There are two items currently populating the projects list: Game A Week and 0h Game Jam. Let's start from the latter: the 0h Jam.
For those who don't know, a short explanation: the 0h Jam is a global game jam (I'll talk about game jams in general in a later moment) about making a game in 0h. Yes, Zero hours. The trick is, the game jam is taking place during the 1h of daylight saving time switch, so it's starting at 2:00 AM and finishing at 2:00 AM. I started participating in a few game jams before, but it was all half-hearted attempts, without never actually finishing a game.
This time, I not only participated, I actually made a game. I went a bit overtime, but I created a stupid little game in nearly 0h: Falling Balls. (Another game I made is called Extreme Balls. I have a prototype called Balls. I have another one called Bouncing Balls. I'm starting to see a pattern...). I had all kind of problems making the game (thus the overtime), I talk about that on the game's homepage.
But I have to say participating in a game jam is great fun! Even though I was ill, alone and under stress, it was a great experience! I can't wait to participate in the next game jam (there are a lot coming up), it's really worth the time!
This might also be the first game I released that isn't buggy as hell. Yaay!
After a long internal struggle I decided, with some motivation from the great Adriel Wallick, to finally create a game every week, with the goal of improving my game-making skill, to create nice ideas, to make the worst games in my career so that I will only get better from here an and generally just to have fun! But really, go check out the page for the Game a Week Project.


