Off Topic Political Debate

I have no first hand knowledge Aberdeen because I live in Engelskirchen, which is 40km. to the east of Cologne. Like almost everyone I know I spent New Years Eve locally so I can't comment too much on this. It seems like a very large group of people (described as being either North African or of Arabic appearance) had gathered around the area of the Cathedral and that there had been some disturbances and scuffles between different groups - others appear to have thrown fireworks at passers by.
What followed later is harder to believe (except that I do believe it) there are about 60 allegations of sexual harassment, verging on assault, in, and around, the central station - all after midnight, and mostly involving large groups of people. The Cologne police claim they had never expected anything of this scale and were chronically overstretched (they were 'overstretched' for the Pegida demonstrations here, 'overstretched' when Cologne and Düsseldorf fans recently fought a pitched battle in the City centre, when will their excuses end ?).
German railway stations are not like British ones - at night we have people wandering around with beer cans everywhere (there are no ticket control machines) the police presence is nothing compared to in the UK - and it all seems rather anarchistic even on a normal evening. Sometimes I think that the Germans have a fear of appearing too much like a police state (because of their past) and are too lax as a result. I find it hard to believe that only 5 arrests have been made, and so the identities of these offenders is either not known (or is being hushed up for fear of reprisals). They were not from the City's large Turkish population, and the largest population of Arab looking migrants are the Moroccan population in Düsseldorf. So it seems probable that we are talking about refugees - there are many refugee homes situated around Cologne (we have 400 in Engelskirchen) and so it is probable that the central station area is a collecting point for them, from all directions. It is a very unhealthy situation - we have large groups of men all living together and with nothing to do, and all undergoing some sort of cultural disorientation. All coming from a culture where unaccompanied women are considered as being either 'fair game' or as whores. The main danger now is that all refugees will be tarred with the same brush and that there will be reprisals of some sort. There is still something strange about this Aberdeen and I guess the truth will come out soon - even a group of 1,000 strong must have been in a minority at that place and at that time, and so questions must be asked not only about the police, but also about the civil courage of many others who must have been present.

 

Seems that Comrade Corbyn is extracting his revenge, but is a little afraid of sacking Hilary Benn - I suspect it will just be a matter of time though.
PMQ's should be interesting today - I wonder what "Sally from Solihull" is going to ask?

 

cynic

 

Jeremy Corbyn's communications director, Seamus Milne is an "absolute disgrace" for his behaviour over the last few weeks. Not my words but those of Labour's Ian Austin. He said the reshuffle had been a "shambles from start to finish" blaming the team around Mr Corbyn. Three junior ministers have now resigned amid rumours of nasty behaviour from Corbyn's supporters which are everywhere. Those who paid their £3 to have a vote are beginning to see a return on their investment.

 

Oh the joy of politics! or should I say ...politicians? !

 

Nice one boys, just caught up through the whole of December and there are many interesting points about happiness, Utopia, politicians, tax avoidance, cash payers etc.

I probably sit on Leonardos side of the fence than i do with Yorkshire and Cologne. With respect to the Happiness thing and not really working in jobs you love, i can see what Leo is saying in that the job is so good that the remuneration aspect part is the bonus part, not the means. However in this instance i think i'm more with Cologne in that when the cost of being a nurse means that you cannot literally afford to live, then that becomes an issue. I guess it could be argued the alternative is to move away from (Londo where its most unaffordable) to a different part of the region which its cheaper and to consume less (branded food, branded products etc).

With respect to taxation, the only real saving a small business/consultant really has when paying dividends over PAYE is the personal NI you pay. You need to remember that alongside the dividend tax you pay, the small company has to pay the corporation tax on top of the initial turnover they charge out to the companies. Companies themselves pay this consultant premium, whether its for the consultants expertise, you don't have to pay them if they are sick/on holiday/benefits and most importantly its easy to hire and fire resources. There is no red tape, no law suits, no discrimination and if you're projects get scrapped then you don't have to pay for resources sitting around.

I'm in favour or rental controls. One thing that's happening in London is there are lots of investments into properties whereby they are literally risk free as long as you can pay the deposit or unless you have unscrupulous tenants who squat. Properties are just being snapped up as an investment and as there is a lack of living space, the rental is covering off mortgages and more. This in turn is causing a supply and demand effect on the cost of buying a property, pricing out many people and judging by who owns properties (rich, middle class and especially people in government), its not in the interest in them to cause a downturn. The real solution is to build more affordable home but realistically this is a long term project and we shouldn't just be relying on a single solution.

I do agree that the nation state is too bloated, to much red tape. How many consultations do we need to go through to build new infrastructure or build a new rail line. Planning is good, but not where planning is for planning sake just to pay for consultants who charge an expensive buck.

I don't think humans will ever evolve where we are all altruistic and want to help each other out. The only time i think that will happen is when there is a threat to our species (like the earth dying and we need to travel to space) and i can't ever see a world that cologne is dreaming of.

 

The present government is waging war on private landlords with increased stamp duty on purchase, cut to mortgage interest tax relief and CGT on any sale. Any changes will only disadvantage landlords further.

