buctootim

So Mrs T was spending 7% more than she was receiving and putting taxes up during a recession. Tut. Doesn't sound very prudent to me.

Don't bother. I tried but the bloody Swedes just answer you in flawless English! A lot of Swedish students dont even speak Swedish to each other, they use English.

Ta! Never knew Hassocks was so cosmopolitan

Tax as a percentage of GDP is far more important. Mrs T's lucky break was north sea oil coming on stream.

Exactly. Despite all the mudslinging about irresponsibility by Labour, mostly total tax take doesnt vary much between governments. If anything the Conservatives have taxed more.

Access to information through the internet is making evasion of tax on income and assets possible for anyone who runs a business is self employed or who has property overseas. Its no longer just the super rich who can do it. Taxes on expenditure (VAT, stamp duty, excise duty etc) are harder to avoid and for that reason, more than dogma, will become more important than income taxes imo.

Total tax take inc NI Year £bn %of GDP 1970-71 23 43.3 1971-72 24.6 41.5 1972-73 26.3 39 1973-74 29.7 39.5 1974-75 37.9 42.1 1975-76 47.9 42.7 1976-77 56.4 43 1977-78 62.9 41.3 1978-79 69.8 40.1 1979-80 85 40.5 1980-81 100.9 42.2 1981-82 119.5 45.4 1982-83 129.7 45.1 1983-84 137.9 44.1 1984-85 147.6 43.9 1985-86 157.8 42.7 1986-87 164.6 41.6 1987-88 178.9 40.6 1988-89 197.1 40.2 1989-90 211.3 39.4 1990-91 221.7 38.4 1991-92 231.7 38.1 1992-93 227.6 36.3 1993-94 235.2 35.4 1994-95 255.9 36.4 1995-96 276.6 37.2 1996-97 288.8 36.4 1997-98 316.2 37.5 1998-99 335.3 37.7 1999-00 358.5 37.9 2000-01 382.3 38.6 2001-02 389.4 37.8 2002-03 396 36.3 2003-04 422.4 36.5 2004-05 452.6 37.3 2005-06 486.6 38.2 2006-07 519.2 38.5 2007-08 549.1 38.6 2008-09 533.3 37.2 2009-10 519.8 37 2010-11 548 37.2

True. I'd guess contracts have to be be paper though? like house purchases. Not saying there is anything in it, but if there were, a firm bid and draft contract could be couriered.

Its difficult enough to learn European languages to a good standard. Don't know anything about Somali specifically but as soon as you start to get into different alphabets, tonal languages, three gender endings, differences for people of higher or lower rank etc it becomes a total nightmare.

Replace Robert Peston with the banks and we agree. The global banking industry was on the verge of collapse because of massive losses on speculative investments - self inflicted wounds. That evaporated confidence, made people hoard money and reduced world trade. The banks made this recession - Robert Peston commenting on it is an irrelevance - unless his words are taken as gospel in the US, Japan, Germany, China et al. Reporting train crashes and causing them are two different things.

So the banks didnt have an impact on the recession but Robert Peston did. Interesting analaysis.

Depending on which figures you look at (eg including PFI or not; government debt only or including private debt) the difference can be even more striking. UK debt end 1997 : 413,2 G£, i. e. 49,8 % of GDP (ONS) UK debt end 1998 : 410,2 G£, i. e. 46,7 % of GDP (ONS) UK debt end 1999 : 405,7 G£, i. e. 43,7 % of GDP (ONS) UK debt end 2000 : 400,6 G£, i. e. 41,0 % of GDP (ONS) UK debt end 2001 : 385,5 G£, i. e. 37,7 % of GDP (ONS) UK debt end 2002 : 402,9 G£, i. e. 37,5 % of GDP (ONS) UK debt end 2003 : 441,1 G£, i. e. 38,7 % of GDP (ONS) UK debt end 2004 : 487,9 G£, i. e. 40,4 % of GDP (ONS) UK debt end 2005 : 529,4 G£, i. e. 42,3 % of GDP (ONS) UK debt end 2006 : 573,3 G£, i. e. 43,4 % of GDP (ONS) UK debt end 2007 : 618,4 G£, i. e. 44,2 % of GDP (ONS) UK debt end 2008 : 750,3 G£, i. e. 52,0 % of GDP (ONS) http://cluaran.free.fr/debt.html Interesting view here http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2010/09/why_banks_are_riskier_than_hed.html

You're half right. The banks didnt cause previous recessions, but they did cause this one. This wasnt a uniquely UK recession, it was one created because people became afraid to lend and to invest (even if they had the money) because there was real and justified fear that many banks were on the verge of collapse (as indeed they were). This was entirely of the banks own doing - allowing themselves to get caught up in a herd mentality of reckless lending on highly speculative and improbable projects and taking worthless paper as security or collateral.

You should check out Belize. The Caribbean but low crime and low costs.

What were the other causes?

Its the same argument imo. The banks losses caused the credit crunch which caused the recession. UK debt was 36% of GDP in 2007 (before the banking crisis), lower than the 40.5% inherited from the Conservatives in 1997. The explosion in debt since then is attributable to the banks, whether as direct bailouts or as a consequence of the recession caused.

If Chamberlain stays we should do the best by him, nurturing and developing him. However if he were to insist on breaking his contract and going we should have no regard for what is best for him, but only what is best for Saints - and that means going for the highest transfer fee, whichever club that may be.

There are a couple of small ones. Also its only a short plane hop to the Canaries.

Don't give him a second thought. His entire sense of self worth comes from lamely belittling other people and repeating previous posts as if its his orginal idea.

A very narrow view which ignores the fact that massive UK bank losses on bad speculative investments in the US and Ireland have lost billions for pension funds - yours and mine, increased the cost of government borrowing necessitating higher taxes and £200bn of quantitative easing which has deflated the pound and pushed up the cost of imports.

Come and join us FMPR. Step away from the darkside. You'll have much more fun supporting Saints.

Perhaps they were the only ones able to offer him tax free wages.

Madeira. Almost a perfect climate, belongs to Portugal so you can move there tomorrow. Plus its pretty easy to learn to use a mouse with your left hand. Im left handed and changed to right hand for the mouse. Only takes a couple of weeks to feel comfortable.

Ive spent ages assuming it was some left field reference to typefaces!

You're right Delldays. The comparison with Pompey is uncanny. Excessive wages leading to collapse and the tax payer getting screwed.