Off Topic Off-Topic Thread (Anything Non-Football Related)

Endless corruption, financial misdealing and other dodgy stuff is revealed. LOOK AT PUTIN!
Don't look at the stuff concerning anyone from these shores, though. That's not interesting.
PUTIN'S MATE! DODGY STUFF! HE'S BENT! LOOK OVER THERE!

I really hate our media.

 

Icelandic Prime Minister interview's ****ing funny, though:

I don't think that I could look that guilty if I actually got caught in the middle of doing something. It's almost impressive.

 

Not really surprised that they are running a story that is rubbishing Putin. Not that I'm a big fan of his or that he's a particularly nice gent, but we all know why they've brought this story up about Putin. This is the way propagandist media works, if any government or individuals is seen as a threat, they will go out their way to make him out to be bad (which he is as well like the rest eg. Trump, Blair etc).

As you've pointed out, they aren't interested in the dodgy fckers on own shores, and I'm sure there are plenty, but occupying the minds of the populous of beastly foreigners, is more beneficial.

 

Should probably run a couple of stories about Murdoch, then...

Putin being as corrupt as hell isn't even a story.
I'd love to see the Russian media reaction to it, but it'll end up with a new pile of journalistic corpses.
Putin's dodgy, the Pope ****s in the woods and bears are Catholic. Woo.
David Cameron's dad also did the thing that we all knew that he did. So what?

Is it too much to ask that these people go after the living and relevant? Apparently it is.

 

It does say it all, and shows how little of a democracy we live in when all of the biggest media channels are all owned by the same people and all of them all work together to promote the same status quo in charge.

Instead of attacking Cameron for his hypocrisy on the handling of tax affairs - quite a shocking scandal for a serving prime minister who is on record as wanting to be hard on tax evasion. They are instead unanimously talking about Putin, the Iceland Prime Minister (first story on Iceland I've seen in years get any large coverage) and other famous figures involved in tax evasion.

This will also bury the story of Cameron's huge calamity in selling out the British steel industry to the Chinese (in return for them increasing the tariff on British steel), and putting at least 40,000 people out of work.

 

From what I've read the Russian mainstream media haven't even mentioned it, with one opposition media channel running a story on it...prepare for dead journalists.

The Chinese have basically ignored the high ranking Chinese officials who are listed.

Seems every country just ignores those at the top of there own country doing the dirty in favour of slagging off the rest of the world.

 

The 40,000 figure is slightly misleading. Tata steel only employs 15,000 in the UK with the remaining 25k+ jobs being estimated amongst the supply chain and other business effected by unemployment, with the supply chain jobs including jobs outside of the U.K.

They still expect to get a deal done for Tata to be bought out so although there probably will be job losses of some sort and possible closures of certain parts of the business as part of restructuring to deal with the huge losses the business makes it is still likely a deal will be done to keep the business open and a large number of jobs safe, today there were stories about talks with Greybull Capital, yesterday Liberty House were touted as potential front runners. So as it stands there are still multiple interested parties.

Just because the government aren't nationalising the steel works doesn't mean all the jobs will be lost. There's also several factors as to why British steel is in such a poor state, many of which are nothing to do with the government.

On top of that certain state aid is illegal under EU rules and so how we are able to act is limited by being in the EU.

 

EU referendum: Row over government spending £9m on leaflets to every home

What do you guys think, is this right to do? It is a lot of money and it really depends on what it says in the leaflet. If it provides neutral facts, then i don't mind. But if it's pro EU propaganda, then it's bang out of order. The general public should be able to make an informed choice without being influenced.

 

As you say if (and it's a big IF) the information was factual and neutral, which is what the government should have been producing and encouraging from the start, then I doubt many would have a problem with it being paid for by the tax payer. But even though I'm firmly in the Remain camp, surely an flyer which is biased, should have come out of either the Conservative party budget or the amalgamated Remain group's budget. It seems underhand to me.

But at the same time this issue does seem to be misdirection from the wider issue of large portions of the 'ruling class' including the Prime Minster, main Tory donors, some of the Royal Family and major politicians being involved in tax avoidance schemes at a time when the Prime Minister is responsible for setting out a new scheme to stop tax avoidance, and after a budget which disproportionately benefited large corporations and the rich, and allowed them to pay less tax!

 

While certain governmental funding is against EU State Aid, what I was talking about wasn't even state aid. It was just using British steel in our infrastructure projects instead of lower quality Chinese steel. Thus protecting our jobs (and creating some more), strengthening/protecting a part of our industry while not strengthening a foreign power. We would have less people on the dole and a knock on effect of a stronger supply chain of businesses in Britain as well.

Some of the plants have been making profits or breaking even in recent times. So it's not like it's a hugely unprofitable business. And while we may sell parts of it, towns like Port Talbot that rely hugely on the Steel Works and the work it brings (and the money it brings into the town so people can spend in other businesses), will suffer the same effects as the South Wales and parts of North England in the 80s - where it took 20 years and billions of European funding (Objective One funding) for the areas to recover.

I have to say that I am not as optimistic as you that a buyer is going to be found that will either a) keep open the majority of plants or b) manage to keep the plants open for longer than the short term. In my opinion large scale steel making, like coal, is finished in this country.

 

@paragraph 1 - I'm pretty sure the Tories have now said that government projects that require steel will now use British steel to help protect the industry.

