Do they think we are stupid?

 As it currently stands, someone paying National Insurance is hypothetically paying into their state pension. The current rates are: Employer contributions:    15% of salary Employee contributions:  8% of salary So that's 23% of salary Let's compare that to Germany  Employer contributions:     9.3% Employee contributions:     9.3% That's just 18.6% of salary not 23% of salary like the UK system. In Germany the total contributions are capped a gross salary of EU101,400 so no additional contributions can be made. So someone who has worked 45 years would receive EU 1,913 per month in Germany compared to the UK's £1,045 (EU 1,216).  So the UK payout is 57% less for 23.7% more contributions.  It suggests pensioners in the UK are getting ripped off by our government. One reason is,unlike Germany, National Insurance contributions are not being ring fenced for pension payments but are being spent on a whim by politicians - it's Ponzi scheme...

 Wind the clock back barely 9 months ago and Rachel Reeves on the 4th November 2025 was making a speech about the cost of borrowing and how she was going to adjust the fiscal rules to bring it back under control. She correctly the stated the problem:  "We are spending £1 in every £10 of tax payers money on servicing our debt". Back then the gilt borrowing rates were hovering around 4.2%.  In barely 9 months Labour has been splashing the cash and the bond markets are growing more concerned about the UK's ability to service, let alone repay, the colossal £3 Trillion debt pile. Because of this gilt yields have crept up to 5.05%. Now increasing from 4.2% to 5.05% doesn't sound so bad does it? Well to update her statement "We are spending £1 in every £8 of tax payers money on servicing our debt" "We are spending £1.20 in every £10 of tax payers money on servicing our debt" It's 20% worse than 9 months ago. Come back Liz Truss - all is forgiven in yo...

Showman Barnum's latest PR stunt is to announce £65M help for drought struck farmers. Dig a little deeper into the headline and it's not really £65M.  £50M is for sustainable farming incentive (SFI) - ie helping nature - not drought contingency.  If you have watched the latest Clarkson's farm series  - Clarkson thought he could get SFI  grants for doing nature things eg damming rivers etc - the reality is there's lots of paperwork involved and is it really worth the effort?  The farmer can earn more working in McDonalds. The remaining £15M of Barnum's £65M  is for help to build farm reservoirs - probably useful if drought is to become the new norm - although last year lots of crops were lost to too much rain.... There are 209,000 farms in the UK.  If each farm gets an equal share of this £15M that's £71 for each farm...I suspect that's hardly going to make a difference to drought struck farms.  Wheat yields are down 14%. Oat yields are down 9%. In...

 As we are finally starting to hear from our not so new Prime Minister, we can start compiling a lookup table to translate between them Starmer               => Burnham Laser Like focus   => Relentless focus I get it   =>  I hear what you say As Burnham opens his mouth more I will populate this table....

 I find the left wing phrase "pay their fair share of tax" really irritating. It's not specific or measurable and is highly subjective. What is a fair share? Those on benefits don't pay any tax yet often are financially better off than those working full time.  Is that fair? It's a sneaky phrase as it implies the rich are not contributing anything which a complete lie. At least Count Binface's policy of  “I'll cut your taxes and raise everyone else's.” makes more sense than this stupid quote. So let's start with the macro view.  Income tax raises £330 Billion. National Insurance raises £204 Billion and all forms of taxation raises £865 Billion. The problem is Government spending is £1.2 TRILLION so there's a shortfall of £400 Billion raised from taxation.   We have the highest rates of taxation since the second world war and we are not at war.... So income tax raises £330 Billion yet welfare spending is £156 Billion and the State Pension is £17...

Today Gary Lineker asked Barnham to tax him and other millionaires more. He has suggested a 2% wealth tax. ie paying 2% tax on your overall wealth each year if you have wealth more than £10Million. So Gary's net worth is widely reported as £30 Million.  He no longer receives the £1.35Million salary from the tax payer funded BBC. So he would be paying an additional £600,000 tax each year. Since leaving the BBC it looks like most of his "income" is into companies which he either owns or has control of and it is unclear whether he has any income from these companies. So let's assume he was still at the BBC earning £1.35Million. He would take home £727,286 after tax so he would be paying an additional £600,000 in tax so his net income would be a modest £127,286. Now maybe he is OK with this. There is nothing stopping him paying £600k additional voluntary tax each year.   If his income sources dry up then it won't be long before his net wealth declines. The problem is ...