Abu Qatada

[Cambridge Batch Red]

British sense of fairplay and all that. The bloke needs to have an accident of some sort, wink wink, nudge nudge.

Let's hope he becomes "depressed."

[Monkeh]

the human rights law is an ass, some one who's commited a crime thats killed another should have their "Human Rights" removed,

Shame this isn't russa as he would of been poisoned or hung by now

[Cambridge Batch Red]

We've got too many foreigners hiding in our country leeching our wealth and sending it home via western union. This case is unbelievable. The law needs a compete overhaul. Dump the EU human rights for a start.

[Eco]

We've got too many foreigners hiding in our country leeching our wealth and sending it home via western union. This case is unbelievable. The law needs a compete overhaul. Dump the EU human rights for a start.

Do you mean the multinational tax avoiders ?

[Cambridge Batch Red]

Do you mean the multinational tax avoiders ?

You can add them to the list as well. Burn Starbucks and macdonalds down - open up a tea shop and chip shop in their place.

[nebristolred]

the human rights law is an ass, some one who's commited a crime thats killed another should have their "Human Rights" removed,

Shame this isn't russa as he would of been poisoned or hung by now

Rubbish. As in all cases, no matter who has committed the crime, or how obvious guilt may be, it is and always should be innocent until proven guilty. Even when guilt is proven there are often numerous reasons why you should never revoke someone's human rights.

I don't know much about the Abu Qatada case tbh but the law is there for a reason. For every case like this where it costs the taxpayers extra money, there may well be 10 other cases protected by the Human Rights Act where an innocent man may have been subjected to terrible consequences.

[You Do The Dziekanowski]

^ First paragraph

Exactly, Also what happens if the person is wrongly convicted as guilty and later on down the line when it could be too late they find the actual person who committed the crime?

Too many things can and knowing are legal system would go wrong if that was legal, I agree about letting 'dangerous people' staying here though, Get rid to where they came from, It shouldn't be our problem.

[marshy]

Do you mean the multinational tax avoiders ?

Companies like Amazon that employ thousands, give work to delivery drivers and a fantastic deal on prices to consumers. As Milton Friedman once said, it's not companies that pay taxes. People pay taxes and in the case of company taxes the people that pay are either a). shareholders in the form of lower dividends, b) employees , either by lower wages or no work at all or c).consumers by paying higher prices for the goods. Now if we think that the government can spend our money better than we can spend it ourselves let's give them more and more, we could even push tax free day back beyond May and into June or July.

As for the so-called 'tax avoiders', as has been said many times, if the government is not happy with the law they have the power to change it.

[Cambridge Batch Red]

Companies like Amazon that employ thousands, give work to delivery drivers and a fantastic deal on prices to consumers. As Milton Friedman once said, it's not companies that pay taxes. People pay taxes and in the case of company taxes the people that pay are either a). shareholders in the form of lower dividends, b) employees , either by lower wages or no work at all or c).consumers by paying higher prices for the goods. Now if we think that the government can spend our money better than we can spend it ourselves let's give them more and more, we could even push tax free day back beyond May and into June or July.

As for the so-called 'tax avoiders', as has been said many times, if the government is not happy with the law they have the power to change it.

I do take umbridge at our high streets becoming ghost towns or multinational monocultures with the same few shops.

The English small business man and shop owner needs protection from foreign-owned rapacious corporations.

[Eco]

Companies like Amazon that employ thousands, give work to delivery drivers and a fantastic deal on prices to consumers. As Milton Friedman once said, it's not companies that pay taxes. People pay taxes and in the case of company taxes the people that pay are either a). shareholders in the form of lower dividends, b) employees , either by lower wages or no work at all or c).consumers by paying higher prices for the goods. Now if we think that the government can spend our money better than we can spend it ourselves let's give them more and more, we could even push tax free day back beyond May and into June or July.

As for the so-called 'tax avoiders', as has been said many times, if the government is not happy with the law they have the power to change it.