@paragraph 2 - the business overall loses a million pounds a day in the UK so it is hugely unprofitable. It will require some form of restructuring and looking into what is feasible to keep and what needs to close. A combination of government subsidy, tariffs on Chinese steel, restructuring and new business direction would probably be the best way forward. Re objective one funding, if we pull out of the EU there will be plenty of money our own government could use to plug the gap whether people think they will or not, the money (in fact far more money) will be there to be spent.

@paragraph 3 - currently looking at the interested parties and the kind of offerings from the government such as large loans to help fund the purchase I'm quite confident a reasonable deal will be struck but we shall have to wait and see.

 

If it isn't impartial and just a list of neutral facts then it's a complete disgrace tbh. This is one of the most important decisions the people of this country have been given to make and it should be an informed decision with as many facts as possible and not based on fear mongeing or which side can afford the most propaganda. This is why UKIP had said at the last election it was important that any referendum was done on fair terms with strict rules on campaigning and funding.

 

It's quite funny that people are up in arms about Cameron's dad now when the story already broke in 2012! Surely we already knew this was going on? I'd also suggest it isn't just Tory donors and politicians but those from across the political spectrum. It's the rich and powerful protecting their own interests regardless of political persuasion. I don't know why we needed a leak from one of these offshore companies to realise this was going on throughout the upper echelons of society. Although it does of course draw attention to individuals rather than us just knowing this stuff goes on.

Personally though I think the EU issue is a much bigger one (currently) than rich people avoiding tax. Tax avoidance is a long standing issue that we can continue to try and deal with, whilst the EU referendum is a one off vote with huge implications one way or the other for the future of our nation economically, socially and democratically. Of course tax avoidance shouldn't be ignored though!

 

Totally agree. In the civil service they are restricted during purdah not to say anything that will have any political bias. This same thing should be applied to the EU referendum.

 

Petition to stop pro-EU leaflets gets 100,000 backers

A petition against a £9m government campaign to promote EU membership will be considered for debate in Parliament, after getting over 100,000 signatures.

The e-petition was set up after news broke that leaflets would be sent out to 27 million UK homes from next week.

One MP told the BBC some Tory MPs may abstain from a Budget vote in protest at the taxpayer-funded leaflets.

The PM said the government was "not neutral" and backed remaining in the EU and it was right to explain why.

The petition, launched by the Get Britain Out group on the government's e-Petitions site, entitled "Stop Cameron spending British taxpayers' money on pro-EU referendum leaflets" had more than 130,000 signatures on Friday morning.

The government's response states that the EU Referendum Act 2015 "commits the government to provide information to the public on EU membership ahead of the vote, and that is what we will do".

'Act of arrogance'
MPs will debate the Finance Bill, which enacts the Budget, on Monday, and some MPs are considering organising a mass abstention.

Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin said he was not one of them but said the way Mr Cameron was conducting the referendum campaign was "causing a lot of offence in the Conservative Party".

He told the BBC: "It is an extraordinary act of arrogance using taxpayers' money to propagandise the government's view of the referendum."

 

It's nice to see that the MPs are kicking off about some leaflets and not massive amounts of tax-dodging by their colleagues and those that fund them.
Bunch of utter arseholes.

 

It's amusing because I know quite a lot of Tory supporters that pretty much toe the party line on everything. They keep saying things like "Cameron didn't technically break any laws" and "The way he's been treated is atrocious".

Well, no, the way he has treated the public has been atrocious. Just because he may not have 'technically' broken any laws, surely that is the problem in itself? Does that not suggest that there need to be a serious re-think about legislation in the UK? In a time where we've had austerity imposed on normal people, yet there have been tax breaks for the rich and where corporation tax has been revised down (yet again), and we keep hearing our great Prime Minister talk about how we need to clamp down on tax havens and tax evasion, yet the frikking bloke had shares in his father's offshore company that, not only didn't pay tax, but that he directly profited from.

Just when you think it couldn't get worse, he deliberately intervened to stop the EU from cracking down on tax evasion for offshore trusts.

And yet he's trying to tell us that he or his father "weren't trying to avoid tax."

I don't think he's fooling anyone. Except his fellow Tory supporters who don't believe that what he did was that bad.

 

Didn't break the laws... that he's in charge of?
He was aware of tax loopholes and didn't attempt to close them. Why would that be, then?

Not as bad as Osbourne promoting them on TV though, I guess:

Should be sacked because of his eyebrows, if nothing else.

 

Went to see Noel Gallagher on Friday in Cologne. Fantastic 90 min.

 

Sort of football related as it concerns footballer Ched Evans. He's had his conviction for rape quashed at the Court of Appeal in London, but will face a new trial. I wonder what the evidence was they produced.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-36099522

The ex-Wales international was jailed in 2012 for raping a 19-year-old at Premier Inn near Rhyl, Denbighshire.

The former Sheffield United, Manchester City and Norwich player was released from jail in October 2014 after serving half of his five-year term.
Mr Evans, 27, has always denied raping the woman.

His case was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates possible miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, after new evidence emerged.

Lady Justice Hallett, announcing the court's decision, said the judges heard "fresh evidence" during the appeal hearing on 22 and 23 March.

She said: "In summary, we have concluded that we must allow the appeal and that it is in the interests of justice to order a retrial."
The court quashed Mr Evans's conviction and declared: "The appellant will be retried on the allegation of rape."
He has not been signed by a new club since his release from prison.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.