text:
John Stokdyk
Editor at large
AccountingWEB
Any Answers comment Icon 240
Fate of the 50p income tax rate
During the past week or so, the AccountingWEB editors' in-box has been swamped with messages and press statements putting forward arguments for and against the 50% tax rate band.
Is this all an artificial bit of political froth generated to fill the silly season vacuum, or is it a vital debate in which the views of AccountingWEB's members need to be brought to the Chancellor and business secretary's attention?
I'm concerned that in this instance my habitual cynicism may have clouded my news judgement and I've ignored the comments from the likes of Ernst & Young, UK200Group and Richard Murphy to concentrate on other issues. Do many people here feel strongly about the issue and want to go into it in more detail?
As a quick overview, here are some of the points pro & con:
Srap the 50% band
"There's not much point in having taxes that are very economically inefficient." Chancellor George Osborne, Radio 4 Today programme, 16 August. The chancellor has reportedly asked HMRC to evaluate the impact of the rate on Self Assesment takings after its first year. The findings should be ready in time for the Budget.
"It punishes wealth creation by imposing on entrepreneurs and business people a marginal tax rate in excess of 50% once national insurance contributions are added in... This is particularly damaging when the UK needs to create new businesses in new industries and promote growth by small companies, which can grow fast. It applies to just 1% of taxpayers, who already pay 24% of all income taxes."
"A significant disincentive to doing business in the UK, providing a barrier to new business owners and executives from coming here, whilst also driving existing higher earners to foreign shores." Patrick Stevens, Ernst & Young
"If something is not bringing in a profit and it cannot be made to do so, there is no point in continuing... In business and economic terms, if the 50% tax rate is not covering its costs then it should be scrapped but politically that's a totally different question!" Jonathan Russell, UK200Group
"With National Insurance, top taxpayers pay over 50 per cent which means they are working more for the taxman than themselves... These high earners are often the creators of businesses and therefore jobs for those who do not have the same talent, management skills or qualifications. Do we really want to punish them for their successes and risk losing this hot-bed of talent?" John Kelly, Square One Financial Planning
Keep the 50% band
"By definition most small businesses aren't going to get in the top 1% of income earners – there are about 4m small businesses in the UK right now, at least (over 1m companies and 3m or so self employed). All small businesses that will grow fast will be limited companies – enjoying effective tax rates of around 20% or so, utterly undermining this argument." Richard Murphy, TaxResearch blog.
"According to recent articles, a 1% cut in income tax would cost the Exchequer £4.5bn. So these economists think that putting £10bn into the hands of 300,000 already-very-wealthy people is a better recipe for the well-being of the country than (say) cutting EVERYONE's income tax rates by 2p…" ChrisM, on Murphy's blog.
"The government is committed to a competitive tax system, but in reducing the deficit, we have always been clear that those with the broadest shoulders should carry the greatest burden." A Treasury spokesman reaffirming the government's commitment to the 50p tax rate on Tuesday 7 September.
Let me know if you're interested in this topic and what you think. If I've been mistaken about the significance, I'll make amends with a more detailed study of the arguments, and perhaps put it to a community poll. As always, your guidance is appreciated.
Why Cloud is the future of risk-based auditing
Replies (240)
By David Winch
08th Sep 2011 13:43
In times past income tax rates have occasionally exceeded 100% and I remember income tax routinely being charged at 83% - plus an additional 15% if the income was investment income (making 98% in total).
I cannot see why there is any excitement about a 50% rate!
By Paul Scholes
I don't think it's been in long enough to say one way or another but my gut (and it is substantial) feeling is to keep it in, say for 300 years? As David says, and is true of many things in our money grabbing society, taken in the longer-term this is not a draconian rate of tax.
However, it will be interesting to see how much the country actually makes from it, (or how many use their wealth to avoid it) and, of course let's not forget, the tax-take is one thing, what David/George & chums do with it is another.
By Owain_Glyndwr
£10k for all.
I think it's more important that we reduce the tax burden of the lower paid and middle earners.
The obvious thing to do would be to simply raise personal allowances to £10,000.
£10k is roughly the figure below which people are living in poverty as defined by the government, so, there is a clear moral argument that is is wrong to tax people while they are officially living in poverty.
However, hand in hand with that there must also be an argument that it is equally immoral and unacceptable for pensioners, the sick, and the unemployed, to be kept in poverty, so all pensions and benefits should guarantee a minimum £10k per annum income. This of course would COST a considerable amount.
However, giving these groups greater spending power would boost the economy, and much of the extra would find its way back to central government in the form of extra VAT etc paid by the benefit claimants.
As for the cost of bringing this social justice to the Country - the 50% rate would have to be scrapped - and replaced by a sliding scale of taxes from 50% to, say 75%, for the wealthiest.
Just how I wonder would the highest earners actually justify objecting to additional taxes if by doing so they were directly pushing the poorest into poverty ?
Replying to ShirleyM:
21st Sep 2011 15:37
10k for all
do i detect marxist socialism in this idea?
nevertheless inequality has spiralled since the advent of thatcherism and erosion of our manufacturing base/industrial policy(if ever ther has been one since harold wilson)
Replying to JC:
By frustratedwithhmrc
I didn't enjoy 1974 the first time around, rather not repeat it.
david5541 wrote:
As someone who indeed remembers 1974 when rates peaked at 83% for earned income and 98% for unearned income, we already know exactly how the highest earners would justify this - they wouldn't. They would take the same paths as before and either:
avoid the taxevade the taxleave the UK
It is highly unlikely those subject to the highest rates would actually stick around and pay them.
None of the above options makes it easier to pay down the deficit, in fact it would almost certainly reduce the overall amount of tax collected as per the theoretical Laffer Curve.
By Wiganer Elaine
I suppose it depends on your interpretation of "poverty"
"Poverty" in the UK cannot be compared in any way to the "real poverty" experienced by huge swathes of the population in Zimbabwe for example. "Poverty", generally is an emotive term and is used to confuse the issue when talking about "expectations" of certain sections of the populace living in the UK.
For example, my son was invited to visit a friend's home for tea. His home is a council house which is very tastefully decorated with trendy wooden flooring (at least downstairs), the ubiquitous modern 56" TV in the corner of the living room and a 2 year old Vauxhall (not sure which but beside the point) on the drive. Mother is living on benefits and has 4 children; father no longer around.
As a full-time working basic rate taxpayer with 2 children, I have to ask myself "am I an idiot for working when I could be sat at home all day living in such 'poverty'"? I suppose I choose to work because my upbringing emphasised the importance of working and earning your own living rather than expecting the "state" (ie the working taxpayer) to support you.
I am also pretty sure that the cost of this one household far exceeds £10k per annum!
Soaking the "rich" to pay for the feckless is not an option for any truly "fair-minded" person!
By Steve Holloway
Political suicide just now!
I don't think it would matter one jot if they 'proved' that it cost £50m or £500m .... to remove the burden on the 'greedy bankers' would be the final straw for a lot or lower paid people. Personally I am abivilent. I don't earn £150k and nor do many of my clients (if they do they don't draw it at any rate). Do I care whether bankers clear off abroad .... not a jot. Do I think entrepreneurs will move elsewhere because of tax rates ... I suspect they already would have gone if they were of that mid-set. Even entrepreneurs have spouses and kids in schools.
By ShirleyM
?? I never understand the logic
I am sorry if I appear thick, or naive, but I just don't understand the logic. What does 'wealth creation' mean? Does it mean creating more wealth for yourself, creating wealth for others? or Both? I just don't see what difference the tax rate will make.
A lot of high rate tax payers are employed. So how will reducing the 50% tax encourage 'wealth creation'?
If the high rate taxpayers are self employed, then they can employ someone else, thereby reducing their taxable profits, but providing an income for someone else. Would this be classed as 'wealth creation'? Surely the higher rate tax will encourage spending on things that will reduce the tax liability ie. new business and new employees.
Does punishing wealth creation mean someone doesn't bother earning another £100K because they will only actually benefit from £50K. What difference will this make overall, as it is likely that the extra £100K business will go to someone else, ie. there is no loss overall.
Will someone please explain it to me.
Replying to petersaxton:
By chatman
Wealth "Creation"
ShirleyM wrote:
What does 'wealth creation' mean?
The term became popular with the Thatcher government and was often used to imply that anyone rich had created wealth for themselves and others. Clearly this implication is incorrect; just look at the "trustafarians" running the country for example. Your comments regarding taking wealth from others also show how meaningless the term is.
Not a tax rate, just a political iceberg.
As David says, tax rates have been higher in the past. Indeed during most of the Thatcherite Revolution (1979 - 1988) the highest rate of tax was 60% and it has also been higher in the past prior to that.
However, it is also the case that for any tax that there is a sweet spot at which the maximum amount of revenue is earned, raising rates above this sweet spot leads to overall revenue being reduced. This is essentially the theory behind the "Laffer curve".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve
Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619 - 1683) stated it most plainly when he said "The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest amount of feathers with the least possible amount of hissing".
I personally believe that the introduction of the 50% tax rate in an economy as open as the UK's and at the level of earnings it was introduced at was not a revenue raising activity, but rather a political iceberg left by the Labour Government when they knew they were going to lose office.
The 50% rate appeals to Labour's core vote and you can be assured that Ed Miliband and Ed Balls will extract the maximum amount of political capital over it's repeal.
My biggest concern is that the 50% rate puts our headline tax rates well above our close competitors and acts as a barrier to inward investment and the movement of highly paid, highly skilled workers. This in turn limits GDP growth which is the only way we will get out of this crisis.
For this reason alone, it should be repealed. If Vince Cable and others feel the need to punish the bankers through their wallets then there are better ways of doing it.
By Barry1971a
Highly Paid = Highly Skilled?
frustratedwithhmrc wrote:
I think I would have been more inclined to agree with the above had the assertion not been made that highly paid individuals are highly skilled. Based on experience, there seems to be a rather large number of highly paid people with very little skills. This seems to be borne out by current trend to give out large payments to people who have driven the companies they work for to the edge of failure, and sometimes beyond.
political iceberg?
My biggest concern is that the 50% rate puts our headline tax rates well above our close competitors
by the way our main competitors-assuming you mean europe- have ridiculous rates of social security- unless you think we have singapore and malaysia whose students freeboot our eduction system as our competitors?
and acts as a barrier to inward investment- is it not for the government to stimulate this? by encouraging industrial investment? industrial expansion by uk companies
Close competitors ....
Have you seen the tax (or more pertinently) the social charges in France and Germany? The are astronomical compared with the combined package in the UK. It is also far more expensive to have employees in most of europe. So, I am with Shirley on this. We are talking about the top 1% and I suspect that the majority of those are not entrepreneurs but employed in financial services. All the wealth they ever created was pi***** up against the wall 3 years ago.
Surely inward investment is much more affected by CT rates anyway? I am in agreement that these have been reduced as I can see the point of that.
