Womble

@Womble@piefed.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Here's what would happen if the UK abolished landlords overnight⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  You're missing the key word there which is "overnight". Sudden dramatic changes rarely work out well for anyone other than people speculating (or having inside knowledge) on where the cards will fall.

  Phasing out landlords over, say, 3 years would be a great idea, banning them tomorrow would not be.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The most important person in Britain you’ve never heard of⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  I think the point there is that the government of the day cant just overrule him by saying so. If it comes down to it, in an supply emergency his word goes until the government either change the law or get one of these "Order in Council" directives signed off by the king.

  It doesnt mean that much as it seems very unlikely that the monarch would refuse the PM something like that, but crises are where the unthinkable happens.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Michelle Mone demands Keir Starmer ends 'vendetta' against her in letter to PM⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Look she's been made a peer of the realm, it is unacceptable to attempt to punish her for committing crimes. What's more its discriminatory as the state would never try to prosecute old money peers!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Epstein Scandal Finally Takes Down a Politician⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Well for a start felonies arent a thing in the UK, and havent been for 60 years, but also if it is genuinely due to error and HMRC dont think its been done deliberately as tax evasion then yes you can just self report and pay the tax owed plus late fees.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How huge London far-right march lifted the lid on a toxic transatlantic soup⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Corbyn in the UK is the main counterexample I can think of, but even then that was for less than five years in opposition to the entire political and media establishment conspiring to bring him down, including the right of his own party (and in fairness, he repeatedly shot himself in the foot and handed them easy wins).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Britain trained Israeli soldiers fighting in Gaza⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Racsism is likely part of it, but the real value is in having a solid ally that can be used as a base to project power across the largest oil producing region in the world.

  How long Israel remains seen as a solid ally given their recent unhinged and mask off behaviour remains to be seen. To me it does feel like there is a sea change in opinion on them, both from everyday people and from politicos.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Epstein Scandal Finally Takes Down a Politician⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Even calling it tax evasion is a stretch, she had a complicated situation involving a trust set up for the house she had with her ex to insure her severely disabled son would be taken care of, then she claimed her new flat was her primary residence leading to a lower rate of stamp duty. She got some advice that said it was ok but was then told she should seek specialist legal advice to check that which she didnt and now has to pay back 40k.

  Its not good, and she was right to step down, especially as housing minister, but its hardly a grievous sin.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨RFK Jr. Blames violent video games for Mass Shootings.⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Generally yes, Suicide tends to be a spur of the moment decision to go through with it and having immediate access to a very easy very lethal method increases the rate significantly. There have been numerous studies that show that putting up barriers at bridges etc that are commonly jumped from dreastically reduces the suicide rate from them without raising it elsewhere e.g. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19440880/

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How to reform income tax: end the high marginal rate scandal⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Yes, if you want a social security net and dont live in the world's economic hegemon

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨How to reform income tax: end the high marginal rate scandal⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  FWIW the article does make sense, though the conclusion I'd draw wouldnt be the same as theirs but:

  Jane is earning £60k and claiming child benefit for three children. That’s worth £3,094.

  She’s now in the 42% tax band.6 Jane still pays basic rate tax for her income between £12,570 and £50,270, but now pays 42% tax for everything over that. So her total tax bill is (50270 – 12570) * 28% + (60000-50270) * 42% = £14,643 and Jane takes home £45,357.

  Jane is thinking of working a few more hours to earn another £1,000. She’s in the higher tax band – so in a sane world she’d expect another £420 of tax, and a marginal rate of 42%.

  But that is not the result. Once Jane’s income hits £60,200, the “High Income Child Benefit Charge” (introduced by George Osborne) starts to apply to claw back her child benefit – 1% for every £200 of earnings.

  The marginal rate – the tax Jane is paying on that new £1,000. This is 56.5% – and we will have the same result for all incomes between £60k and £80k.

  The solution I'd draw from that would be to raise the higher rate from 42 to 45-50% and scrap the means testing of child benefits. Makes the tax take more progressive and reduces administrative burden by not having to assess people's income for if they are eligible for child support or not.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What's your thoughts on this?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  If this university hadnt bought this meaningless advert it would have a tiny reduction in the demand for advertising potentially leading to less always lit billboards being made. So no, they dont get a pass for it.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨China is about to launch SSDs so small you insert them like a SIM card⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I think her point was that you were doing the annoying "everyone is from USA so I'll just talk like we all are" by bringing up Trumps tarrifs when they were not the topic of conversation and are irrelevant to everyone outside the USA.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AI industry horrified to face largest copyright class action ever certified⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  It wont do anythign of the sort. Even if you accept the premise that somehow artists are being exploited from learning from their previous works, all that will happen is the AI companies will shift out of America to a juristiction that doesnt value extracting rents from IP above all else.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨AI industry horrified to face largest copyright class action ever certified⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  For all those cheering on the copyright mafia going after Anthropic, consider that some of the groups supporting anthropic against this massive overreach of "we get to decide how you use our works" include:

  • Authors Alliance
  • the Electronic Frontier Foundation
  • American Library Association
  • Association of Research Libraries
  • Public Knowledge

  Maybe this is not such a great thing?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨GOG NSFW Giveaway⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Presumably the devs have to agree to it. I dont think gog cn just decide "were going to give away this game we dont own for free"

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨4.2% pay rise for police officers across England and Wales⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Eh, public services have been getting pay increases across the board to make up for the ridiculous tory freezes on wages for a decade. for example, just two monts ago there was a 4% increase for teachers and doctors in england, is that also Keir bribing teachers to get them on side?