So, first of all apologies that we haven’t so far done a “Where’s…” this week, although maybe we will manage later in the week.
I’m having problems with my phone, Panda Paws is having trouble with her emails… and Bongo didn’t go out because he thought Panda Paws was going.
It’s just one of these weeks…
So here are a few Random Thoughts I’ve collected over the last few weeks.
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Winston needs to be more British
Didn’t Suella Braverman say that the Charter of Human Rights was a very un-British thing? Obviously Winston wasn’t British enough for her. She really is a daft old bat.
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I wonder if there is a day goes by that Murty or her dad don’t profit from being in the family of the PM
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So, really, what is all this “change” they keep talking about?
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Well, there you have it
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Imagine your kids getting that from lunch...Fantastico
Here…Vomito
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Interesting information
There is only one rich place in the UK. It’s London, of course, and it is richer than even Luxembourg, Brussels, Vienna and the Paris Region.
(A suggestion from a chartered accountant friend of mine who has worked in several of these places and is now in Glasgow, says that of the ones he’s worked in London is by far and away the most corrupt.)
The poorest areas in Western Europe are, all but one, in England, Wales and the north of Ireland. Hainaut in Belgium is the only one on the list outside of Britain.
Also interesting to see that Scotland has none in either catagory.
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Renfrew WHAT?
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That must be a bit of a boon to the coffers of the Republic
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And finally… Whit’s guid tae gie’s no ill tae tak
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MUNGUIN'S NEW REPUBLIC 
Recall an old joke of the lighthouse variety.
How many Wee Frees does it take to change a lightbulb ?
A – Change !!!!! CHANGE !!!!!!!!!!#☆☆ !!!😡😡😈😈
Seems like a good slogan for the Outer Hebrides Labour candidate, no ?
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Ha ha ha ha ha.
Nice one Inverdarroch!
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Though Labour wouldn’t keep universal credit, they will scrap and introduce a voucher system and/or workhouses. Same as the Tories.
Had a letter from the Labour candidate for our constituency in Edinburgh, sent from, er…Cramlington in ‘Newcastle’, actually I suspect Cramlington is in Northumberland. Anyway I have amended it for them and will send it to their Edinburgh office.
Looking at the pictures it does seem that England’s UK politics is a mess, it’s corrupt, and verging on being anything but democratic. Scary.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cramlington
Indeed you are correct.
I hope you sent it back without a stamp!
How will a voucher system work.
They give you food vouchers and you have to swap them for goods at Tesco? Way to humiliate people.
Why don’t they give you a badge to wear that says “scrounger”.
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What a state we’re in (meant in both senses); corruption, gaslighting by politicians and an opposition that’s every bit as bad as the Government (looking out for the rich at the expense of the rest of us). Marx was right, its the rich v the proles. The other Marx got it right too when he said “These are my principles. If you don’t like them, I have others”.
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Everything is pretty bad, isn’t it.
And after 15 years of austerity not working, all they have is more austerity.
There is only so much belt tightening you can do.
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Have never shopped in Tesco since their threat during the Scottish Independence campaign. Plenty of alternatives. Usually Aldi.
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that showed them 🙄
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The thing is, if it makes you feel a bit better to withhold your custom, it’s good for you.
It doesn’t bother them at all.
Wasn’t there some scandal about the head of Tesco years ago in London (some sort of fiddle), and eventually she resigned and left the country.
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ASDA did the same thing.
As did B&Q. They threatened us that if we voted for independence they would shut stores.
So we didn’t vote for independence and…. they shut stores.
Sainsbury lied about food shortages after Brexit.
I find the best stores to shop in are Lidl and Aldi. Home Bargains is OK too.
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Braverman … The daughter of migrants 🤷♂️who married a migrant .
talk about kick away the ladder after they crawled up it .
personally I’m not in favour of open door migration. Although I’m not for drowning them in the sea either.
and as a Tory MP saud . It would be cheaper to put a migrant up in a 5 star hotel in London than pay to send them to Rwanda..
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Yeah, the Bravermans and Patels of this world make you laugh…
As for the policy on migration, I’d suggest that if Britain wants to continue to pretend that it is the second most important country in the world and to sit at the high table, maybe it should start obeying the rules.
If it doesn’t then I hope that it is kicked off the top table to leave a space for a civilised country.
