twovectors

This is a very funny article by the FT on the call to lower the top tax rate.

It starts:

We’re joined now by Sir Reg Croesus, former chairman of Wongabank. Sir Reg, why do you feel that you should pay less tax?

>Because it’s my patriotic duty.

I beg your pardon?

>It’s my duty and as such I feel it’s time to speak out. There are too many people trying to stop me >expressing my love of my country.

A love you’d express by paying less tax?

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I assume in the wake of the UK riots someone somewhere has done a joke about apple launching a blackberry messenger competitor, to be called the iPredictariot.

However, I cannot find anyone having done so.

Channel 4 news just really annoyed me with a piece on Boots - paying little tax on a large operating profit.

But they paid lots of interest, and deducted this for tax. Now in this case the interest is a cost of the acquisition, which I am less sympathetic with. But most interest is a legitimate business expense - you needed money to make something, you borrowed it, the cost reduces your profits (but notably increases someone else's - the lenders). This it seems to me is a legitimate tax deductible expense, in the same way that rent is a deductible expense.

The whole article seemed to me to show a lamentable lack of business knowledge. It makes me ashamed to call myself left wing to see such ignorant comment calling itself reporting.

I find such obvious bias undermines everything it has to say.

And then they followed it up with a bit on Puma, who, very commendably, started to publish an environmental impact assessment of the whole supply chain. C4's response - isn't your whole business damaging the environment by encouraging consumerism?

I find it hard to counter the right's argument of bias in the broadcast media with this to defend. Leave such blatant bias for Fox news - C4 news should be above this!

smhwpf was quoted in this week's Economist on China's military spending!

Coo!

This story really cheered me up - a WWE wrestler who listens to Tori Amos before fights - specifically Winter.

And he goes to meet her and she gives him a hug when he is tongue tied!

Can I recommend this article from, of all places, the Evening Standard.

Is is a surprising powerful piece on poverty in London - I actually find that the start on the article on pauper's funerals is a bit of a diversion from the main point of the article, so feel free to skip to below the first picture.

I found that one of the most striking points was the person who could not afford the £19 for his UCAS form - it would be weeks of saving for him. Also the way the article has of showing he lives in a different world - he simply does not see all the expensive shops - they are not in his world.

My mate’s allergic to rice…


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The latest celebrity to take up twitter...

I recently came across the large hadron rap.

Apparently it became a run away hit for the LHC - 5m views and running.

I don't have much to add to that...

I very much liked this:

There was an old lady...