thetrees

They get to play England now. It would not surprise me at all if they beat them again.

Kinda South Africa meets South Africa?

But then we appear to have lost nearly all our South Africans......

I really wanna know

Just driving by Antigua airport on the way back from a meeting and Michael Ashcroft's $50m private jet went straight over my head.

At that moment I thought immediately of Drat and my other favourite VT lefties.

VT certainly affects me in strange ways

Helenius isn't good enough. I trust Lambert's judgement.

Is that not an oxymoron?

After all, it was Lambert who signed him less than 12 months ago.

Part of the budget yesterday contained proposals that HMRC will be able to force people to pay disputed amounts of tax up front, then get it back if they eventually win their case years down the track (ie, the oppoiste situation to now)...... The idea that the government is either soft on avoidance, or is getting the Big 4 to help them draft legislation full of holes is nonsense.

Question, Mart - is that people as in "individuals" or does it mean "Companies and individuals of all standing and size"?. And how does that affect the likes of Amazons and Googles and all those Caymen island funds and so on? What measures have either this lot, or their predecessors taken to actually stop the huge levels of avoidance and evasion that we know are going on? A proposal to make people pay disputed amounts doesn't in itself sound like "that's the lid on that sort of behaviour". It sounds like "we'll catch a few builders and plumbers, who we've decided to treat as guilty unless they can prove they're innocent".

 

Sorry Pete, but that's entirely wrong.

 

There's an entire separate section yesterday about multinationals, transfer pricing and intra-group profit shifting, which if you're so minded you can go and read. The bit I'm talking about though is that there are nearly 70,000 open tax enquiry cases, and the government are going to bring in what is effectively retrospective legislation to collect the money in dispute, amounting to about £7bn.  These aren't plumbers and builders doing cash jobs, but the Jimmy Carr types who are saving tens of thousands of pounds each.  This is on top of things like GAAR, Offshore and Onshore Employment Intermediary legislation, FATCA and so on.

My company(the one that I work for) was the subject of an aggressive investigation regarding transfer pricing a few years ago. This was a result of us turning a loss making company of several years into a profit making one that actually paid corporation tax.

My business is relatively small, having grown from one person (me) to the four full time salaried workers of today.

Although we defeated HMRC on all counts, had we been required to pay the 'accused' amount upfront, while the investigation was under way, we would have just shut down the UK operation, leaving the staff paid off and me to commute to Europe.

My history with HMRC is a victory and creditable draw (moral victory) and I can vouch for the fact that they have a machine gun approach which results in them regularly running up blind alleys.

I haven't done it yet, but I blame the Greens for all of these bloody ugly turbines ruining the countryside.

And as for the ones in the North Sea, everyone loves badgers and foxes, but no one seems to gove a toss about all the terrorised and decapitated seagulls.

Environmentalists? Pah!

Suspension of flights to and from Diego Garcia for 72 hours, here.

 

US and Chinese disease experts flown to Diego Garcia, here.

 

Not sure how reliable either source is, but then you can as well say that about the mainstream media too.

 

if nothing else taking a cargo from Seychelles to Duabi to KL is a shocking waste of resources when you can fly it directly in just over 4 hours  .. I hope whoever is in charge of logistics loses his job over this

(or eaten by a shark after a trap door in the lift is sprung if it's some evil organisation at the heart of it rather than a government)

Unfortunately air cargo doesn't sit in club class, receiving an offer to plump its pillow every now and then-sorry Tony;)

If you have 500kg freight to move between point A and point B you first look for those who have the capacity, then the frequency, then the price. With probably double daily capacity to both, Emirates would win on all counts.

Catching up on long flights, i finally saw 'Rush', which I loved. Made all the more better by Niki Lauda's wife being played by the beautiful woman who played Traudl Junge in 'Downfall'

I also watched 'The Butler' which is another reminder of how a relatively short time ago such dreadful discrimination took place in the U.S., and how some people risked, and lost, their lives against vicious aggressors. A powerful lead performance

Final one was 'Dallas Buyers Club' (or something like that) where McConaughey is brilliant.