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UK 🇬🇧 so small now doesn’t even reach the table top .
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Sitting under the table at America’s feet.
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https://www.facebook.com/reel/396905993177267
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Starmer recently promised to retain the triple lock in State Pensions for a further five years if he’s elected. I wonder how long that ‘promise’ will last. Watch this space.
When you live in rural areas your choice of supermarket is rather limited unless you want to do a regular 60 or 100 mile round trip every week or two. There is a Lidl (round trip ~ 40 miles) but I have to say I was never impressed with the customer service at check out where the stuff from your trolley was literally thrown back at you as quickly as possible and you were expected to bag up your purchases on the way out the door. A member of staff was very rude to me in front of other customers once, too, for absolutely no reason. I should have reported her, but instead never went back. They never had enough staff on duty.
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I wouldn’t trust a word that Sir Starmer said.
There seems to be great variation in the standard of service you get in Lidl. Some are fantastic and some are not.
My local Lidl is awful. They never have tills on unless the queue for self service goes away back. And only yesterday I was using a self service till because there was nothing else available and I was buying glue with is age restricted.
So, lights were flashing and I was told an assistant would be with me shortly.
Their definition of shortly and mine are obviously different and so i left the shopping, including frozen good and went home, glueless!!!
The one in Blairgowrie, on the other hand, is great as are several others.
The quality of staff seems to have reduced dramatically over the last few years.
Living out in the country must massively limit your choice.
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Starmer writes his pledges in pencil and some on white paper using a white pen.
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:). That’s a Monday kinda thing.
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Political parties all over Europe are having to adjust their policies to ageing popoulations. I can’t think of a policy pledge more secure than the pension triple lock.
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I hope they keep it. I think they will be very wary about binning it. I’m sure the Tories would love to and it’s been proposed over and over again, but they pull back, as presumably their research shows it would be as popular as…, I dunno, Liz Truss.
I talking generalities here, but many pensioners have a different cost of living from people working.
Two of their biggest expenses are heating and food.
I know pensioners who have REALLY struggled these last few years with enormous hikes in electricity and gas… and at one point when inflation was said to be at around 10%, food inflation was reckoned to be nearly doubt that.
Although the most recent pension increases have been relatively generous, they are smaller than they seem at first because of the increases in tax.
The reduction in National Insurance payments will not affect pensioners.
I can’t help thinking that Britain should have been better prepared for the large number of pensions it now has.
After all, they didn;t suddenly arrive out of nowhere. Back in the late 40s and 50s at Baby Boom time, someone somewhere must have been aware that these people would be pensioners in 60-70 years. And although they wouldn’t necessarily have known at that time that life expectancy would grow, as it happened, surely someone would have picked up the fact that people were living longer.
Maybe if we stopped punching above our weight (David Cameron’s proud boast) and stopped trying to be America’s deputy, we might have enough money to ensure that in a cold winter, a fair number of pensioners wouldn’t be sitting inside scared to turn on their heating, and wearing outdoor clothes.
It breaks my heart to hear how miserable some are.
One night I met an old guy in Lidl. He had looked lost wandering about with nothing in his basket every time I passed him…and eventually, I asked if I could help him.
He thanked me but said that he wasn’t going to buy anything, but it was a lot warmer in Lidl than it was in his house.
How sad.
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The Tesco tax one is factually wrong. All income tax arising in the UK is subject to UK tax. If he lives in Ireland and claims to be UK non-resident only his UK income would be taxed here. His world wide income would then be for the Irish Tax authorities to deal with. His UK income tax paid would be considered for Irish Tax purposes in an assessment and any UK tax paid would be credited against his Irish tax bill under the double taxation agreements between Ireland the UK. If he paid more in the UK than charged in Ireland no refund is due but if there was to be a further liability in Ireland the UK tax paid in the UK would be credited and the balance due in Ireland would be chargeable there.
I used to hear a lot of people going on about Sean Connery being a “tax exile” thinking he paid no tax here. He did on his income arising in the UK but not on his income elsewhere.
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OK, thanks, Marcia. Tesco operates in Ireland too, though. Is it possible he is paid by the Irish Tesco, despite being overall responsible for Tesco?
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Yes, it would be taxed by Irish Tax authorities.
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