I really think that wishing death on someone because you don't agree with (or possibly, in this case, understand) one of their economic policy proposals is a little over the top.

I don't think much of the Coalition Government either and the Tories have made some frankly idiotic decisions in the past too, and hoping Ed Balls keels over isn't merely the result of his economic policies it's because of what an odious,arrogant,irritating excuse for a person he is, also see:Piers Morgan, yes he is that bad, although maybe seeing him lose his seat and thrown on the political scrapheap would be better still.

Also to add, I don't care who wins the next election, it never makes any difference as their all as bad as each other.

[mormont]

I don't think much of the Coalition Government either and the Tories have made some frankly idiotic decisions in the past too, and hoping Ed Balls keels over isn't merely the result of his economic policies it's because of what an odious,arrogant,irritating excuse for a person he is, also see:Piers Morgan, yes he is that bad, although maybe seeing him lose his seat and thrown on the political scrapheap would be better still.

Also to add, I don't care who wins the next election, it never makes any difference as their all as bad as each other.

On the contrary. It makes an enormous difference. The policies we're discussing are clearly very significant to people's lives, and obviously each would not have been enacted by the other party. If you don't think it makes a difference, why comment on a politics thread? Clearly you don't think they're all as bad as each other, because you're attacking a Labour policy as 'spite', so presumably you'll vote for someone else who doesn't back that policy, right?

The UK politics threads are fun and we don't take it too seriously, but at the same time, it's obvious that politics matters and policies make a difference.

Speaking of which, IDS: does he engage his brain before speaking?

Commenting further on the case, Mr Duncan Smith said: "I understand she said she wasn't paid. She was paid jobseeker's allowance, by the taxpayer, to do this.

"I'm sorry, but there is a group of people out there who think they're too good for this kind of stuff.

"Let me remind you that [former Tesco chief executive] Terry Leahy started his life stacking shelves.

"The next time somebody goes in - those smart people who say there's something wrong with this - they go into their supermarket, ask themselves this simple question, when they can't find the food they want on the shelves, who is more important - them, the geologist, or the person who stacked the shelves?"

Really? Shelf-stackers are more important than geologists? Well that must be why they get paid more, right?

I mean, IDS is a firm believer in market forces, and market forces would dictate that if shelf-stacking was a vital activity and geology was not, pay for the former should be higher. Of course, there are much better arguments than that as to why geology tends to be more important than stacking shelves, but this is the logic of his party's own beliefs. If shelf-stacking is so vital, why doesn't his party make sure it pays a bit better?

Has IDS ever stacked a shelf in his life? I admit, I haven't, but I flipped a few burgers after I graduated, and I met a few kids that honestly thought they were too good to do the same. (Not all of them graduates, by any means.) Cait Reilly doesn't strike me as one of them. She's never said she was too good to stack shelves, she just wasn't prepared to be forced off her voluntary work to stack shelves for free.