I think that I'll probably sleep on the way home.

Some of us do travel also you know :-)

Very true, I think Tony does, if I remember correctly? I'm not sure about anyone else but I'm almost certain that Tony travels a lot.

I hadn't been in this thread for a while and suddenly find I'm a celeb

Yep, you bloody tourists get celeb status, while us working travellers get nothing

Mind you, I reckon Drat enjoys it, but then he generally flies classier than I do, to better places*, and stays in better hotels

* current location is okay, but it goes bad from tomorrow onwards.

You flying to Sheffield ?

By classier I assume you mean he flys "BA"

Nice try-you know that I would never wittingly fly BA

Classier means always in business. I have an assistant with me on this one, so I flew in the back of the plane-it was tough.

Close, St.Vincent tomorrow, but made sure I am in Antigua by nightfall, so long as LIAT don't play up.

Some of us do travel also you know :-)

Very true, I think Tony does, if I remember correctly? I'm not sure about anyone else but I'm almost certain that Tony travels a lot.

I hadn't been in this thread for a while and suddenly find I'm a celeb

Yep, you bloody tourists get celeb status, while us working travellers get nothing

Mind you, I reckon Drat enjoys it, but then he generally flies classier than I do, to better places*, and stays in better hotels

* current location is okay, but it goes bad from tomorrow onwards.

Bank of England finally comes clean about how banking really works. destroys the lie that is usually peddled

 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/18/truth-money-iou-bank-of-england-austerity

IDS starting to get some of the criticism he deserves, shame it isn't being shouted as loudly as the lies and propaganda he has spouted.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/18/mps-criticise-dwp-spin-statistics-benefit-claimants

nice piece of about the real cost of austerity on the young. ( Or as the likes of IDS, cameron, gormless gorge and grant "many alias' shapps like to refer to them, "feckless workshy scroungers")

 

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/mar/17/young-people-cuts-benefits-unemployment-housing

Have you thought of starting a blog, because this thread is beginning to feel like one?

I don't read the press because they always tend to write from their editorial viewpoint.

I actually think that VT has some better left and centre right thinking commentators than any newspaper can come up with.

Parents evenings are very condescending.

Yep, I remember a master at my school sitting down with the first parents of the evening.

"He's a nice boy Roger, thick as pig shit, but a very nice boy"

All other appointments were cancelled! Said master continued a life of alcohol and possibly some drug abuse, before meeting an early demise. Unsurprisingly , he was always popular with his pupils.

I would love to work with you for a day

In fairness, after your recent elevation to stardom, Leemond openly changed the status of your relationship to his workmates on a daily basis. I suspect that by now you are virtually engaged, and the only delay on the ceremony is that you haven't found the time to meet each others' parents.

So, if you do go to work for a day with him, expect them all to stare

BTW, of all your suitors on VT, i vote Leemond, as I reckon it's a perfect match

see, I took the original comment on execution as a 'quip' not a manifesto pledge

 

Trees does struggle with that at times, I did point that out the other day actually

No struggle. It's just that I wouldn't expect someone who appears to take things so seriously, albeit one dimensionally, to joke about either racism or capital punishment.

But I am happy to stand corrected.

Just walked past a lad working in a St.Lucia supermarket wearing a Villa coat.

I congratulated him, told him that it was the best team in the World, to which he replied "so I am told"

Made my day seeing the badge anyway!

I dont think someone who feels english posts pictures of themselves proudly in an ireland top, as i said it seems like he identifies more with ireland despite being born and raised in brum which is fine.

If the boy is going to be the superstar that everyone hopes, then better that he chooses Ireland, as he will be selected far more easily than for England, owing to England's tiny selection quota for non-top 4 + Manure players. The pressure may then be on him to go to a club where he can get selected for England.

If he chooses Ireland we could have a happy Villa player, playing regular international football. Perfect!

John Terry's father 'racially abused' man in cigarette row

 

That whole family should be executed.

I wouldn't have had you down as a supporter of capital punishment.

