Zephro posted:

Late to the party, but, given that the police in some cases fathered children, is the CSA on to them for child support, I wonder?

I bet it isn't, duh

TinTower posted:

(but not disclosing STI status doesn't).

Spangly A posted:

While this is true, it's only true because GBH is a more fitting crime than rape, and assault resulting in GBH is the actual charge for not telling someone you have an STI.

Xachariah posted:

Yeah but it's not as progressive a tax as income:


- if you earn more than £153 a week and up to £805 a week, you pay 12% of the amount you earn between £153 and £805

- if you earn more than £805 a week, you also pay 2% of all your earnings over £805

This is almost a flat tax since it just goes from 12% to 14%

edit: but nonetheless, I'm sure they make up any shortfalls through income tax which itself is progressive.

Dange posted:

For the upper band, the 2% of your earnings over £805 is all that is paid in NI contributions. It goes from 12% to 2%.

Semprini posted:

It's not all, they still pay the 12% between £153 and £805.

Semprini posted:

True, I was just correcting a small factual point.

Though if you're income's at that level, chances are you've arranged your affairs to avoid paying the NI in the first place.

ReV VAdAUL posted:

Whitefish posted:

My feeling is that the key difference is that UK politicians spend much less of their time actively fundraising when compared to US politicians. My impression is that to be a prominent US politician you have to be fundraising constantly. E.g. I don't think the scale of fundraising in UK politics approaches the sort of thing discussed in this podcast: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/461/take-the-money-and-run-for-office<snip>

Prince John posted:

To continue the tax theme, UKIP actually have a tax policy, who knew it.

They've given up the flat tax idea, but are lowering the top rate to 40% while ensuring anyone earning minimum wage or below pays no income tax at all.

Prince John posted:

Just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to post such a detailed response.

Edit:

To continue the tax theme, UKIP actually have a tax policy, who knew it.

They've given up the flat tax idea, but are lowering the top rate to 40% while ensuring anyone earning minimum wage or below pays no income tax at all.

Dange posted:

Bearing in mind the fact that richer individuals will structure their affairs in a more "tax-efficient" manner, we have a situation in the UK where the less well off pay more or less the same as the better off. As I said in my previous post, this should be considered a scandal. Regrettably, the issue is never raised by any institution in this country, and people seem to miss this fact as a result.

Renaissance Robot posted:

The only reason I have the first idea what NI might be for is because I've been on the dole and noticed that I'd have gotten bigger payments (how much bigger? for how long? gently caress knows) if I had any contributions to my name. Beyond that I haven't the faintest.

You wouldn't think I'd need to know anything about it to get mad about it being backwards (which I didn't know until just now mind), but I guess the mystery coupled with the lower rate compared to income tax allows it to slip under the radar for most people.

--

Speaking of taxes, does anyone know [or know the magic words I can mutter at the gov.uk search engine to find out] how to get out of having an emergency income tax code, and how to get the money back? I assume the latter is a matter of applying for a rebate this March-ish, but I'm not sure if the tax code thing will fix itself or what since I'm technically on zero contracted hours (even though I'm all but guaranteed permanent work since everything is on fire all the time at my current placement).

Poison Jam posted:

When that happened to me I called HMRC and after sorting it out on the phone I had a new code and they sent me the money after a few weeks. It did take over a week to clear though which took the piss somewhat as it was a decent chunk of money.

The Guardian posted:

The chief executive of one of the UK's biggest energy companies has said his firm has not reduced fuel bills because of the Labour party's threat to freeze prices.

The claim was made in a letter from Paul Massara, the head of npower, to Ofgem, the energy regulator.

Massara claims that dropping prices – at a time when there is a dip in wholesale gas prices – would be risky because npower would not be able to raise them again should Labour win the next election and put in place a proposed freeze.

In the letter, published in The Times, Massara claims the Labour proposal has complicated any possible falls in energy costs at a time when gas prices have more than halved.

"The political and media pressures at the moment make it more difficult to reduce prices and then increase them again next spring," he wrote.

"Then we are acutely aware that if the Labour party were to implement their proposed price freeze, we will be living with the consequences of our standard rate tariff price for a very long time and beyond the level of risk that we could manage in the wholesale market."

The correspondence came after Ofgem wrote to energy suppliers in June to ask why they had not passed on price drops to the consumer.

Npower is the subsidiary of Germany's RWE group.

Last September, Ed Miliband said Labour would freeze gas and electricity bills in the UK for 20 months if it wins the 2015 election, claiming the energy companies have been overcharging.

"The potential Labour price freeze has, of course, also complicated all pricing decisions further," said Massara in his letter.

bitterandtwisted posted:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28896675
Almost 3 years in jail for recording a film from the back of a cinema, probably with a phone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALZZx1xmAzg

bitterandtwisted posted:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28896675
Almost 3 years in jail for recording a film from the back of a cinema, probably with a phone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALZZx1xmAzg

TinTower posted:

In case you're wondering why there's a massive sexism and homophobia problem in football, seems like the League Managers Association have explained why.

Clearly, Malky MacKay is the Archbishop of Banterbury.

TinTower posted:

In case you're wondering why there's a massive sexism and homophobia problem in football, seems like the League Managers Association have explained why.

Clearly, Malky MacKay is the Archbishop of Banterbury.

LMA posted:

“The LMA apologises for some of its wording, in its release yesterday, which was inappropriate and has been perceived to trivialise matters of a racist, sexist or homophobic nature. That was certainly not our intention.

“It is beyond argument that any comments that are discriminatory, even used in private, are totally unacceptable. The LMA remains absolutely aware of our responsibility to the game and to promote and uphold the highest standards of behaviour.

“The LMA will not be commenting further on the allegations relating to Malky Mackay whilst the Football Association conducts its investigation, other than to repeat that both the LMA and Malky will be co-operating fully. We will continue to work with all of the game’s stakeholders to address the important issues of respect and discriminatory behaviour in all its forms.”

Total Meatlove posted:

They have since come out and reaffirmed their stance on homophobia, misogny and bullying (that they're against it in all forms). Seems like in a rush to defend a union member they overstepped the mark;

KKKlean Energy posted:

he was a gigantic idiot, using the same usernames in email addresses and across sites, and selling the disks via facebook of all things. And he did it having been previously arrested and released for a similar offense. He should have quit while he was ahead.

quote:

Officers were able to trace him after he used the username TheCod3r to leave a comment on a well-known pirated movie website.

Danks had used the same username on the Plenty of Fish dating website.

Spangly A posted:

To be fair they aren't harming their minority managers with that comment, because there aren't any

quote:

Sentencing Recorder Keith Raynor said: ‘This was bold, arrogant and cocksure offending.
‘You approach to the film industry was made clear in the posting you made on Facebook two days after your arrest.

gorki posted:

Poor TheCod3r. It seems like he got into all this trouble because he just couldn't stop himself gobbing off online

gorki posted:

Poor TheCod3r. It seems like he got into all this trouble because he just couldn't stop himself gobbing off online

quote:

Britain is in the midst of a supermarket price war that has so far taken the scalps of Tesco’s chief executive and finance director, ended Sainsbury’s unprecedented nine years of sales growth, and seen Morrisons suffer some of the biggest sales falls in living memory.

The war is so fierce, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) yesterday revealed the first fall in spending by shoppers year on year since records began 25 years ago and a low level of retail price inflation.

The average price of goods in grocers was 0.2 per cent higher than a year ago – the lowest rise since 2004 – and the average price in July was 0.9 per cent lower than 2013. On Tuesday the consumer prices index, one measure of UK inflation, fell to 1.6 per cent from 1.9 per cent a month earlier.