British Politics Thread.

[Mr Mystery]

We have PAYE - pay as you earn.

In short, I don't need to worry about my income tax - it's deducted at source based on HMRC's advised tax code.

So where I underpaid one year due to gaining private medical insurance, HMRC adjusted my tax free allowance down, so in the next tax year it all balances out.

Only tax I need to really worry about is Council Tax, but quick Direct Debit and that's sorted too.

It's all very civilised!

[40kGamer]

Very! Ours is 'in theory' pay as you go and it is normally deducted from your pay throughout the year or you send in estimates of what you expect to owe based upon your prior year. At the end of the year you run everything through the various forms and pages and see if you over or underpaid. It is quite painful for a lot of people here so they just pay someone else to do it... like me!

- - - Updated - - -

Oops... I mean people pay me to do theirs not me pay someone else.

[YorkNecromancer]

Yorkie - as I quoted before, London contributes 30% of GDP for 20% population - it punches above its weight and should be treated as such.

So, because it brings in 10% more GDP than its population, it should get 540% more public spending than the rest of the country?

There's punching above your weight and there's being a greedy turd. London is a greedy, parasitical turd.

I don't know why lefties feel able to be so prejudiced against tories for (as the cool kids like to say) reasons. If people demonstrated the unrelenting bias prejudice and pure hatred based on any other demographic - sex, age, sexual orientation, race, nationality etc - that a lot of lefties demonstrate about tories, they would be rightly castigated.

False equivelancy.

You can choose your politics. You can't choose your gender orientation, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, etc...

I despise the Tories because they represent a choice I find despicable. Because they are the party of selfishness. Because they want to be left alone when it comes to governance, but they still want to read my emails. Because they regard Human Rights as something that should not be universal. Because they tax the poor and lionise the rich. Because they have ninety nine per cent of the cake, and still want that last one per cent for themselves. Because they believe that wealth inequality is natural, when it's not. Because they belong to the Bullingdon Club, yet castigate 'chavs' for violence. Because they destroyed the industries of the North, and left nothing to replace them. Because they destroyed a massive amount of BTEC and vocational courses which benefitted those 'bad kids' far more than any pastoral poet from the 17th century ever did, and they did it out of the misguided belief that the way they were educated is the way everyone should be educated. Because they make people poor, then shame them for being poor. Because they recruit sociopaths like Boris Johnson. Because they may wrap themselves in the rainbow flag of gay marriage, but they reserve the right to remain bigoted about our everyone else in the world who isn't rich. Because they believe in a class system with Tory Elites on top, and any system with an Elite class is just a way to have racism when those less well off have the same skin colour as you. Because, ultimately, the Tories are small, in every way that matters. Small souled, small minded and frightened of everyone who's different; not to mention how desperate they are to own all their own things and never have to help anyone they didn't go out to dinner with.

I hate them for the same reason I hate any bully. Because they are selfish, and cruel, and despite this, they have the temerity think they're the hero of the narrative.

And yes, I do have friends who vote Tory. But we never speak about politics, because we've had The Conversation and we all know where we stand, so there's just no need. They vote for who they like, I vote for who I like, and we talk about television and films.



So Denzark? You and I will NEVER agree on politics. NEVER. I know why you like right-wing policies, and that's fine. Now you know my position, and that's fine too. There is literally no possibility of us ever seeing eye to eye. We must simply agree to disagree on everything, because that's what democracy means.

[Houghten]

That's not what democracy means.

Democracy means if your opinion is in the minority, it sucks to be you because there's sod-all you can do about it.

[40kGamer]

That's not what democracy means.

Democracy means if your opinion is in the minority, it sucks to be you because there's sod-all you can do about it.

Actually you can be in the "physical" majority but the "financial" minority and you can still sod off. Britain and the US share so many traits it's scary.

[Wolfshade]

with the current system it depends on the constituencies which are all different sizes so you could have the majority number of people vote for one thing, but then each constituency sends an MP, then it is the majority of MPs which decide the PM.

[40kGamer]

with the current system it depends on the constituencies which are all different sizes so you could have the majority number of people vote for one thing, but then each constituency sends an MP, then it is the majority of MPs which decide the PM.

Who knows what agenda truly motivates the elected representatives but it is not 'the needs of the many'... more likely it can be expressed as the 'wants of the privileged few'.

At the end of the day it is painfully obvious what is wrong with society, less obvious how to address it and easily understood why real issues are constantly sidestepped.

[Wolfshade]

It seems that the problem is the same view, it is how to deal with it that remains different.

But that is old hat.

This is then hampered by short-term-ism and the chasing of the popular vote.

[40kGamer]

It seems that the problem is the same view, it is how to deal with it that remains different.

But that is old hat.

This is then hampered by short-term-ism and the chasing of the popular vote.

True that there are a bunch of different approaches... I think the real problem is that there is no option to address the world's problems where 1% of the population maintains control of the majority of the wealth... Add in that political favors are relatively cheap and 'poof' addressing real issues is deferred indefinitely.

[Wolfshade]

1% controlling the majority of the wealth is not necessarily a bad thing. It is only if they are not "benefactors" that the problems occur.