Maybe someone can spot Cologne's dream world whilst travelling in space!!

 

That is a good point. I guess this hasn't taken effect yet until later on this year? I hadn't thought about that.

 

I think private landlords have the least reason to complain of any class of people in the UK at present. Property prices may have stalled for a few years in the recession but with their bounce back they are already better than they were in 2008. High rents, often paid by the government in benefit support have made anyone rich who has been able to invest in property. The whole rental market in the UK is a disgrace. Do not shed tears for stamp duty payments - they only occur as landlords "churn" their properties. Why on Earth anyone thinks private landlords deserve mortgage interest relief is beyond comprehension and oh dear when they sell at a profit they may have to pay tax. It is the same as employers who profit by the government subsidising their ability to pay low wages by the stupid in-work benefits scheme so much loved by Brown.

No wonder the UK is unable to emulate the non-property owning home market system common in a lot of Europe is not surprising.

 

Due to the recent relatively poor return on pensions, notably annuity rates, many people, who were not rich, turned to buy to let to provide a decent return on their savings to help subsidise their state pension.

The effect of raising stamp duty in recent years has led to a reduction in flexibility and mobility, there must be less damaging ways to collect revenue.

Setting maximum limits of household benefits, especially in London, will drive down some of the exorbitant rents being charged.

 

The distortion of the housing market is not a justified alternative to the poor return on savings in recent years. Many people are now frozen out of the housing market while many rich people from abroad use particularly the London market for a killing. This then helps fuel the overpricing of houses everywhere else.

 

Nice one Leo!

 

The majority of buy to let landlords are probably working people with just one buy to let property. I'm sure they would totally disagree with you.

The effect of the government's recently announced actions will target the 'professional' landlords rather than people topping up their pensions.

 

I suspect you are correct and maybe a majority of buy to let landlords are as you describe. However that is no reason for them to have tax breaks that help ruin the housing market is it? By definition those "working people" are better off than "working people" who cannot afford to buy a home to live in. If you are giving away other people's money which is what taxes are then there are better and more deserving cases for tax breaks than people with second homes.
If as you suggest the main target is "professional" landlords then so much the better not to give them tax breaks.
Sorry I cannot see anyway to justify tax breaks for distorting the housing market

 

It was not a tax break but a legitimate cost of financing the debt on the purchase of the property set against the income, quite normal business practice. I do agree the growth in buy to let was unhealthy, investment should be better channeled into job creation. Maybe Osbourne has planned to replace the idea of using a buy to let property as pension vehicle with the new pension plan to force employees and employers to invest more.

Landlords with larger portfolios are expected to convert them into limited companies to shield themselves from some of the tax. I would expect the government to also close this loophole. They already disallow property companies from enjoying the advantageous CGT tax rates for company disposals under the entrepreneurs relief scheme.

The government should be doing everything to encourage long term investment in time and finance on proper businesses hopefully ones that are involved in manufacture. I much prefer the indexation of CGT to discourage short term profit taking, something we used have.

 

A two bedroom unfurnished flat on the north eastern outskirts of Paris might cost you around €900 per month, but the same sized one in the centre of the city will set you back €8,000 per month. In this instance the address is what distorts the market and the people who are prepared to pay to have a posh address on their letter head.

 

The French Republican leader recently reaffirmed his opposition to the Schengen Agreement and declared it is "dead". He said "Schengen must be immediately suspended and be replaced by a Schengen 11 of which member countries can only be a part if they previously agree to the same immigration policy." He also warned of dire consequences of Europe taking a naive policy in favouring refugees.

This seems pretty strong stuff. Is he targeting the large minority of supporters voting for the FN.?

 

He is targeting anyone who is interested in what he might say, and judging by the latest polls not many are. He is hoping to be nominated later this year to run for President, but that is far from certain. Unemployment is still the major concern for people followed by the economy. Politicians will say what they think people want to hear and so far he hasn't had much to say on these issues. The FN have their own problems to sort out over financial irregularities which are going through the courts. What the politicians in Paris think is not having any great impact on the general population, and the Schengen Agreement is taken for granted. It might need to be amended when it is shown to have faults, but the basic idea is well thought of.

 

The housing market is crazy IMO.

My mum has a house in Lincs no one wants to buy.... so the only thing she can do is rent it... and there are people queuing up to rent in these places.

Meanwhile in London the housing market has been forced up by foreign investors, who we apparently encourage to 'invest' in this country.

Meanwhile social housing is being sold off in London, not being replaced, and worst of all housing benefits reduced so that ordinary families fulfilling lower paid jobs can no no longer afford to live there. There jobs are being taken up by immigrants.

Meanwhile in Lincs the only people who want to work on the fields are people from central Europe.

Sections of the press really like to whip it up.... and basically it is all a result of policies from Govt. which seems to enjoy a market forces approach to our economy with little or no concern for the people involved.

 

Thats the saddest thing about the housing situation. The government seem to doing the upmost to support house price rises over the past 8 years. Whether thats to do with stabilising the economy or other factors.

Low interest rates
Help to buy
Immigration
Foreign investors
Moving to a tiered stamp duty