 

Leaning more towards the left I am against racism. over on the right it's never been so much of a problem.

So, capital punishment without trial for alleged racists, your standpoint is clear.

Where do you stand on, for example, child murderers?

John Terry's father 'racially abused' man in cigarette row

 

That whole family should be executed.

I wouldn't have had you down as a supporter of capital punishment.

Lucas will probably lose her seat at the next election.

On the other hand, if she is a good constituency MP, she might not.

I wouldn't vote a Green MP in first time, but if they proved themselves in the constituency, I would likely vote to keep them.

The whole two and a half party national politics is a see-saw of getting us nowhere and nowhere again.

Be interesting to see if the failing airport can be made to turn a profit under public ownership.

Indeed it will, and if so it will be a great political success, but it is just a little bit too early to judge at this time.

On the other hand, if it fails, it was still not necessarily the wrong thing to do. Airports are an important part of local business infrastructure and as a 'capital city', it would be important for Cardiff and Wales as a whole.

From an airport business point of view, however, it is a bit too close to Bristol, which benefits from a larger population catchment area which, unfortunately, includes those in Wales that hug the M4.

Although politicians on the right declared it foolish at the time, and with much condemnation from the government in Westminster, the welsh assembly went ahead and nationalised Cardiff airport. Passenger numbers are up over 10% within the year. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-26600480

At the half council owned Birmingham Airport you can apply for subsidy to open a new route that is not already served. The idea then is to get it to profit by the time that the subsidy period is over.

So airport passenger figures are not the best example to use when promoting party political foresight.

It was a nice try, in a Rugby sense because he has scored one there.

 

It is typical right wing thinking - "Oh no, that might affect me!" me, me me.

So in your world, when politicians of all colours going into the next general election, ask people to consider the issues that affect them, then ALL of the politicians, and ALL of the electorate are right wing.

Because that's what people will be asked to vote on, particularly by Labour, the issues that affect them.

 

The difference being that Labour will be pledging to take on the issues that affect the majority unlike your Tories who are looking out for their own little elite group.

 

One of your problems is that you think far too literally on a single point.

Thank you for your youthful insight into 'my problems', which apparently are a problem because they debunk your wayward views.

Not my Tories by the way. I have never been a member of, nor affiliated to them in my entire life, and have no plans to do so.

It was a nice try, in a Rugby sense because he has scored one there.

 

It is typical right wing thinking - "Oh no, that might affect me!" me, me me.

So in your world, when politicians of all colours going into the next general election, ask people to consider the issues that affect them, then ALL of the politicians, and ALL of the electorate are right wing.

Because that's what people will be asked to vote on, particularly by Labour, the issues that affect them.

Aren't pilots usually limited to the type of plane that they can fly? - I think I am right in saying that if you typically fly a A380 for example you are not "qualified" for a B777?

 

My bro in law holds his pilots license and has various flight simulator software packages, his excuse is that it gets him used to the basics of other planes he does not typically use

Pilots are 'type rated' and their licences are endorsed as such. In order to fly a new type they will need to undergo conversion training, both live and in the simulator. All pilots undertake regular simulator training as part of keeping up their type ratings.

Need some holiday ideas for the summer.  Original plan was to go to South America but I cant get enough time off.  Me and the Mrs have 2 weeks and decent budget to go somewhere pretty special but I am struggling to come up with a good idea.  At the minute we are thinking either Cape Town or Bali

If you like food I am currently stuck in Rodney Bay, St.Lucia, for a couple of nights. Lots of very nice eateries that are not outrageously priced. Certainly somewhere that I could come to for a two week beach chill, and enough to see on the interior of the island for a couple of day's change.

I believe that Virgin offer some reasonable packages.

I enjoyed St Lucia last year. Rodney Bay is probably the best "Caribbean" beach on there IMO. You managed to get inland at all?

 

Loved some of the little villages drinking a Rum and talking to the locals about Banana's :-)

Only the drove up from Hewanorra. Chilling today then full on work Mon/Tue, with an island change on Wednesday.