Westminstenders: How many Dead Cats Do You Get In A Thunderstorm?

[RedToothBrush]

It never rains. It only pours.

What I wouldn't give for a bit of old fashioned drizzle right now.

4 years on and we are facing a torment of calamities. Brexit, serious political instability in the USA ahead of an election that Trump will refuse to lose even if he does, trade deals with the rest of the world put on 6 week deadlines, anger within the commonwealth, a sick weak dependent PM on the back foot and ill briefed, rampant growing corruption in the Tory party, woke nut jobs out of touch with reality, councils on the brink of bankruptcy and the whole covid-19 crisis.

Personally I think right to buy and help to buy should be abolished with a cliff edge of 1st August. And that planning application renewal should be abolished the same day. Bring the price of development land right down and let people build their own eco homes over the next few years cut the big companies out completely

As I said, all those big companies haven't paid a Boris' ransom just to be ignored. The Jenrick affair should have signalled who is wearing the trousers when it comes to housing policy.

Mistigri I couldn't put it better myself.

FT has got the data

I don't need data to know the sun will set later today.

I don't need data to know the Tories are lying shitebags of the highest order.

Streamline your life. Use cynicism and probability to know what's happening. Save your brain for your escape planning.

I am inclined to think that this is incompetence and just generally not giving a shit about providing good data to the public and local authorities, rather than deliberately hiding stuff.

But from some angles they look exactly the same.

I am inclined to think that this is incompetence and just generally not giving a shit about providing good data to the public and local authorities, rather than deliberately hiding stuff.

In a pandemic what's the difference between not giving a shit about providing good data and deliberately hiding it? Do less people die?

It's tiring being annoyed all the time. I have an in built base line annoyance of policies I don't agree with when they are being enacted competently - but completely lose my shit when everything being done is incompetent.

Well I'd like to see the data but I don't have a sub to the FT.

Honey was just about to ask for a link or C&P (where's Clav when you need her?)

The word isn't incompetence, it's negligence.

You can usually read FT articles if you google the exact article title.

Going back to that poll re dissolving the UK:

"These findings accord with the lack of importance given to preserving the Union amongst Conservative voters in polling on Brexit
and its impact on the relationship between England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.”

While support in London remained relatively low at 25%,
the north and midlands saw the number of those in favour hit 38%.

The over 65s were the age group most likely to vote for English independence with 48% in favour."

If housebuilders are holding on to land, than hammer them with a land tax....

• a hefty one rising each year to 10 / 20 / 50 % -

for all land without ongoing houses being built or sold

The word isn't incompetence, it's negligence.

... which can shade into gross negligence to the point of being criminal. Taking it a bit further away from home, I would suggest that the Trump Government has got to that stage.

Another bungle that further reduces trust in government:

The FT article is concerning because people who put in their postcode to check infections in their area only see Pillar 1, no pillar 2 tests,
so their "answer" may be only be a small fraction of the local positive tests

Pillar 1: swab testing in Public Health England (PHE) labs and NHS hospitals for those with a clinical need, also health &b care workers

Pillar 2: swab testing for the wider population, as set out in government guidance

It appears to be a chaotic lack of joined up systems, rather than deliberate

• the local authorities seem unable to get Pillar 2 either;

only central govt can do so and then only after a delay

FT paywall is resisting my Google, but New Scientist summarises their story:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2237475-covid-19-news-uk-deaths-fall-below-five-year-average/#ixzz6Qs8fL2Ov

"Official daily coronavirus case numbers for UK cities and regions, including Leicester, only reveal a fraction of the real total in those areas,
according to an analysis by the Financial Times.

Although the government publishes a UK-wide number for all confirmed covid-19 cases every day
– including from tests conducted at home or in commercial labs –
at a regional level the new daily cases only contain those recorded in hospitals.

More than 90 per cent of new coronavirus cases recorded in Leicester are now being detected through community labs and home testing kits,
and were therefore missing from the publicly released data.

Peter Soulsby, the mayor of Leicester asked why it took 11 days for health minister Matt Hancock to impose a new lockdown on Monday after saying he feared a new outbreak in the city nearly two weeks earlier.

According to the FT,
“hundreds of local authorities in the rest of the country are unable to see a timely picture of what is happening in their communities.”

and there is this test chart from Leicester Mercury:

If housebuilders are holding on to land, than hammer them with a land tax...

Never going to happen. It runs contrary to Norman law. (Once again) the countries biggest landowners haven't spent untold trillions and centuries to preserve their booty just to see it pissed away on a whim.

You'd have more chance of success taxing air first.

Another bungle that further reduces trust in government

Again, you can't lose what you never had.

Sadly negative trust in one area pops up as misplaced trust in another.

If housebuilders are holding on to land, than hammer them with a land tax....

Smells like Corbyns socialism, we'll have none of that here thank you

I am a BIG FAN of Land taxes
they are the best way to tax wealth
and land cannot be offshored

If all Land/property was taxed at 0.25% of its current market value every year
then the NHS and schools and most else could be funded
I got into a discussion with the Bank of England a few years back

LQ it's not going to happen, unless we have a political revolution like 1945. Let's hope that Johnson destroys the Tory party and then it might.

JustAnother
FWIW the Economist is very pro land taxes as they are so easy to chase down - and they are now known for their socialist principles

compare valuing a multi level set of bank statements through multiple tax havens
with taking an aerial photo of a farm

LQ it's not going to happen, unless we have a political revolution like 1945.

Try 1066.

"I am a BIG FAN of Land taxes
they are the best way to tax wealth
and land cannot be offshored"

Me too

Income tax hinders poorer people from becoming rich, but is easily avoidable by the very wealthy

A wealth tax is fairer and land is much more difficult to hide

1066 .... maybe it will have to wait until 2066, but I won't be around then with my pitchfok

DGR
The UK is one of the very few OECD countries that does not use Land taxes
I can see them coming in my lifetime
because that are incredibly efficient and can be set at superficially low rates
AND because property cannot be moved are very useful for localised targeting

Land (well, property) is taxed in Canada, but it's local level for funding council services, equivalent to council tax here. Tenants don't pay it directly, but their landlords do, so it's indirectly paid for in rent. There's all sorts of tweaks too, like being able to defer your tax payments after age 65 and have them taken out of your estate, which makes it more palatable for pensioners who are more likely to be asset rich and income poor. Average is about 3% of household income, but of course that varies wildly.

Tenants don't pay it directly, but their landlords do, so it's indirectly paid for in rent.
Which is IMHO the best bit about it ...

I'd have to track down the messages but I loved the idea that land title could not change unless taxes were up to date
and planning permission could not be granted unless it was .....

Jim Ratcliffe could take his New Forest palace and stick it where the sun don't shine