Amazon, such a lovely company to work for.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/ed6a985c-70bd-11e2-85d0-00144feab49a.html

[marshy]

Amazon, such a lovely company to work for.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/ed6a985c-70bd-11e2-85d0-00144feab49a.html

Thanks for the link, an interesting read. I read the whole article, including the comments. I'm retired now but I can assure you that I've had some piss poor jobs in my time, some a lot worse than that. Although there are obviously some people happy with the employment opportunites provided. No doubt as the economy picks up and opportunities present themselves elsewhere Amazon will have to up its game if it wants to hold on to staff.

Doesn't invalidate what I said about the nature of Corporation Tax, however.

I do take umbridge at our high streets becoming ghost towns or multinational monocultures with the same few shops.

The English small business man and shop owner needs protection from foreign-owned rapacious corporations.

I think what the small shop owner needs above all is protection from rapacious councils. I talk to shopkeepers while I'm out and about shopping in my local village and the figures they quote me for business rates are staggering. A massive reduction in parking fees would also help footfall.

[Cambridge Batch Red]

I think what the small shop owner needs above all is protection from rapacious councils. I talk to shopkeepers while I'm out and about shopping in my local village and the figures they quote me for business rates are staggering. A massive reduction in parking fees would also help footfall.

Yes. Business rates are extortionate. So are high street property rental prices. If you wanted to open a shop it's unlikely you could afford to buy the property so you'd be forced to rent at usery rates. It's grim for the little shop man.

[Nibor]

Thanks for the link, an interesting read. I read the whole article, including the comments. I'm retired now but I can assure you that I've had some piss poor jobs in my time, some a lot worse than that. Although there are obviously some people happy with the employment opportunites provided. No doubt as the economy picks up and opportunities present themselves elsewhere Amazon will have to up its game if it wants to hold on to staff.

Doesn't invalidate what I said about the nature of Corporation Tax, however.

I think what the small shop owner needs above all is protection from rapacious councils. I talk to shopkeepers while I'm out and about shopping in my local village and the figures they quote me for business rates are staggering. A massive reduction in parking fees would also help footfall.

To give you an idea, on a small sized unit of 300 sq ft or so:

Clifton village - £15-20k a year lease plus about 8k rates

Cabot's Circus - Anything from £40k-80k lease plus £15k up in rates

Montpelier in Cheltenham is about the same as Clifton village.

Broadmead is slightly cheaper, the Mall is about 75% of Cabot's price.

Rates depend on the window size and lease varies on footfall mainly.

The problem for any convenience/food shop is supermarkets, they can only survive by massively specializing.

The problem for any other shop is about 90% "the internet", 9% asshole landlords and 1% councils.

You'll see people looking at stuff in shops and scanning barcodes with phones to place an order off amazon or whoever. I understand why but shops won't survive that for long, so there'll be nowhere to physically check something out.

The problem with landlords is that they will often not even consider leasing units to independent shops because they view chains as safer bets, and often will not take any responsibility for maintaining the property despite getting something like 8-10% of it's value every year in rent. (This is between two and three times what you get for renting a house or flat).

Council business rates are less of a problem than idiotic council planning decisions to be honest, they can kill a shop by just painting some lines in a street.

[TRL]

To give you an idea, on a small sized unit of 300 sq ft or so:

Clifton village - £15-20k a year lease plus about 8k rates

Cabot's Circus - Anything from £40k-80k lease plus £15k up in rates

Montpelier in Cheltenham is about the same as Clifton village.

Broadmead is slightly cheaper, the Mall is about 75% of Cabot's price.

Rates depend on the window size and lease varies on footfall mainly.

The problem for any convenience/food shop is supermarkets, they can only survive by massively specializing.

The problem for any other shop is about 90% "the internet", 9% asshole landlords and 1% councils.

You'll see people looking at stuff in shops and scanning barcodes with phones to place an order off amazon or whoever. I understand why but shops won't survive that for long, so there'll be nowhere to physically check something out.

The problem with landlords is that they will often not even consider leasing units to independent shops because they view chains as safer bets, and often will not take any responsibility for maintaining the property despite getting something like 8-10% of it's value every year in rent. (This is between two and three times what you get for renting a house or flat).

Council business rates are less of a problem than idiotic council planning decisions to be honest, they can kill a shop by just painting some lines in a street.

Ah well, when the high street and businesses die, it won't be long before landlord had wished they had reuced theri rent as half or more of their portflio sits decaying costing them thousands. They will learn.