Whitey Grandad

What figures are these? I have seen £1.6bn in 2008, which is a pitiful return on the capital invested. Some divisions have made losses, some such as their capital investment arm have continued to give good returns. £6bn of the quoted £11bn was from the sale of BGI to Blackrock. If the company is allowed by the government to offset write-downs against tax then these companies will do so. Headline figures are always misleading.

I assume your tongue was in your cheek when you typed that?

The profits are reduced because they are allowed to offset against losses from previous years. This has been the arrangement under several governments. Individuals and sole traders like me are not allowed to spread good years over the bad ones.

That's different, and on the face of it, 'highly dodgy', IMHO. No, all the banks are going to be paying very little corporation tax because of the hits that they have taken.

It's only 1% because of the horrendous losses in the previous years.

"...I wanted to take my wife back to her birthplace in Wales, for old times' sake, to Bangor." (Mr. Tebbs, 'Are You Being Served?')

Male or female?

As an engineer I found the Llechwedd slate quarry museums very interesting. http://www.llechwedd-slate-caverns.co.uk/ Then there are all those lovely castles, Caernarvon, Beaumaris, Conway. The Menai Straits suspension bridge. The narow gauge railways. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Wales_Narrow_Gauge_Railways Have fun!

It's only because of their horrendous losses over the last couple of years. Taken over a longer period the tax paid is higher. Much as it may be unpalatable, we need the banks to rebuild their balance sheets, in fact the government has insisted on it.

Some people would see it as a compliment.

At my age you get to be even more selectively deaf.

But you can't convert that 'wealth' into money with which to pay for publice services. As soon as you start to sell it, assumingyou can find a buyer, then its value will plummet.

Oh surely not!

Bankers already lose half their bonuses in tax. I repeat, there's nowhere near enough money in London's bankers to pay for the government's profligacy for more than a few months. What do we do when we've taken all their money?

So why didn't the Liberals introduce it when they used to be in power?

If the Liberals are in favour then I'm definitely voting against. That lot have never come up with any sensible ideas. Apart from that, I want to know who I'm voting for.

There's a great big world out there with plenty of places that would welcome them. Just remember that taxation is legalised robbery.

Don't kid yourself. There's nowhere near enough money amongst them to pay for what has been spent, and if you did raise taxes for them then they would just go somewhere else. The only way to raise large sums of money is from the working masses. There is an 'optimum' tax rate beyond which the returns start diminishing.

Indeed, what was his record for us?

I'm afraid customer satisfaction with the public services is no longer relevant. We can't afford them as things stand so they will have to change. End of story.

It is far, far cheaper to have a monarchy than a president. I agree about all the hangers-on, though, we don't need to pay for them.

He didn't miss, it was saved.

Has anybody contacted the RSPCG?

That would explain a few things. Do any of the offspring play for England?

How about Jason Dodd's record? I always liked his penalties.