THAI CLASS

From Taiwanese news, wait till about 30 secs in...



HT: Dizzy

Fairs fair

“Labour needs to ensure that the election is not seen as a referendum on the Government.”

Labour Briefing note

Erm, so what is it?

YEs I know it is YABR* for Labour but what is an election if not a referendum on a Government and its actions and policies?

It's an old saw but it is there for a reason - "Oppositions don't win elections, governments lose them".

How exactly is Gordo going to persuade voters that the last 13 years haven't happened? The mind boggles.

To quote John Redwood:

1. Why did he tax pension funds, and why are so few private sector funds now open for new members?

2. Why did he sell gold at the bottom of the market?

3. Why did he get so little improved service for all the billions he gave to public services in the last ten years?

4. Why did he allow such a huge build up of public debt before the Crunch?

5. Why did he approve the Basel bank regulations and the decisions of his new Regulator, which encouraged banks to overextend their balance sheets?

6. Why has he presided over a higher rate of inflation than target on average? Why did he change the inflation target to CPI from the commonly used RPI?

7. Why did he put so much money at risk in state supported banks, when there were cheaper options available to get us through the crisis?

8. Why has he allowed large banking bonuses to be paid by state subsidised banks?

9. Why has the balance of payments been so weak on his watch?

10. Why has manufacturing output fallen under Labour? Why has the UK economy grown so little since 1997?

11. Why did the UK economy stay in recession for longer than other major economies , and why is it so far making such a weak recovery, if all the actions the PM took were right?

I know Brown hates to answer any question truthfully, if at all, but these are teh quesstions that I would love for him to answer, let alone the few thousand more such as ID cards, Europe, Iraq/Iran, etc...

*Yet Another Bloody Relaunch

Pic ht: GOT

FIRST CLASS

Can I belatedly and wholeheartedly support Sir Nicholas Winterton on the idea that MPs should have first class travel?

Anything that keeps contact with the likes of him to an absolute minimum should be encouraged.

AIR ON A G STRING...

An advert that strangely never appeared...



ht: GOT

BULLY

PREVENTING and tackling bullying remains a priority for this government. We have committed around £3.7 million this year to anti-bullying programmes.

Gordon Brown, 13 December 2009

ht: Old Holborn

STAR WARS V LORD OF THE RINGS

ht: Geeks are sexy

THERE'LL BE OISEAUX BLEUS OVER...

The sell-off of Britain continues with the proposed sale of Dover Port among others.

Now ignore the patriotism aspect for the minute and consider this...

The sale is expected to raise £350m.

In 2008, Dover Port made a profit of £15.1m.

As countries come out of recession and the global economy picks up, it is sensible to think that this annual profit will rise.

Why else would Calais be looking at buying the port?

The short-termism of the Treasury beggars belief.

VALENTINE'S DAY

Now I am not one for Valentines, never have been, but I have got to get this for the missus ; )



ht: GOT

DREAMING OF A DOCTOR

Bit late on this one but Neil Gaiman, multi-awarding-winning writer and author of the Sandman series is to write a Doctor Who episode...finally.

Over the years SFX, and its readers and their votes in the polls, have always been very kind to me. I thought I’d return the favour with what used to be called, in journalistic circles when I was a boy, a scoop.

As anyone who’s read my blog knows, I’m a big fan of a certain long-running British SF TV series. One that started watching — from behind the sofa — when I was three. And while I know it’s cruel to make you wait for things, in about 14 months from now, which is to say, NOT in the upcoming season but early in the one after that, it’s quite possible that I might have written an episode. And if I had, it would originally have been called “The House of Nothing”. But it definitely isn’t called that any more.

Countdown. You’ve got about 14 months.

There had been many a rumour that he was writing one for S4 or S5 but apparently it is for S6.

So two bits of good news, one - I think he is a fantastic writer, natch and two - This means (attm) there is a confirmed sixth series!!

Ht: Rich

PROTECT AND SURVIVE

Some very important information prior to the outbreak of hostilities...






HT: GOT

KICK ASS

This is the international trailer for Mark Millar and JRJR's Kick Arse.

Promises to be a riot and certainly not for kids!

View it here!

SAVE TORY POLITICO

Some bully boys over in the States are trying to shut down Tory Politico because it uses Politico in it's title.

Well screw 'em. I'm not a lawyer but if anyone is or knows domain-law, pop over and give a hand!

THE CAR IN FRONT IS...

Ht: Theo

IT'S ECONOMICS STUPID

Treasury loses as top earners dodge 50p tax

Lord Myners cast doubt on whether the Treasury would recieve the £1.13 billion expected for 2010

High earners will cost the public purse hundreds of millions of pounds through tax dodges as they avoid the new 50p rate of income tax, a minister indicated yesterday.

Lord Myners, the City Minister, said that the Treasury had “significantly reduced” its estimate of the revenue to be earned from the historic change

Erm...well...duh!

Anyone who has an inkling of how tax revenue works could have told you that.

Y'see there is a thing called the tipping point. It is the point where the cost-benefit of tax avoidance outweighs paying the tax.

And it works in reverse - if tax is low enough then there is no cost-benefit to avoid paying the tax.

In other words, if you tax at an appropriate level you can get a nice sychronicity where the tax payer is happy to pay and the Treasury gets its income.

(NB: This excludes the seriously stinking rich for the most part as they are almost all habitual tax avoiders)

So if you tax too high, income goes down. If you tax just right then government income actuallly increases.

Guess which way the Scottish Historian and his neighbour went?

DOCTOR WHOON

Reading Russell T Davies' The Writer's Tale: The Final Chapter at the moment (I know Geek alert) but I was staggered to find out that Geoff Hoon is a Doctor Who fan according to his son, Chris.

After his sterling efforts at Defense I can see the re-written scenes now:

OUTSIDE MANOR HOUSE

Brigadier: Chap with wings, five rounds

....

Brigadier: Chap with wings, five rounds I said.

Bentley: Um, love to Brigadier but we've outspent out budget after the last round of cuts, shall we throw bricks at it instead?

-----------

Anyway, Hoon also has a sonic screwdriver, now I maybe a geek but I don't have a sonic screwdriver, hell, I bet chief politics Geek-in-General, Tom Harris, hasn't got one! I'll pop over and ask him