Ultimately we come down to economics 101
This still goes back to the basics of economics, specifically "tax incidence" and "elasticity". For corporation taxes, regardless of the % rates applied, the corporation does not bare the cost of the tax. The incidence lies with the employees (in reduced wages) and the shareholders (in reduced dividends), but I take your point.
It is likely that a rate of income tax of 50% (moving to 62% + when Employees NI is included) will lead to those reaching such rates taking avoiding strategies. This could be leaving the UK, increasing their leisure time or restructuring their activities so as to reclassify income as capital gains or corporate revenue.
Regardless of the method of avoidance (evasion aside), the 50% rate ends up not meeting HM Treasury's requirement of raising overall revenue and may indeed cause a substantial reduction in revenue.
It may very well be that the "bankers" are stuck in pure PAYE jobs where they just have to pay the 50% rate and "suck it up", however we seem to have moved from the sphere of pure taxation into the socio-political sphere.
Once the primary motives become political then economics and taxation become passengers on a journey into the unknown.
I didn't particularly enjoy this back in the 1970's when we last ventured into these dark and murky waters. I'd rather liquidate the capital and go and find a nice beach somewhere with a decent bar and I don't think I would be alone in that reaction.
I can't see that helping UK growth much...
By thisistibi
How can we decide when we don't know the 50% tax take
In answer to the question, how can we possibly make an informed decision until we know how much tax take the 50% rate generates. Jonathan Russell of UK200Group is absolutely right when he says it needs to turn in more income than it costs. If the tax take is good, then keep it - sod the whingers, we've got debt to pay.
All taxes are political surely?
The USA and Germany have had divergent tax policies for decades but up until recently were probably the strongest performing economies. If a tax system was purely economic then surely the best economies would share similar strategies. Germany has decided on a cradle to grave welfare system and the US prefers sink or swim low taxes. The UK tries to do both!!! All of that is politics though.
@ Thisistibi
We do lots of things to make us feel better. Prison doesn't work but damned if I want to scrap it .... same with the 50% rate for many people I suspect.
Then let us go back to Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations (1776)
"Every tax ought to be so contrived as both to take out and to keep out
of the pockets of the people as little as possible, over and above what
it brings into the public treasury of the state. A tax may either take
out or keep out of the pockets of the people a great deal more than it
brings into the public treasury in the four following ways.
First, the levying of it may require a great number of officers, whose
salaries may eat up the greater part of the produce of the tax, and
whose perquisites may impose another additional tax upon the people.
Secondly, it may obstruct the industry of the people, and discourage
them from applying to certain branches of business which might give
maintenance and employment to great multitudes. While it obliges the
people to pay, it may thus diminish, or perhaps destroy, some of the
funds which might enable them to do so.
Thirdly, by the forfeitures and other penalties which these unfortunate
individuals incur who attempt unsuccessfully to evade the tax, it
may frequently ruin them, and thereby put an end to the benefit which
the community might have received from the employment of their
capitals.
An injudicious tax offers a great temptation to smuggling (see *). But
the penalties of smuggling must rise in proportion to the temptation.
The law, contrary to all the ordinary principles of justice, first creates
the temptation, and then punishes those who yield to it; and it commonly
enhances the punishment too in proportion to the very circumstances
which ought certainly to alleviate it, the temptation to commit
the crime.
Fourthly, by subjecting the people to the frequent visits and odious
examination of the tax-gatherers, it may expose them to much unnecessary trouble, vexation, and oppression; and though vexation is not,
strictly speaking, expense, it is certainly equivalent to the expense at
which every man would be willing to redeem himself from it."
Adam Smith - The Wealth of Nations (1776)
* For smuggling we should replace both avoidance and evasion (having the same material effect to HM Treasury), as Adam Smith was writing in an age prior to the introduction of modern income taxes.
By colinhigginson
Different cultures
Interesting how many are pushing for a tax cut. In France, a group of the wealthiest people wrote an open letter to the government saying they were willing to pay extra and effectively offering a blank cheque.
Replying to chatman:
A blank cheque from the undertaxed elite? Don't make me laugh.
colinhigginson wrote:
If you scratch the surface on the PR piece put out by the representatives of the French elite (L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt et al) you will find that their offer was hardly a blank cheque. They were just putting down an offer to pay a certain amount of additional tax before someone forced them through legislation to pay a lot more.
Equally, we all know that public pronouncements are as nothing. If Mme Bettencourt feels so strongly about it she can write a cheque to the French Government.
The facility to make gifts to HM Treasury exists in the UK law as well.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1318975/Britons-donated-7m-help-pay-national-debt.html
* Edited to remove factual inaccuracy.
Ahhh - that factual Oracle
That is The Daily Mail :-)
By Democratus
At the risk of being contentious - Flat rate
Why should we all not pay the same rate - wealth creators and high earners will still pay more in quantum. The need for additional rates of tax has always escaped me. If i earn £30K and pay say 25% tax then I'll contribute £7.5K to the national coffers, if i am lucky to earn £300K then I'll contribute £75K.
Have a decent tax free rate for those in society who are at the bottom, they shouldn't need to struggle in the UK, we should be able to afford that. (ignoring a self imposed underclass and all the arguments that go with that). Then a flat rate on all sources on income, gain or otherwise.
It'll never happen in my lifetime though.
Replying to Cardigan:
There is a reason for progressive taxation you know...
Democratus wrote:
This comes back to the heart of the matter regarding the redistributive policies of so called 'liberal' governments (i.e. Labour, Lib Dems and the majority of current Conservatives).
If each person was to pay tax at the same rate then there would be no effective penalty for becoming filthy rich through your own efforts. By instituting a mechanism of progressive taxation whereby the rates of taxation ramp up to excessive levels across the income distribution then this provides a balance against people earning excessive salaries through PAYE and therefore makes it more equitable.
Obviously this world-view is entirely dependent upon you actually believing the idiocies espoused by the vast majority of this countries politicians.
The reality is that as rates get higher, there is more incentive to take tax avoidance strategies and given that Employers NI is an equal penalty to the employer for paying high salaries, they are effectively provided with an incentive to collaborate with their employee in tax avoidance. For evidence of this look at the actions of large corporates with high earning employees since the introduction of PAYE (footballers image rights, never-never loans, EBT's, etc).
The UK has been living beyond it's means for so many years that it would take a very radical set of politicians to change course. Those that are attached to the public teat (local government employees, central government employees, QUANGO staff, welfare recipients, etc.) would be storming the grounds of Parliament at the very mention of their precious state subsidies being removed.
The only hope that we have (strangely enough) is for those who purchase UK bonds to refuse them except at relatively high levels of interest payments. This is the ONLY thing that will force the UK government to put it's house in order and stop charging vast amounts to the national credit card. All the garbage espoused by parliament about austerity is exactly that - stuff for the 24-hour news channels and nothing more.
George Osborne may push his line about balancing the books and bringing the deficit under control, but until the figures actually show income matching expenditure, they are just meaningless phrases.
"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." William Shakespeare's Macbeth (Act V, Scene V).
By Old Greying Accountant
Personally ...
... I don't have a problem per se with the 50% band, or if they brought back the 60% that was there when I started out in accountantcy if, and it is a big IF, the tax collected is spent responsibly and efficiently.
As things stand neither apply and for that resaon I am totally against the 50% rate at present.
Replying to John Paris:
All governments have used fiscal drag to squeeze the vice...
Old Greying Accountant wrote:
Exactly. Since the vast majority of spending at all levels of government (local, central, QUANGO's, agencies, etc.) is far beyond all reasonable limits, I would argue that they have lost the moral and democratic arguments for taxation at these levels.
This not only applies to taxation at 50% + NI, etc, but also taxation at 40% + NI. My rationale for this is that the vast majority of taxpayers who pay the 40% rate only do so because fiscal drag has meant that rates have not kept up with rising incomes.
If tax rates had been increased in line with real earnings (real incomes rather than RPI or CPI), then the level at which taxpayers would be paying tax at 40% would be significantly higher than the current rates. In fact the 40% rate should probably kick in around £60,000 - £80,000 rather than the £35,001 for the present tax year.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/tax_structure/incometaxrates_1974to1990.pdf
The UK might be a much richer place than back in the 1970's, but it is also (for the most part) a more expensive place.
The government should be forced to cut it's suit according to it's cloth, but unfortunately all of the levers by which the economy is controlled (interest rates, issuance of government bonds, currency dilution, etc.) lie with politicians and their appointees, such as the Governor of the Bank of England. As such there is no mechanism by which they may be constrained by democratic means.
Seriously ?
50p tax rate damages people who pay 50p tax rate, say people who pay 50p tax rate
A campaign being promoted through a PR company to highlight the injustice of very wealthy people paying more tax than not very wealthy people has insisted that the 50p tax rate is unpopular amongst people who pay the 50p tax rate.
Twenty leading economists, who pay the 50p tax rate, have written to the Financial Times saying the 50p tax rate paid by high earners is doing "lasting damage" to high earners who pay the 50p tax rate.
Middle income and low income families have been sympathetic to the plight of those earning in excess of £150k a year.
"It must become harder and harder to find loopholes that allow them to avoid paying tax," said Lorry driver Graham Hennessey.
"I'm sure George Osborne will be the first to tell you that the tax advisers and accountants that helped him avoid £1.5m in tax didn't come cheap."
"Maybe the government could increase fuel duty or cut some more benefits for the disabled instead.?
"I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say we'd be happy to help improve the lives of people struggling by on barely more than £150k."
The letter, that includes two former members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee amongst its 20 signatories, has called for the coalition to drop the 50p tax at the earliest opportunity as part of a package of measures to ensure they have more money than they can actually spend.
"The 50p tax is disastrous for people who can definitely afford to pay it," said Bridget Rosewell, chairwoman of Volterra Consulting.
"It sends a message to entrepreneurs that if you can afford to pay more tax, then you will be expected to pay more tax."
"And people wonder why they put all their money offshore."
By MBK
I'm with frustratedwithhmrc
Having been in the profession long enough to remember the 60% rate I recall clearly that the overall tax take actually increased for several years after the top rate was cut to 40%.
There is a reason why the "tax mitigation products" industry is larger than ever at the moment. Pretty much all of our client base paying the 50p rate are interested in "tax mitigation". There is a level at which people will accept their tax obligations and a level at which they won't.
Whether that is "right" or "fair" for the country as a whole is irrelevant. The country's tax take is, after all, ultimately a collection of what all of the taxpayers pay. In the small sample we see through our practice the evidence is overwhelmingly that the 50p rate is counter productive for the overall tax take.
Whether that is "right" or "fair"
There is a level at which people will accept their tax obligations and a level at which they won't.
