The Chairman Mao resembling, Monarchy hating, threat to Britain, Labour Party thread

[bickster]

3 minutes ago, delboy54 said:

I see how this might encourage smokers to reduce or give up, this could then reduce smoking related illness that the NHS has to treat and the costs related to that, but if more people give up smoking then less tax coming in for the government.

Will one outweigh the other?

Yep, I can’t smoke in the beer garden, I'll just go out of the front door in the street, like I do now in most pubs. Not going to do anything of the sort. They'll have to be elected at least twice more before the NHS sees any real benefit

[limpid]

16 minutes ago, delboy54 said:

I see how this might encourage smokers to reduce or give up, this could then reduce smoking related illness that the NHS has to treat and the costs related to that, but if more people give up smoking then less tax coming in for the government.

Will one outweigh the other?

The tax take from smoking is almost certainly published somewhere. The number for the NHS is probably only guessable as there are so many factors. I don;t know whether anyone has compiled data about health outcomes form various habits, but I bet the insurance companies have. a good idea.

[Genie]

18 minutes ago, limpid said:

The tax take from smoking is almost certainly published somewhere. The number for the NHS is probably only guessable as there are so many factors. I don;t know whether anyone has compiled data about health outcomes form various habits, but I bet the insurance companies have. a good idea.

I saw on the news early ref smoking, tax £8.8b, total cost including loss of productivity and NHS etc was twenty something billion.

[Chindie]

I wonder if they might move to cannabis legalisation as a matter of practicality - 'we need the money and we can tax it'.

[ml1dch]

3 minutes ago, Chindie said:

I wonder if they might move to cannabis legalisation as a matter of practicality - 'we need the money and we can tax it'.

It's absolutely the obvious money tap to turn on, given everywhere else is doing it. I think I read that that the UK is actually the biggest producer of medicinal cannabis in the world. So the infrastructure is there as well.

But "wondering if they might move to..." Not a chance. They're not going to sign themselves up for the "Labour wants to force drugs on your children" headlines, however much sense it makes.

[Genie]

11 minutes ago, Chindie said:

I wonder if they might move to cannabis legalisation as a matter of practicality - 'we need the money and we can tax it'.

Maybe save it for the run up to the next GE to get some of the Reform votes  

[tonyh29]

10 minutes ago, Genie said:

Maybe save it for the run up to the next GE to get some of the Reform votes  

They will have died over the winter as they can no longer heat their homes 

[Genie]

2 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

They will have died over the winter as they can no longer heat their homes 

That’ll be the Tory voters. In my mind the Reform voters are 30-50 England away day fans but I have no data to back that up.

Edited August 29 by Genie

[chrisp65]

I’d have thought Reform voters would be wooed with an Oasis CD and some pink cocaine.

[bickster]

28 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

I’d have thought Reform voters would be wooed with an Oasis CD and some pink cocaine.

The pink stuff was always amphetamine

[Marka Ragnos]

It probably sounds patronising, but I feel sorry for rank and file Labour voters at the moment. This is just so cringe. So reminiscent of the same kind of blunders I see sometimes among a certain class of Democrats in the states. Leave the ****-ing pub smokers alone. Surely there are better things to bring tonnes of voter and media scrutiny to when you've just won a majority? I really back Labour, but once again -- timing. It comes across as elitist. Just not a good look when more fundamental issues are pressing.

Quote

 

On an average weekend in Moseley, a suburb of south Birmingham, the beer gardens tucked behind the high street pubs – of which there are at least eight – are packed with punters.

As the doors opened to customers on Thursday lunchtime, staff and customers alike were bristling at the news that the government is considering banning smoking in outdoor areas such as beer gardens, and outdoor areas at clubs and restaurants.

“It just seems like a really bad idea. I don’t see how it can be good for hospitality,” said Matthew Brigham, part owner and manager of the Dark Horse craft beer bar. “I think it would be horrible to police, for one. And I think it would lead to more people drinking on the streets, and more people drinking at home – and drinking cheap booze at home is more linked to alcoholism.”

 

 

[sidcow]

2 hours ago, Marka Ragnos said:

It probably sounds patronising, but I feel sorry for rank and file Labour voters at the moment. This is just so cringe. So reminiscent of the same kind of blunders I see sometimes among a certain class of Democrats in the states. Leave the ****-ing pub smokers alone. Surely there are better things to bring tonnes of voter and media scrutiny to when you've just won a majority? I really back Labour, but once again -- timing. It comes across as elitist. Just not a good look when more fundamental issues are pressing.

 

When were the Moseley packed? They're normally half empty when I go there, especially the Dark Horse. 

[Stevo985]

I don't like the idea of banning smoking in beer gardens, but all of the reaction of everyone saying how terrible it will be for hospitality sounds a lot like the worries people had when the indoor smoking ban came into play. And I'm not sure there's many people who would reflect on that and say it was a bad thing

[blandy]

18 hours ago, limpid said:

Start taxing religious organisations. Allow them to offset the few percent they spend on charitable works.

If the multi-billion Roman Catholic church doesn't like it, stop them trading in the UK. Should free up some space for housing too.

Nailed on it’ll make them cross.

[MakemineVanilla]

Macroeconomics always seems like an Escher drawing to me but this is interesting:

 

[bickster]

Its not Labour's black hole. It's the black hole Labour have to deal with.

[LondonLax]

Smoking in beer gardens and in front of buildings has been banned in Sydney for years. Some pubs offer a dedicated smoking space but it is not allowed to be anywhere food is served. Australians don’t smoke much in general though so it was never very controversial. 

[Genie]

14 minutes ago, LondonLax said:

Smoking in beer gardens and in front of buildings has been banned in Sydney for years. Some pubs offer a dedicated smoking space but it is not allowed to be anywhere food is served. Australians don’t smoke much in general though so it was never very controversial. 

I assume this will be the compromise here, dedicated smoking area in a pub garden rather than being free to smoke anywhere outside.

[limpid]

45 minutes ago, Genie said:

I assume this will be the compromise here, dedicated smoking area in a pub garden rather than being free to smoke anywhere outside.

We are way ahead of the game at VP. We even separate smoking facilities by primary sexual characteristics.

[Rds1983]

20 hours ago, TreeVillan said:

You were referring to people who have over 100 billion to pay more tax. Just wondering how many British ones you think there are? 

I'll help.. it's 0. 

 

I mentioned people with over 100 billion, I also mentioned people with only 1 billion in my posts. I've also said everybody should be taxed, not just billionaires. 

To make my point clearer.

People with more wealth should be taxed more and the gap between the higher rates doesn't work.

Someone on 60k a year shouldn't be paying 5% less tax than someone worth over a million times that amount. 

Also, as I mentioned earlier, if they have investments in Britain, tax them on those investments, irregardless of where they live.

Edited August 30 by Rds1983