Making the news today....

[daveatdave]

on my travels today a Tesco's filling station on a retail park had shut all the pumps bar one either side and cars were queuing  up nearly onto the main road with all this panic buying the stations will be running out as it will be a few days before they will get another delivery 

[scbk]

How BP sparked a fuel crisis in drive to ease visa rules

WWW.TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

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Timing of leak about oil giant's pleading fuels suspicions it is more about a lobbying campaign for looser EU immigration policies

[Johnsond]

45 minutes ago, scbk said:

How BP sparked a fuel crisis in drive to ease visa rules

WWW.TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

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Timing of leak about oil giant's pleading fuels suspicions it is more about a lobbying campaign for looser EU immigration policies

Assisted marvellously by a willing media and a gullible public. Shame the government seems to have folded albeit only for 5000 drivers. 

[trigger_andy]

After a while in Scandinavia, once the shine wears off.. you will come to realise that the very rich are not much different to the rich in the UK or indeed anywhere else Jason.
 
They are simply more adapt at concealing their wealth and some might argue even more skillful in finding loopholes.
 
You will also find that the very Rich in Scandinavia pay personally very much less tax percentage wise than the lowest paid person in their employment.
 
Most of the very wealthy take their money from dividents, the consultancy fees they charge as paper employees of their own companies or assests are often paid in shares.The wealthy own alot of land, land owners have their own tax scales and handily can rent up to 50% of their propert tax free, to their other concerns of which they predictabley consult to...

Very well put.

entrepreneurialism is very much encouraged as well.

I pay less tax in Norway than I would do in Scotland. Between £5-10,000 less a year in Norway and you do not get punished for earning more by having all the benefits available to you means tested. So I still get full child benefit and just had a lump sum of Cash for Care back dated due to Brexit. A nice wee 70,000nok in the bank account on Friday. Unheard of in the U.K.

[Mike Hill]

One other fact regarding Sweden , is that it has an Aristocracy. Who are by definition the very essence of privilage.

 

They may let you roam their forests and swim in their lakes, but they probably got a cut from the fuel in your tank and the food in your cupboard, the clothes on your back and the government subsidies to the kindergarten your children attend.

 

These deeply entrenched old money monopolies are sometimes hundreds of years old.Coffee,Roofing,Shipping, Oil as a late commer to the wealth party are all big parts of a relatively few portfolio's.

 

The politicans after all, have to keep their prospective future employers happy as they can't all go and work for NATO,Brussels or the UN.

[Big J]

27 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

 

 

Very well put.

entrepreneurialism is very much encouraged as well.

I pay less tax in Norway than I would do in Scotland. Between £5-10,000 less a year in Norway and you do not get punished for earning more by having all the benefits available to you means tested. So I still get full child benefit and just had a lump sum of Cash for Care back dated due to Brexit. A nice wee 70,000nok in the bank account on Friday. Unheard of in the U.K.

 

 

 

7 minutes ago, Mike Hill said:

One other fact regarding Sweden , is that it has an Aristocracy. Who are by definition the very essence of privilage.

 

They may let you roam their forests and swim in their lakes, but they probably got a cut from the fuel in your tank and the food in your cupboard, the clothes on your back and the government subsidies to the kindergarten your children attend.

 

These deeply entrenched old money monopolies are sometimes hundreds of years old.Coffee,Roofing,Shipping, Oil as a late commer to the wealth party are all big parts of a relatively few portfolio's.

 

The politicans after all, have to keep their prospective future employers happy as they can't all go and work for NATO,Brussels or the UN.

 

I suspect that you have a slightly different perspective living and working in Norway, which I feel is the most capitalist of the Nordic nations. 

I however defer to your experience in the matter. 

 

What is worth noting though is that the Nordic Model of Socialist Capitalism is very different from the Socialist Hell that the right in America so often categorise it as. Yes, it is very supportive of entrepreneurs and yes, it's possible to make a lot of money there. The difference is that throughout all of that, there is a rock solid social security safety net. I'd argue that part of the reason that the Scandinavian countries have been so successful in recent years is that the risk of abject destitution has been largely removed from the public consciousness. 

 

 

[Johnsond]

10 minutes ago, Mike Hill said:

One other fact regarding Sweden , is that it has an Aristocracy. Who are by definition the very essence of privilage.

 

They may let you roam their forests and swim in their lakes, but they probably got a cut from the fuel in your tank and the food in your cupboard, the clothes on your back and the government subsidies to the kindergarten your children attend.

 

These deeply entrenched old money monopolies are sometimes hundreds of years old.Coffee,Roofing,Shipping, Oil as a late commer to the wealth party are all big parts of a relatively few portfolio's.

 

The politicans after all, have to keep their prospective future employers happy as they can't all go and work for NATO,Brussels or the UN.

I do love a cynic Mike 👍👍very very true though. It is like you say quiet money ie no brashness or in your face opulence just ticking along living a good life and maintaining the status  quo 

[Mike Hill]

Another way to show the gap between rich and poor is wider than you think.

 

Coffee Barron buys a £300K Bentley as a company car.

 

Gets pretty much £100K in Vat straight back

 

Claims 15% per annum depreciation for four years and the rest in the fifth.

 

Free Car

 

But wait, there is more!

 

Sells five year old Bentley for £200k,( no vat on used cars) pays that out as a divident to himself taxed at 28% 

 

£142K right in the back burner. Whilst his cleaners are taxed at 36% and cant claim their bus pass as an expense.

 

 

[Mike Hill]

18 minutes ago, Big J said:

 

 

I suspect that you have a slightly different perspective living and working in Norway, which I feel is the most capitalist of the Nordic nations. 

I however defer to your experience in the matter. 

 

What is worth noting though is that the Nordic Model of Socialist Capitalism is very different from the Socialist Hell that the right in America so often categorise it as. Yes, it is very supportive of entrepreneurs and yes, it's possible to make a lot of money there. The difference is that throughout all of that, there is a rock solid social security safety net. I'd argue that part of the reason that the Scandinavian countries have been so successful in recent years is that the risk of abject destitution has been largely removed from the public consciousness. 

 

 

I think when such as in Scandi, the socialist model has been long established, contrary to the unlikely event of it ever being implemented in the US where it would need to strip wealth and assets from the rich.

 

The biggest benefactors of the Scandinavian Economic model are those at the very top and those at the very bottom. Its everyone inbetween who pays literally for their privilage.

[Johnsond]

Fuel supply crisis: Grant Shapps blames haulage group for creating 'manufactured situation' as pump chaos continues

APPLE.NEWS

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The transport secretary has said "there's plenty of fuel" in the country as he urged motorists to...

Not my favourite politician but he definitely called it how it is with the RHA today, cheap Eastern European drivers is exactly what they want and what contributed to driving  many out of the industry in the first place.