I don't have any fundamental problem with a specific tax rate, be it 40%, 50% or 60%. What I do have a problem with is progressive as opposed to flat tax rates.
My argument for this is that it is easy for the majority of the electorate to support high tax rates at the upper levels of the income distribution as they are unlikely to ever have to pay tax at those rates. It is the equivelent of saying "I vote for other people to pay more taxes". Since the majority have "no skin in the game" the strategy of tax the rich is appealing.
I suspect that if we had a flat tax regime this would create downward rather than upward pressure on rates and have a consequential effect on spending and the ever increasing expansion of government.
For this reason alone it will never happen.
By petestar1969
This makes me laugh
Anyone who is actually suffering the 50% tax rate has a rubbish accountant.
By pauljohnston
I shall never pay 50% tax
but I do belive that it is wrong. Mentioned earlier bankers etc that are on PAYE. Since the tax was announced some of the highly paid have left the city and gone abroad. That means we have lost their tax contribution for next year and and every year until they return. Some where I read if one person earning a million pounds leaves the uk. A further 100 earning £100k are needed to replace the tax lost.
If we talk about fairness then those earning at £150k + use very few of the "free services". They have private medical and dental insurance. Their children go to independent schools. Generally they pay the highest level of Council Tax. So that argument does not work.
Real job creators are needed in the UK always and if they leave they create the jobs in another country whom we are in competion with...
The real villians are politicans who seem to spend the Uks wealth poorly and on projects that make them look good.and therefore need high levels of tax to sustain the spending. But to be an MP you dont need any qualifications nor do you have to obtain CPD so there is little chance of a change..
Replying to FirstTab:
No lost tax contribution
pauljohnston wrote:
some of the highly paid have left the city and gone abroad. That means we have lost their tax contribution for next year and and every year until they return
As ShirleyM pointed out, if we lose their tax take, we gain that of the person who takes their job. Or is there a shortage of people willing to work for extortionate salaries in the City?
By Exector
Redistribution
I personally don't have a problem with taxation in part being a social engineering mechanism transferring resources from those who have a lot ( certainly more than enough in very high income cases) to those who have little or nothing. Obviously other people do have a problem with that! I wonder why?
By alancow.harveysmith.co.uk
50% Tax Rate
Like some of the comments previously made, of the small number of clients that we have that are affected by the 50% rate, an increasing number are more interested in 'tax mitigation products'. The end result is very little going to the treasury. As I see it, there are two main reasons. The first being that having earned your cash, you should be entitled to the lion share. Why should you want to give away half? I believe this is a psychological barrier, which I must admit I do not want to give half of my earnings to anyone who hasn't put in equal effort.
Secondly, it is the way in which government spends our taxes. The inefficency and waste would definitely appear to be more visible to those clients and they really don't want to see their taxes wasted. We are all quite capable of wasting our own cash after all! Again as mentioned in a previous posting many of these taxpayers pay for their childrens education privately, private medical cover, pensions etc.
And just really to throw the cat amongst the pigeons - should the fattest child at the birthday party be given the biggest piece of cake? Surely the cake should be divided equally amongst all in attendance.
Replying to PeterT1:
Earned or Unearned
alancow.harveysmith.co.uk wrote:
having earned your cash, you should be entitled to the lion share
If you have earned it then maybe yes, but who has earned more of their money, a guy who spends 8 hours a day hundreds of feet underground in a mine or a guy who sits in an air-conditioned office all day? And who ends up with most money?
It's not working out that way...
if we lose their tax take, we gain that of the person who takes their job.
For some, perhaps. However, in a lot of circumstances the jobs themselves are going overseas to places like Geneva, Zurich, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc.
There is no replacement PAYE income as both the person and the job are gone taking their taxes to another jurisdiction. Equally, once the jobs themselves go all of the ancillary jobs go, the secretaries, the security guards, etc.
So it is not just the loss of a single high earner that is the problem, once they have gone a lot of other jobs are eroded. There are consequences to this sort of thing as we saw in the 1960's and 1970's with the original 'brain drain', the most highly skilled scientists and engineers simply left the UK, mostly for America.
Replying to Flying Scotsman:
Does the job really disappear?
both the person and the job are gone taking their taxes to another jurisdiction. Equally, once the jobs themselves go all of the ancillary jobs go, the secretaries, the security guards, etc.
I can't think this would apply to any significant section of the economy, but am willing to be educated. Can you explain how it would?
They are takers. This country has too many takers. If anyone wants to go abroad to avoid british taxes then they should be refused re-entry. A bit of digression here, but I am sure they will want to come flocking back if they discover they need a massive heart operation costing the British taxpayers £100K. Of course, they won't have any earning potential by then, so the high tax rate won't be a problem for them personally.
The arguments used by big business and high rate taxpayers all stink of greed. So .. a big business employs 2k workers, therefore they contribute to the economy ... but those same workers also make massive profits for the company that doesn't want to pay the same tax as everyone else so they put pressure on the government by saying they will take their business overseas. It is nothing but selfish greed and blackmail.
So far, nobody has come up with an understandable, or logical, explanation.
I guess 'wealth creation' actually means those on high rate tax think they can make better use of the money than the government, and that the 'better use' they put it to will somehow magically result in better wealth, but for whom?
I can understand that some individuals may move abroad to avoid high rate tax. We already have the situation where large companies apply pressure to get special tax breaks so they will stay in this country and employ British people.
Eventually, the only people paying any tax at all will be the low paid! OK, a bit of an exaggeration, but I get fed up of the people who just want to have everything (or as much as possible ... all for themselves no matter what the cost to others), and give back as little as possible.
The money has to come from somewhere, and someone has to decide how we collect that money. Whatever decision the policymakers make, someone, somewhere won't be happy, but it does seem fairer to me, for the well off to pay a higher % (on some of their earnings) than those less well off.
@ShirleyM re "Wealth Creation"
I thought my post answered the question, and it doesn't seem far off your interpretation.
NI rates
Thanks Chatman ... I thought it was 'tongue in cheek' but maybe it is closer to the truth than anything else said here.
National insurance .. I don't hear any high rate taxpayers complaining that they save 10% on the NI Contributions when they earn above £40k. I wonder why???
Maybe they should just put a lot of money into pensions ..... but then they will complain when they have to pay tax on the massive pension, so we will be back to square one :(
The very size of the deficit illustrates the problem.
Spending is way out of line with income, with the difference being put on the national debt at the cost of future interest payments, which in turn will reduce our future earnings. This is not sustainable.
If we are raising taxes, but overall tax revenues are static or even falling then we have a problem which cannot be solved by raising taxes.
The only way to reduce the deficit is by cutting central and local government spending to match the amount raised in revenue. This is not an argument about funding tax cuts through closing "Skools n' Ozpitals".
We all know that there is massive public sector waste in the forms of unnecessary bureaucracy, overpaid civil servants shuffling paper that is neither needed nor required. Probably 30 - 40% of all central and local government expenditure could be cut without making a single teacher, policeman, nurse or doctor redundant. The difficulty is that the civil servants and local government officers have no incentive to support or deliver any reductions and are implicitly supported by the unions in this regard.
Why do you think that the first thing on the 'cuts' agenda at most local councils was not the administration, but the front line services (e.g. libraries). It is because the council executive knows full well that the easiest way to block cuts is to start at the front line and let the politicians hear the people shouting. It is both a cynical and effective method of blocking the cuts. How many chief executives have take a pay cut to 'share the pain'? Pretty much none - in fact they've increased their salaries as delivering service reform is a big and costly item.
I don't have a problem with paying taxes to fund the services that make this country what it is (NHS, Schools, Police, etc.). What I do have a problem is where 52% of a persons earnings (40% + NI) are siezed by the state through PAYE and then at least half of that is wasted.
The 50% rate is just a distraction.
"Brain Drain"
Can we stop using the term "brain drain" unless someone can show that rich people are really more intelligent than poor people.
I would have thought the fact that the UK has the lowest social mobility in Europe is some evidence that rich people are usually born rich. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/apr/14/social-mobility-internships
Should we allow people to be rich at all?
Rich and poor are relative terms. The richest man in a prehistoric village (biggest cave, fattest spouses etc) would not be considered poor by today's standards. By making someone richer, you automatically make the rest poorer. In fact, you could even make someone richer simply by making everyone else poorer.
Inequality is a major cause of social ills. http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/why explains it better than I could.
Sorry, but the context in which it was used in the 1960's and 1970's was nothing to do with wealth and everything to do with skills, primarily very well educated engineers and scientists.
I will however accept that the argument that something similar happening today would probably better be described using economics.
Lets call it "tax flight" (similar to capital flight). I cannot argue the merits of those considering this path (self included), but it is happening and it's not just the rich.
I am from a solid working class background and I have frankly had enough.
Replying to itsallsogood:
@frustratedwithhmrc "Brain Drain"
Ah yes, I see your point. We should definitely look at ways of encouraging such people to stay here. I would prefer non-remuneration methods such as top class research resources and facilities, greater prestige given to engineers and scientists by the media, etc.
Look at it the other way.
Isn't the real problem not the level of tax, but the level of government spending ?
No one I suspect objects to paying taxes for the NHS, defence, pensions, and social security. However, we have had a succesion of governments of all hues who seem to think that we should singlehandedly bail out every third world country that has a problem, that wastes vast fortunes of failed IT projects, and that hand out huge sums to families who manage to breed. We invite the world to come and settle here milking of NHS dry and using services they have never paid towards. We hand millions of pounds a day to europe to be squandered by unelected eurocratts.
With less foreign aid, closed borders, no EU to bankroll, and the state sticking to what it's supposed to do and no more, we could be arguing over the 25% tax rate instead of the 50% rate.
Replying to janefg:
Defence Spending
Owain_Glyndwr wrote:
No one I suspect objects to paying taxes for the NHS, defence, pensions, and social security.
It depends what you call defence. if it is the name you give to invading other countries at the behest of our government's US paymasters then I would say maillions do object.
Foreigners and state services
We invite the world to come and settle here milking of NHS dry and using services they have never paid towards.
I agree. Let's send the royal family back to Germany where they came from.
Replying to mattgriffiths:
chatman
chatman wrote:
Why bother with one small family ? First let's start by sending the English back to where they came from, handing the British Isles back to the Celtic peoples who first lived here.
Replying to Flash Gordon:
Good point. Where would we start?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Passing parameter to explicit ruby block Hello I'm trying to learn ruby blocks. But I have a trouble to get over this construction:
class SomeApp

