Ian

[Jeremy Clarkson @JeremyClarkson]

Brexit enthusiasts: I hope you’re all enjoying the queues at your holiday airports this year.

[London HENRY 💷 @londonHenryGB]

The 45% tax rate in Germany starts at €280,000 in France it starts at €180,000, in the UK 45% starts at £125,000 (~€145K), and preceding it we have 60% between £100K and £125K.

At the same time even with the freezing of the thresholds we have a tax free allowance which is ~30% higher than our peers.

High earners aren’t where the tax collection gap between us and our continental peers lie.

Having high skilled high earners moving to Dubai is one thing, but having even countries like Germany being a relatively low tax jurisdiction especially when factoring in tax traps and benefits is a whole other story.

[Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 @DefenceHQ]

Norway may row. But England roars 🦁🦁🦁

Good luck tonight team, from our Armed Forces around the world! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

@England

[Sharron Davies HoL MBE @sharrond62]

Chasing away foreign investment & the top 1% of tax payers (who pay 30% in total) is the politics of envy, economic suicide & some would say economic illiteracy

[Ian @Themightyf]

@Keir_Starmer But the trains are now worse than they were before nationalisation. @SW_Help is dreadful

[Ian @Themightyf]

@British_Airways Can you let me know what the cause of delay is for the BA818 to Copenhagen today? Thanks

[Ian @Themightyf]

@HentisRail @SW_Help @monicabeharding This is meant to be a 10 coach service. SWR shouldn’t change it to 4 coach at a whim. The previous 8 coach service on the same route was cancelled due to “severe weather” so why not use those? No one is asking for 4 additional coaches, just the coaches which are meant to be there

[Ian @Themightyf]

@jwparkin @SW_Help @monicabeharding That’s true. The main function of the railway now is collect revenues, rather than (and irrespective of) providing a usable service. The only aspect which has become efficient is the twitter team’s ability to fob off concerns with meaningless platitudes

[Ian @Themightyf]

@SW_Help @monicabeharding Why is it a 4 coach service? It’s meant to be an 8 coach. How do you claim for overcrowding in these conditions? This is not an acceptable level of service

[@levelsio @levelsio]

@KimvonDaniken @qatarairways Lisbon Airport is disgusting and literally nothing works, with worst service in the world and ALWAYS delayed either in and out + 4 hour wait for immigration in and out, it's ridiculous

Worst airport in the world right now

[john drummond @benarty]

Does Lisbon Airport have the worst and slowest passport control in the world? Hundreds, including the elderly, infirm and babies made to wait for hours.

[Ian @Themightyf]

@SW_Help @monicabeharding why was the 823 from Esher to Waterloo short-formed this morning? This practice is far too common across the network, yet passengers are expected to keep paying full fares.

[Conservatives @Conservatives]

No more dodging. No more excuses.

It’s time for Rayner to go.

[Jeremy Clarkson @JeremyClarkson]

I’m puzzled. Labourites tell us that Angela Rayner was only trying to look after her child which they quite rightly say is understandable.
But when a farmer tries to look after his children, they say he’s a tax dodger.

[Daniel Priestley @DanielPriestley]

A serious question- would you move overseas for £600K per year? Imagine being offered whatever you’re earning now PLUS £50k per month if you’re willing to move somewhere new. Would you do it?

That is the deal the UK government wants to put before the wealthiest people in the country.

We have 40,000 high net worth people with over £10M of wealth. The government wants to raise £24B through a wealth tax. On average, that’s exactly £600K per person.

If the wealth tax is passed, these people will have to sit down around their dinner table and ask the question “do we pay over half a million per year to stay in the UK or do we leave and keep the money?”

They’ll consider the 40% inheritance tax. They’ll consider the corp tax, the stamp duty, the VAT and the income taxes - all at record high points. They’ll consider a lot of very nice places have much lower costs. It will be a bit sad but they’ll do what you’d probably do - they’ll accept a £50k a month to move overseas.

Then what happens next? The wealth tax framework will be in place so the government will drop the threshold to £5M and then £1M and then £500k. Each time, more and more productive people will leave.

You can’t build wealth in a country with a wealth tax. Anyone who’s ever explored the destructive impact of 2% per year on assets knows it’s a huge setback to any ambition.

It sounds like a small tax for anyone who’s already made their millions but it’s a total death blow to anyone who’s in the build phase of their career. It would have the impact of destroying ambition - or channeling it overseas.

Ultimately anyone who aspires to success would have a huge carrot to move abroad and a massive stick if they stay. We all know how that goes.

[Ian @Themightyf]

@SW_Help @tradingprophet This is utterly pathetic. Do you think your customers should have to spend hours going out of their way? There is no reason the train couldn’t stop at Esher, hersham and Walton. If I went to weybridge, by the time I got there the trains back would probably be cancelled.

[Ian @Themightyf]

@suezUK many thanks to the team at Leatherhead recycling centre. Incredibly helpful and well-organised. Thanks!

[George Takei @GeorgeTakei]

When I was a little boy, the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor. It was a surprise attack, and thousands of U.S. servicemembers perished. As a nation, we were stunned. And we vowed to strike back. Revenge was understandably on everyone’s mind, including many Americans of Japanese descent who opposed the emperor and were peaceful and law-abiding U.S. citizens and residents.

In its zeal to exact that revenge, however, the U.S. government overreacted, out of fear and bigotry. They targeted everyone who happened to look like the people who had carried out the attack. Those of us who had done nothing wrong were forced to pay the consequences for the decisions of others far away and disconnected from us. We were interned for years, in open-air prisons, while America went off to fight Japan, Germany and Italy.

It’s so important that we carry the lessons of the past through to today. Merely because one group commits atrocities and acts with depravity does not mean vast hundreds of thousands or even millions of others should be lumped together with them and made to suffer. We must never paint with the brush of justice and retaliation too broadly, or the toll of human suffering will rise immeasurably.