  attr_accessor :load_listener

  def on_load(&block)
    @load_listener = block
  end

  def load(x)
    @load_listener.call(x) if @load_listener
  end

end

app = SomeApp.new
app.on_load { |x| puts 'on load #{x}'}
app.load(5)

I don't understand why result of this code is 'on load #{x}', instead of 'on load 5'
Any help is appreciated.

A: You're using single quotes (') instead of double quotes ("). String interpolation (#{...}) does only work with double quotes.
Change puts 'on load #{x}' to puts "on load #{x}".

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Previews and Predictions
The Oilers Need To Put It All Together
By Zane Tomich September 21st, 2017
Last season brought an overwhelming change in culture for the Edmonton Oilers. A revamped positive attitude and winning on a regular basis shifted things in a new direction. Peter Chiarelli knows that winning is a process and his team is still in the early stages of becoming great; but the Oilers surely cannot escape the heightened expectations of the upcoming 2017-18 season.
The results of 2016-17 speak for itself. A fourth place finish in the powerhouse Western Conference. Second overall in the Pacific Division. A first round playoff victory against the San Jose Sharks. Perhaps the most impressive of all is being one win shy of a Western Conference Final berth. One solid year did wonders for the Oilers.
It's hard to critique a team with such incredible achievements in one season. This year though, the Oilers really could go for it all. It's a major possibility if everything goes right; however, there are still a few areas to focus on if this team wishes to advance past the second round of playoffs.
Edmonton Oilers forward Zack Kassian. San Jose Sharks defender Paul Martin. (Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports)
Capitalize On Opportunities
In todays NHL, so many games are decided by one goal. The Oilers were kings at keeping a game close or winning by a singe goal last year. Everything is so defensive nowadays. Scoring goals is much tougher. With the potent offensive fire power and world-class speed the Oilers possess, they hold advantages over many other teams.
More often than not, the Oilers were outshooting many of their opponents in 2016-17. They ranked eighth overall with a combined total of 2547 shots on goal and 11th in shooting percentage with 9.5 percent.
With that being said, the Oilers just need to be consistent when it comes to scoring goals, especially at key moments in the game. Dry spells can be expected from time to time, especially when facing a hot goalie one night. But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how many shots your team can generate. All that matters is who has more goals after 60 minutes of play.
It is vitally important for the Oilers to stay committed and true to their fast-paced, relentless style of play. We know what inconsistency looks like, that's for sure. All you have to do is revisit game four of the first round of playoffs last season, when the Oilers lost the lead in the series after the Sharks pummelled them 7-0. Or the three straight losses the Oilers gave up from games three to five against the Ducks.
Game five is a harsh lesson about consistency for the team. Giving up a three goal lead in the dying minutes of the game is unacceptable.
The Edmonton Oilers lost to the Anaheim Ducks in the second round of playoffs in seven games last year. (Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports)
The Oilers cannot afford to have any passengers on their roster either. A championship calibre team has 12 forwards and six defenders that all contribute in some effective way. Jordan Eberle had a rough season and disappeared in playoffs. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins played well defensively, but his offence dried up. Patrick Maroon wasn't as effective in playoffs as he was during the regular season. In playoffs, everyone line has to make a difference.
These types of hiccups during playoffs will not suffice if a championship is to be won in Edmonton in 2017-18. Consistency is the key.
Old Fashioned Luck
When it's all said and done, having good puck luck and the right calls in your favour can determine a lot of outcomes. A bitter taste was left in the mouths of many Oiler fans after last seasons series against the Anaheim Ducks. One can say that it was a serious case of terrible luck for the Oilers as the officiating was often times questionable; but such an excuse cannot be made for a team expected to challenge for the Stanley Cup. Bad calls should not be blamed upon. It is Connor McDavid and his teammates job to rise to the occasion and find a way to overcome these obstacles.
The idea of luck is something that cannot be taught nor developed, however it can be integrated with the proper mindset. As long as the Oilers locker room remains confident, focused and positive, the results should follow.
Connor McDavid must lead the way again this season. (Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports)
You have to know what its like to lose first. Losing in the second round of playoffs to Anaheim last season was a pivotal learning curve for the Oilers. In fact if you ask me, I think it was the best thing that could have happened to them. It was necessary. You can't expect to win it all after a decade of losing. Building a winner takes time and patience. It requires extensive learning and meaningful experiences.
The Oilers are in a terrific position of strength heading into the 2017-18 season. All momentum gained from last seasons success should pick up right where it left off come October. So far so good in pre-season, as the Oilers remain undefeated. Another storm is brewing in Edmonton. This year will be huge.


Hear about the Tarbuton's Modern Hebrew program; Come to an Asefat Horim/Info meeting with Karin, our Rakezet on Sunday. October 6 in our Carmel Valley location at 1, 2 or 3.
Trial classes for Soccer & Yoga in Hebrew also available at 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. RSVP to rakezetclasses@tarbuton.org if you plan to attend! To see flyers click here.


It's the word the Bible writers' used to described the Christian message. It's a Greek word, they spoke Greek. It means 'Good news'.
Christianity is essentially news. It isn't advice, it's a report of something that happened and the implications of that news. Advice is saying 'do this and you'll be happier' or 'try this and you can be better.' Advice is offered and rejected, advice can be taken or left, news is different. News is static, news reports, news isn't concerned with your response.
Peter talking to the crowd on Pentecost declared boldly: 'You handed him over to be crucified but on the third day God raised him to life.' He describes an event, an occasion in history. He reports news.
Paul in 2 Timothy wrote: 'Christ Jesus died for sinners of whom I'm the worst'. He reports on the event of Jesus' death.
John tells the religious leaders in Acts 'There is no other name under heaven given to men by which they must be saved'. He declares truth, doesn't give advice.
NEWS, NEWS, NEWS… Our world is full of news. We have 24hr news channels, daily newspapers, news apps. on our phones and news bulletins on the radio.
When my son arrived in the world I was excited to deliver the news to my family and friends. Since the news broke, my life has never been the same since. The news reported on an event, an event (his birth) that has set my life in a new direction. I have a new routine, a new priority and even a new name.
The event of Jesus' resurrection is one of the most historically verifiable events of all time. The implications of that event are innumerable; life, the history of the world, the purpose of our lives have been set in an entirely new direction.
That's the difference that news can make.
The gospel is news, not advice.


text: module.exports = `async 2`

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Measures: 21 1/4" x 13 3/4"
The Oppenheimer-New York Historical Society Edition recreates the preparatory watercolor models John James Audubon (1785-1851) made prior to the publication of the double elephant folio edition of The Birds of America (1827-38) engraved by Robert Havell Jr. (1793-1878).
The New-York Historical Society and Oppenheimer Editions have an exclusive agreement to publish numbered actual-size facsimiles of all 474 of John James Audubon's avian watercolors in the museum's collection. The edition is limited to 200 prints of each image. With watercolor inks on watercolor paper, these prints directly capture the artist's hand and fundamental vision, unlike any publication before.


text:
Shallowater residents might be without mail after getting caught in middle of postal dispute
by: Claudia Puente
SHALLOWATER, Texas – Several residents on Eighth street and Avenue U in Shallowater are stuck in the middle of a mailbox issue between their land developer and the United States Postal Service.
"I mean, most people get it delivered right in front of their house and the issue that we have is we don't get that. We don't get that at all," said Dustin Ladd, a resident frustrated over the issue.
Man arrested on multiple charges, dog shot after attacking Lubbock police officer
Ladd is one of the many residents who have been without a mailbox in their yard for the past year. Instead, they've had to pick up their mail at the post office. But a letter from the post office said that's all changing soon.
"Now the postmaster said that we have until the end of March to get a P.O. Box or lose our mail," said Ladd.
Avenue U residents received a letter from the United States Postal Service stating "The Postal Service will not deliver to the new construction on Avenue U until a CBU (cluster mailbox unit) is installed in a location, proposed to, and approved by, the Postal Service. Further, the Postal Service will continue to hold customer's mail for pick-up at the Shallowater P.O. until March 31, 2023. After March 31,2023, customer mail will be returned to sender."
'I don't know what to do': Tumbleweed Invasion at homes across West Texas
Developer, Charles Hohertz said his previous development a block over in Avenue T has been able to have mailboxes in their front yard and believes that the postal office should allow new development to do the same in accordance to their Developers and Builders Guide.
In the Developers and Builders Guide, the Postal Service said "New homes built or established within a block of existing homes can only receive the same type of mail delivery service as the older, existing homes after the Postal Service has completed an operational efficiency analysis. When new delivery replaces more than 1 block. Delivery methods must comply with mode of delivery options for establishment and extension of delivery service, which is typically centralized mail service."
TCU supports 3-year-old fighting brain cancer ahead of CFP National Championship
Hohertz argued that his new development was a block over from Avenue U and should be allowed the same mail service. Yet the postal service stated in the letter to residents that the newly established or extended delivery points are in accordance with the Postal Operations Manual sec 631.24 which has been posted since 2018.
"It's affecting us especially because if it comes to March and we don't have a mailbox, all of our bills are going to be sent back. Then you look at the fact that we might have water shut off or something like that because we didn't know we had a bill that goes directly back to the sender," said Ladd.
Hohertz proposed an idea for several mailboxes to be lined up together on each side of the street. USPS said appeals can be sent in but are looked at and approved at in very rare exceptions on a case-by-case basis.
Murder suspect taken to Lubbock; witness says he was shot by 'accident' by another suspect
"I mean, it's not that hard. You can stack one over there and we'll all have keys, and we can go get our mail whenever we need to rather than trying to fit our time to get the mail in between the times that the post office is open. We just simply want the bare essentials that come with purchasing a house like that," said Ladd.
For now, residents can opt for a P.O. box until the developer and USPS come to an agreement.


Here are 20 of my favourite wallpaper images, about cool waterbirds - completely free for you in high resolution with greetings of Holi, the Indian festival of colours.
Click on the picture you like and it will open on a new page with that image in high resolution. You can then save it on your computer and use it as you wish! If you have an old computer with limited RAM, you may need to downsize these images as they are all high-resolution big files.
If you do not know what are wallpapers and how to use them, click the "Wallpapers" tab above (towards the top of the blog) for instructions.
And if you like these wallpapers, do share the link of this page through Facebook, Google plus and Twitter. So check these out and have fun!
I hoped you have liked at least some of these wallpapers. If yes, do not forget to share the link to this page through Facebook, Twitter, Google plus etc. Thanks in advance and happy holi, the festival of colours from India!
Clear and crisp images. Thanks for sharing the same!


text:
← Royal Green Jackets Vets Prepare To Celebrate 45th Anniversary Of Bryson Killing
Four Star Review For 'I, Dolours' Highlights 'Creative Re-Enactments' →
Is The Sinn Fein-British Royals' Coziness Linked To Mary-Lou's Commonwealth Plan?
'Softly, Softly Catchee Monkee', should have been the motto for Sinn Fein's peace process strategy, if you think about it. You know how it goes: mention an unmentionable enough times, people get used to it and soon enough the unthinkable becomes the doable.
The 1994 ceasefire was arranged in that way, repeated mentions along with denials that it would happen, giving way to a grudging acceptance of its inevitability and eventually delivered in a way that kept most of the faithful on board. So was power-sharing at Stormont and compliance with the consent principle, the acceptance of the PSNI and, of course, IRA decommissioning.
So forgive old cynical me if I see a little bit of the same in Mary Lou McDonald's weekend interview with The Journal in which she floats the idea of Ireland 're-joining' the British Commonwealth. Ireland quit in 1949 when the 26 counties declared themselves a republic. See below.
Now the British Commonwealth is headed by the British monarch of the day so I am wondering if it is entirely a coincidence that nearly every British royal who visits Ireland these days, especially south of the Border, gets to meet a leading Shinner.
Gerry Kelly, former IRA Adjutant-General (No 2 in the IRA hierarchy) and London bomber being the latest. Just a thought. You know how it goes: the more Royals the Shinners are seen with the more acceptable becomes the idea of rejoining the Commonwealth. Or am I taking a step too far?
Prince Charles meets Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly and Carol Cullen
Gerry Adams and Prince Charles share a cup of tea and a joke
Mary Lou McDonald: The idea of Ireland rejoining the Commonwealth needs to be discussed
The Sinn Féin leader said the Irish government must start to put plans in place for a united Ireland.
Sinn Féin party leader Mary Lou McDonald Source: PA Wire/PA Images
MARY LOU MCDONALD has said she is open to discussions on Ireland rejoining the Commonwealth.
In an interview with TheJournal.ie, the Sinn Féin leader said there must be an open debate in order to encourage unionists to participate in a discussion about a united Ireland.
McDonald said she cannot call for an openness, and then censor voices before the debate has begun.
"You can hardly make that call and then say 'we are not going to discuss any particular item'. And there are some people who think that rejoining the Commonwealth is a worthy proposition.
"I think those that hold that view need to put that view forward, and I think it needs to be looked at, and debated, and it needs to be discussed.
"It is not a proposition that I would be advancing – but I am me. This is not all about Sinn Féin. This is much bigger than us. The debate has to have the capacity to put everything on the table and then the business of debate and discussion in a reflective way, not a divisive way," she said.
The idea of Ireland rejoining the Commonwealth has been floated by a number of politicians, such as Fine Gael Senator Frank Feighan who argues that it would promote Ireland's values to a global audience, while strengthening and growing important economic and cultural ties internationally.
United Ireland
McDonald also said the Irish government needs to take the lead in the debate about a united Ireland and start making plans about how it might be achieved.
"I am firmly of the view that we are now on the way to a unity referendum. I think the genie is out of the bottle. I think the discussion around a new Ireland, how we might get there, and what it might look like is already underway."
She said she is "conscious that Brexit is a very bad thing for Ireland", adding that "for us to have a debate around the new Ireland and to have a referendum poll, obviously a chaotic Brexit is not the ideal music for that to happen".
However, she added that she in no way thinks Brexit means a border poll should be put on the back-burner.
I am not arguing for a delay. I am an Irish republican, I am the leader of Sinn Fein, I want us to achieve Irish unity and I want us to do it as soon as we can and I know for that to happen we need space and the best atmosphere we can have in which to have that debate.
But, if the Tories insist on crashing out of Europe, and take the north of Ireland out of the European Union "in chaotic manner", then the next question to be asked is the Constitutional one, said McDonald.
A border poll
Last week, she said "the time for a unity referendum is drawing near ". This comment came just days after an interview where she commented that a "crash Brexit" would not be the time to look at a border poll or a united Ireland.
"The Constitutional question [of a border poll on a united Ireland] would have to be put – there is no way the Tories could inflict that level of disorder, of uncertainty, and damage on the island of Ireland and imagine that they are not going to put the Constitutional question.
"But it does not represent the optimal atmosphere in which to have the discussion and debate, so that was the point I was making," said the Dublin Central TD.
Sinn Féin have already set out a five-year timeframe for when they believe a border poll should be held, but McDonald said she, nor anyone else, is in a position to guess the exact date.
Before a border poll takes place, detailed plans and discussions need to be organised, something the Irish government must act on now, said the party leader.
The government in Dublin have a particular responsibility for that. We have argued for a long time that there ought to be an Oireachtas committee on Irish unity, that we need to see a green paper on Irish unity. The time for planning and really putting the ideas on that table is now and the government here needs to lead on that.
Her comments come just a few short weeks after the former leader of the DUP Peter Robinson said he believed Northern Ireland should prepare for the possibility of Irish unity, though he said he did not think Northern Ireland will want to leave.
The voices of unionism
McDonald said it is "very important that unionism finds its space, finds its voice and follows the advice of Peter Robinson and takes its head out of the sand".
Unionism needs to set out "their wishes, their ideas, their ambitions – all of that needs to get underway", she added.
McDonald denied some of the comments made by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil politicians that a border poll would be divisive.
"The change is in the air, and coming this way, it cannot be ignored, it can't be denied, it can't be delayed, in my view. I have heard a lot of people say that the poll on unity would be divisive, it would be dangerous, it is one of these issues that is 'too hot to handle'. I don't accept that," said the party leader, adding that she believes the debate will be "liberating" and "invigorating".
"We have to ask, in the national interest, in the interest of people right across the country, what is the next move and the next move post-Brexit is to re-fashion Ireland on a 32 county basis.
"It is big challenge, it is a huge job of work, it is a job for all of us."
3 responses to "Is The Sinn Fein-British Royals' Coziness Linked To Mary-Lou's Commonwealth Plan?"
Christopher Owens (@MrOwens212) | August 11, 2018 at 4:41 pm | Reply
Kevin Meagher has suggested the same thing in his recent book, arguing that it would be a hands across the barricade gesture to Unionists.
Terrytonic (@terrytonic) | August 13, 2018 at 1:00 pm | Reply
The very fact that Unionism is now even discussing the possibility of a British withdrawal should not be dismissed lightly. For years even the mention of the very possibility was answered by the usual calls of 'Lunday!!!'. The very fact that Peter Robinson wrote such an article at it was published, in the Belfast Telegraph of all places, should been seen as something of seismic significance.
The fact is that Britain will withdraw because of Unionism not despite it. Unionism has a terrible history of selling itself. It has offered nothing but bigotry, homophobia and religious fundamentalism. And with Arlene Foster stating she would leave in the case of a United Ireland, it suffers from terrible leadership. Mind you an Ireland without Foster is a selling point on its own.
Interesting time ahead,
Lauren Alder Ⓥ (@LaurenAlder) | August 13, 2018 at 3:09 pm | Reply
Another step towards a 32 county, capitalist monarchy?


verb Third-person singular simple present indicative form of postpone.
Stay tuned for our next episode when Tim again postpones reviewing his books so he can then do it all at once - like a giant late night report writing session.
Kitchen and nursery are hushed before the needs of office and study, and the professional telephone call postpones the orders to the butcher.
If no-one saves, that is to say postpones or forgoes spending, whether individuals, companies or governments, there is nothing for the borrower, the mortgagor - unless we print money or re-invent toxic assets.
There is always something that postpones the agenda of the poor and takes their place as the most central issue.
Further development of our oil resources only briefly postpones the inevitable day of reckoning.
The New York Philharmonic, which faces $24 million in unfunded pension liabilities, has reached a deal with its musicians' union on a two-year contract that postpones a fight over the players' pension plan.
Bob postpones any further visits from the professor to allow me "to heal".
Just maintaining proper body weight improves life expectancy and postpones chronic disease.
The two-week spending plan merely postpones a heated battle between House Republicans, who have pushed for cuts of up to $100 billion in spending, and Senate Democrats, who say such cuts go too far.
Nancy, who is a transplant from London, postpones her own plan: Now I don't know what to do about my 50th birthday trip.


How to solve algebraic equations.
How to find the slope of a straight line.
Numerical coefficients in the equation of a line.
PBL (Project Based Learning) system approach.
How to work with Circle Graphs.
Parallel Lines and its characteristics.
Solve equations with algebra tiles.
Copyright\'a9 2003-2004 MarioDuarte.net, Inc. All rights reserved.


text:
'Station 19': Are Carina and Maya Dating off-Screen? Stefania Spampinato and Danielle Savre Real Life Partners Revealed
After watching Station 19 on May 20, 2021, many viewers want to know if Stefania Spampinato and Danielle Savre are dating in real life. The actors portray Carina DeLuca and Maya Bishop on the Grey's Anatomy firefighter spinoff. The two women show a deep connection and chemistry between them in the series, so viewers want to know more about their off-screen relationships.
[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from Station 19 Season 4 Episode 14.]
'Station 19' Season 4: Stefania Spampinato as Carina DeLuca and Danielle Savre as Maya Bishop | Raymond Liu/ABC/ Getty Images
Is Carina DeLuca Leaving 'Station 19'?
Before discussing Spampinato and Savre's off-screen relationship, a Station 19 Season 4 Episode 14 recap is necessary to understand their on-screen connection. In the May 20 episode, Carina DeLuca packed for her trip back to Italy because her American Visa ran out. Meanwhile, Maya Bishop focused on how upset she was that her love was leaving. The two women shared things about themselves that they never revealed before, and it caused some friction.
Carina told Maya that she didn't believe in marriage; however, Carina thought when they moved in together, that was a commitment equal to marriage. Carina also admitted that she wanted children; however, Maya revealed that she did not. After numerous heated arguments, Carina left for the airport, refusing Maya's marriage proposal.
Marina pic.twitter.com/U1V57gGrdw
— Station 19 (@Station19) May 20, 2021
RELATED: 'Station 19' Season 4 Finale is Coming Sooner Than You Think
However, on her way there, she spoke to her ex-lover in Italy. The woman on the phone made Carina realized that she didn't want to leave Maya. Instead, she found Maya and told her that she wanted to marry her.
Carina DeLuca is not leaving the Station 19 cast. She still planned to fly back to Italy to spread her brother, Andrew DeLuca's (Giacomo Gianniotti), ashes. However, she plans to stay for one month in her native country and then return to America and Maya.
Is Danielle Savre married?
Danielle Savre from Station 19 is not married. However, she might have a significant other. According to the Chicago Tribune, Savre was dating Blackhawks hockey analytics/video analyst Andrew Contis in 2019. However, the actor does not share photos of her and Contis. The pair grew up together in the same area of California. There's no information about Savre and Contis in 2021 so it's possible they broke up.
'Station 19': Is Stefania Spampinato married?
The actor who plays Carina on Station 19, Stefania Spampinato, is not married. She has a prominent social media presence; however, she does not share photos of herself and a significant other. In a recent interview with a fellow cast member, Danielle Savre, Spampinato answered questions about a potential date.
Which one are you in a relationship? The Maya-type who is punctual and worried about being late or are you the Carina-type who will change until the outfit is perfect, even if it means being 20 min late? @spampistefania #Station19 pic.twitter.com/mIjGwSniAx
— Danielle Savre (@D_SAVRE) April 16, 2021
RELATED: 'Station 19': Here's Why the Series' Creator Chose the Number 19
In the Instagram live, Spampinato admitted that she would love her date to cook for her. Her favorite type of vacation is a trip to the beach. The actor also shared that she has to feel strongly about going out on a date with them. Her dream is to fall in love at first sight.
During the video, viewers could tell that the two have that same great chemistry off-screen. Since neither Spampinato nor Savre is married, fans can still hope that they become an item in real life.
Station 19 airs on Thursdays at 8 p.m. EST before Grey's Anatomy on ABC. Station 19 Season 5 returns for fall 2021.


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LightWave 3D is a 3D computer graphics program developed by NewTek. It has been used in films, television, motion graphics, digital matte painting, visual effects, video game development, product design, architectural visualizations, virtual production, music videos, pre-visualizations and advertising.

Overview
LightWave is a software package used for rendering 3D images, both animated and static. It includes a fast rendering engine that supports such advanced features as realistic reflection, radiosity, caustics, and 999 render nodes. The 3D modeling component supports both polygon modeling and subdivision surfaces. The animation component has features such as inverse and forward kinematics for character animation, particle systems and dynamics. Programmers can expand LightWave's capabilities using an included SDK which offers Python, LScript (a proprietary scripting language) scripting and C language interfaces.

History

In 1988, Allen Hastings created a rendering and animation program called VideoScape 3D, and his friend Stuart Ferguson created a complementary 3D modeling program called Modeler, both sold by Aegis Software. NewTek planned to incorporate VideoScape and Modeler into its video editing suite, Video Toaster. Originally intended to be called "NewTek 3D Animation System for the Amiga", Hastings later came up with the name "LightWave 3D", inspired by two contemporary high-end 3D packages: Intelligent Light and Wavefront. In 1990, the Video Toaster suite was released, incorporating LightWave 3D, and running on the Amiga computer.

LightWave 3D has been available as a standalone application since 1994, and version 9.3 runs on both Mac OS X and Windows platforms. Starting with the release of version 9.3, the Mac OS X version has been updated to be a Universal Binary.

The last known standalone revision for the Amiga was LightWave 5.0, released in 1995. Shortly after the release of the first PC version, NewTek discontinued the Amiga version, citing the platform's uncertain future. Versions were soon released for the DEC Alpha, Silicon Graphics (SGI), and Macintosh platforms.

LightWave was used to create special effects for the television series Babylon 5, Star Trek: Voyager, Space: Above and Beyond, seaQuest DSV, Lost, and Battlestar Galactica. The program was also utilized in the production of Titanic as well as Avatar, Sin City, and 300. The short film 405 was produced by two artists from their homes using LightWave. In the Finnish Star Trek parody Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning, most of the visual effects were done in LightWave by Finnish filmmaker Samuli Torssonen, who produced the VFX work for the feature film Iron Sky. The film Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius was made entirely in LightWave 6 and messiah:Studio.

In 2007, the first feature film to be 3D animated entirely by one person made its debut, Flatland the Film by Ladd Ehlinger Jr. It was animated entirely in LightWave 3D 7.5 and 8.0.

In its ninth version, the market for LightWave ranges from hobbyists to high-end deployment in video games, television and cinema. NewTek shipped a 64-bit version of LightWave 3D as part of the fifth free update of LightWave 3D 8, and was featured in a keynote speech by Bill Gates at WinHEC 2005.

On February 4, 2009, NewTek announced "LightWave CORE" its next-generation 3D application via a streamed live presentation to 3D artists around the world. It featured a highly customizable and modernized user interface, Python scripting integration that offered realtime code and view previews, an updated file format based on the industry standard Collada format, substantial revisions to its modeling technologies and a realtime iterative viewport renderer. It was planned to be the first LightWave product to be available on the Linux operating system. However, on June 23, 2011, CORE was cancelled as a standalone product and NewTek announced that the CORE advancements would become part of the ongoing LightWave platform, starting with LightWave 10 (which was originally LightWave HC, intended to be a transitional software system comprising the classical Layout and Modeler applications during the initial stages of CORE, in order to supply compatibility with the existing toolset for LightWave).

On December 30, 2010, NewTek shipped LightWave 10. It added an interactive viewport renderer (VPR), interactive stereoscopic camera rigs, linear color-space workflow, real time interactive physical teleoperation input (Virtual Studio Tools), and data interchange upgrades.

On February 20, 2012, NewTek began shipping LightWave 11 Software, the latest version of its professional 3D modeling, animation, and rendering software. LightWave 11 incorporates many new features, such as instancing, flocking and fracturing tools, flexible Bullet Dynamics, Pixologic Zbrush support, and more. LightWave 11 is used for all genres of 3D content creation-from film and broadcast visual effects production, to architectural visualization, and game design.

On January 31, 2013, NewTek shipped LightWave 11.5 which debuted a new modular rigging system called Genoma. The flocking system was reworked, gaining predator and prey behaviors. The bullet dynamics system was improved to include soft body dynamics, wind forces and to react to bone deformations. Interlinks to After Effects and ZBrush (via GoZ) were added as well. New tools, based on a new experimental subsystem were added to Modeler. It was originally thought that this subsystem would allow further enhancements to Modeler, but disclosures by a developer in the main user forums (since removed by moderators) indicated that this approach had been too problematic and another avenue was being considered to enable Modeler to evolve. FiberFX, the hair/fur system in LightWave, also saw improvements with the 11.5 release, to work with soft bodies and to also directly support curves from Modeler for guiding hair. Additionally, braid and twist support was added, to ease creation of complex hairstyles.

On November 1, 2013, NewTek shipped LightWave 11.6. This release brought a new animation tool, spline control, along with improvements to ray casting (to enable items in the scene to be precisely positioned on a surface, with optional offset. nVidia's CgFX was also implemented, albeit via the legacy shader system. STL support was added to enable output suitable for 3D printers. The virtual studio system was also enhanced to support a LightWave 3D group-authored add-on called NevronMotion, enabling direct motion capture (full body and facial) using consumer devices such as the Kinect (on Windows only) and re-targeting via a simplified user interface. A simplified Python system was made available for the Modeler environment and for common functions. The timeline for Layout support via this simplified system has not been disclosed. Alembic support was also introduced. Since the release of 11.6, two minor patches have been released to resolve software issues (11.6.1 and 11.6.2). In early May 2014, 11.6.3 was released to address a licensing system limitation.

On November 24, 2014, NewTek released Lightwave 2015. The release upgraded Bullet physics integration (constraints, motors, dynamics affecting bones), Genoma rigging automation plug-in with scripting, edge rendering, and the dynamic object parenting workflow. It also added a plate perspective matching tool, and Importance sampling to Global illumination. The retail price was lowered by a third.

On January 1, 2018, NewTek released Lightwave 2018. Features include: Physically Based Rendering System, Render & Light Buffers, New Volumetric Engine, OpenVDB Support, New Lighting Architecture, Surface Editor - Material Nodes & Surface Preview, Virtual Reality Camera, Modifier Stack & Nodal Modifiers, New Cel Shader & Enhanced Edge Rendering, More Integrated FiberFX, Layout-based Parametric Shapes, Physically Based OpenGL, & a Noise Reduction Filter. New Modeler Features include: "A 'Layout View' viewport shows the current camera view from Layout. In addition, LightWave 2018 Modeler provides new fully interactive tools including Lattice, Smoothing, Array and Spline Bridge to speed up your modeling."

In January 2019, LightWave 2019 introduced new integration tools with Unreal Engine, animatable mesh sculpting and painting in Layout, new UV mapping and UDIM tools (as well as support for smoothing groups) in Modeler, improved FBX interchange, shading model customization tools, new shape primitives, OpenVDB creation, shading/rendering enhancements, and workflow/UI improvements.

Modeler and Layout
LightWave is composed of separate programs, primarily Modeler and Layout. Each program provides a dedicated workspace for specific tasks. When these two programs are running simultaneously, a program called Hub is used to synchronize data between the two.

Modeler, as the name implies, includes all of the modeling features used to create the 3D models, while Layout includes features to arrange the 3D models, animate, and render them. Layout offers ray tracing, global illumination, and render output parameters.

This separation is unique among 3D computer graphics packages, which commonly integrate their modeler and renderer. NewTek asserts dedicating workspaces for specific tasks creates an arguably more efficient 3D production workflow. A long-standing debate in the LightWave user community has consisted of whether or not to integrate Modeler and Layout into a single program. In response to this, NewTek has begun an integration process by including several basic modeling tools with Layout.

There is also a command-line network rendering engine named Screamernet which can be used to distribute rendering tasks across a large number of networked computers. This is used to reduce the overall time that it takes to render a single project by having the computers each rendering a part of the whole project in parallel. Screamernet includes all the features of the rendering engine that is integrated in Layout but without an interactive user interface. LightWave supports 999 render nodes natively.

Features

Dynamics
LightWave provides dynamics physics systems supporting hard and soft body motion, deformation, constraint, motorization, environments, and particles. It interacts with 3D object models, bones, and hair (FiberFX). LightWave includes both Bullet and legacy proprietary (comprising ClothFX, SoftFX, HardFX, ParticleFX emitter, wind, collision, and gravity) dynamics engines.

Hypervoxels
Hypervoxels are a means to render different particle animation effects. Different modes of operation have the ability to generate appearances that mimic:

Metaballs for objects like water or mercury, including reflection or refraction surface settings
Sprites which are able to reproduce effects like fire or flocking birds
Volume shading for simulating clouds or fog type effects.

Material shaders
LightWave comes with a nodal texture editor that comes with a collection of special-purpose material shaders. Some of the types of surface for which these shaders have been optimized include:

general-purpose subsurface scattering materials for materials like wax or plastics
realistic skin, including subsurface scattering and multiple skin layers
metallic, reflective, materials using energy conservation algorithms
transparent, refractive materials including accurate total internal reflection algorithms
dielectric shading to render the behavior of light rays passing through materials with differing refractive indices

Nodes
NewTek expanded LightWave's parameter setting capabilities with a node graph architecture (Node Editor) for LightWave 9. This Editor enabled broad hierarchical parameter setting on top of its fixed and stack-based parameter setting support. Example node types include mathematical, script, gradient, sample, instance, group, and shader. Nodes are usable within the Surface Editor, Mesh Displacement, and Virtual Studio features. A node plug-in API was released for third party developers to add their own nodes.

A notable example of third-party node development is Denis Pontonnier's Additional Nodes. These free nodes enable modifying images, renders, procedural textures, Hypervoxels, object motions, animation channels, and volumetric lights. Also they enable particles and other meshes to drive node parameters.

Scripting
LScript is one of LightWave's scripting languages. It provides a comprehensive set of prebuilt functions you can use when scripting how LightWave behaves.

With LightWave 11, NewTek added Python support as an option for custom scripting.

LightWave Plug-In SDK
The SDK provides a set of C classes for writing native LightWave plug-ins.

Licensing
Prior to being made available as a stand-alone product in 1994, LightWave required the presence of a Video Toaster in an Amiga to run. Until version 11.0.3, LightWave licenses were bound to a hardware dongle (e.g. Safenet USB or legacy parallel port models). Without a dongle LightWave would operate in "Discovery Mode" which severely restricts functionality. One copy of LightWave supports distributed rendering of up to 999 nodes.

See also

 Computer generated imagery
Comparison of 3D graphics software
 Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
 The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

References

External links

NewTek's official site
List of projects which were created with the help of LightWave

1990 software
3D graphics software
Amiga raytracers
IRIX software
Global illumination software
3D animation software
Proprietary software that uses Qt
Software that uses Qt

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Overall, the cable is enough strong and durable to tolerate the day to day rough usage but from my point of view, it should be more flexible because in cold environments due to the hardness of the cable's PVC, it might get cracks. Although, the cable is worth to buy still the price is tad high. However, if you want some branded cable with quality and long length you can go for the Belkin MIXIT↑ USB-A to USB-C Charge Cable.
We all are facing one problem, the short length of USB cables. Generally, the length of the charging cables come along with mobile phones are short. Now you might think, how it would create a problem? For example, if you have put your phone on charging in a car and the same time you want to use it on the back seat, then it might not be possible due to the short length of the cable. Also, the quality of the USB cable that comes along the phone is not always that much good.
Whatever the reason is, the market has numerous USB cable manufacturers but only a few of them are the well-known brands, like Belkin. If you are the USB Type-C cable user, like me, then the Belkin has the Mixit USB-C to USB-A charging and data transfer cable. After using it around 2 weeks with my Oneplus 5 phone, here is my review and opinion. Let see whether it is worth to buy or not.
Compatible with USB-C enabled devices including MacBook, Chromebook Pixel, Google Pixel, Nintendo Switch, LG G5, and many more.
Inside the box of the Belkin MIXIT↑ 2.0 USB-C to USB-A Charge Cable, you will find a cable and a note which lists materials used in the cable.
The Belkin 2.0 USB C to A cable is available in multiple colors such as black, Red, white, green, and purple. The one which we got for review was in Red color. The design of the cable is quite simple and same like most of the USB Type-C cable possess. The thing which makes it different is the isolation on the ends of the connector.
In the below-given picture, you can see that the isolation at the end of the connector is quite strong. And the wire is merged with the connector in such a way, it seems like both are one single piece. The connector uses a metal shield to protect PCB and E Marker. This also minimizes radiated emissions levels and provides additional mechanical strength.
The PVC material used as the insulation or outer layer for the inner cable protection is enough strong and durable but also quite hard and lack of softness as compared to mine original phone's Type-C cable.
The Belkin MIXIT↑ USB-A to USB-C Charge Cable can use with any type of Type-C devices such as Oneplus, Samsung Galaxy, Chromebook, MacBook and even compatible with the Thunderbolt 3 ports. It can use to charge and share data as well as to sync photos, music from the laptop at transfer speeds of 480 Mbps. Plus, the cable also supports up to 3 Amps of power output for charging USB-C devices. And that's why it can also be used with fast charging devices and adaptors. But be sure that your phone doesn't use some unique charging capability or technology like the Oneplus 3, 5 or 6 smartphones do. The Oneplus phones use a Dash charging to charge the phone quickly. And the output amp of the Dash charger is 4 Amps; in such case, this cable is not going to support the quick charge. So, be sure about the technology or Amp being used in your device fast charging before buying it. Also, note that the cable is 2.0 and if your device original cable is 3.0 or 3.1 then you also have to comprise with data transfer rate.
But the thing is you always get what you pay for? And the same thing is applicable here, the price of the Belkin MIXIT↑ USB-A to USB-C Charge Cable in India is ₹ 1299 (around ₹ 1300). The cable also certified by USB-IF that ensures all electrical, mechanical, and environmental standards; it means it not going leave any kind of potential harm on your devices.
Overall, the cable is enough strong and durable to tolerate the day to day rough usage but from my point of view, it should be more flexible because in cold environments due to the hardness of the cable's PVC, it might get cracks. Although the cable is worth to buy, still the price is tad high. However, if you want some branded cable with quality and long length you can go for the Belkin MIXIT↑ USB-A to USB-C Charge Cable.


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Large, ornate knives such as this were typically used in the Northern Philippines for ceremonial occasions or for the decapitation of criminals. This unique example was crafted in the Philippines and it has a sharp blade of 5160 / D2 high carbon steel. It was tempered to possess a hardness of about 58-60 HRC.
The thick-tang of the blade is fitted to two halves of carved hardwood and a brass bolster. The knife is matched with a scabbard of carved wood with rattan bands. It is fitted with a metal belt clip that also acts as a retainer for keeping the blade sheathed by grabbing the bolster when sheathed.
Please Note: It is typical for the tropical hardwood used to create the scabbard and grip of these weapons to possess small cracks in the wood due to its adjustment to our more temperate environment. We inspect these items for large cracks and will not send such items to you. We will however send items that may have small, light cracks. These are light cosmetic blemishes and we will not send you an item with a crack that impacts the usefulness of the weapon and its structural integrity. These light cracks are common to the type of wood used.
By routinely applying a coating of protective oil you can protect the wood from drying out in your own home.