Killer Arguments Against LVT, Not (386)

We would no longer get fabulous headlines in The Daily Mail like this:

VAT inspector pocketed £1.2million from her buy-to-let property empire while not paying tax in scam with her husband
* Savita and Naveen Seth had buy-to-let empire but failed to declare income
* Couple were found to have owed £171,400 in capital gains and income tax
* The couple also falsely claimed £63,983 in Job Seeker's Allowance
* Naveen was jailed on Friday and Savita handed a suspended sentence

There'd be no VAT or CGT anyway, far fewer buy to let empires, those that remain would be paying most of their tax at source, and with a Citizen's Income-style welfare system, there would be practically no welfare fraud.

What a boring world that would be, eh?

"Doctors urge schools to ban racquets in squash"

From the BBC:

More than 70 doctors and academics are calling for a ban on racquets in squash matches played in UK and Irish schools.

In an open letter to ministers, they say injuries from this "high-impact collision sport" can have lifelong consequences for children. They argue two thirds of injuries in youth squash are caused by contact with the opponent's racquet and urge schools to move to catching and throwing the ball instead.

Supporters say dodging your opponent's swings to avoid injury builds character and other forms are less challenging.

The concerns have been raised as a seven-year programme headed by England Squash is on target to introduce the game to a million children in state schools across England. The programme, which began in 2012 and is running until 2019, has so far reached 400 schools, with 350 to follow.

"Indian Uber driver drugs & kills 14 family members, commits suicide"

From RT:

Indian man has wiped out his entire family, including seven children, before hanging himself. Police sources report that the assailant added a sedative to the meals, so the drugged victims would not wake up during the bloodshed.

Hasnin Anwar Warekar, 35, has brutally murdered 14 of his relatives in the Indian city of Thane, 20 miles from Mumbai, police report. The carnage is believed to have taken place overnight Sunday, when all the residents of a single-story house were asleep after a family party.

Actually he was an accountant, I just changed it to "Uber driver" to sex up the headline.

Town planning - strange road layout.

Forty or fifty years ago, two or three large gardens near where we live were amalgamated into one new development and a new side road was created (St Andrew's Close: "Oh no he isn't!" shouts the crowd). The back row of houses is the sensible way round, parallel to the main street (Queens Road), but the front four are sideways on. From Google Maps:



As a result of this quirk:

1. People across the main street and at the end of St Andrew's Close have to look at the solid brick walls at the side of the ends of the front four houses; those in the back gardens of the front four have to stare at the solid brick wall of the house immediately to the right.

2. Those at the top right hand side get less sunshine in the day time.

3. They fitted in only four houses along the front, rather than five or six had they made St Andrew's Close an L-shape (turned 90 degrees clockwise) rather than a T-shape.

4. It spoils the look of the street a bit (all the other houses face the front).

5. When the sun is setting in the west (left hand side), the best time for sitting in the garden, the back gardens of the front four houses in the shadow - as a quid pro quo they get more sunshine in the early afternoon, but that is usually wasted because you are at work.

Can anybody think of any good reason for doing it like this? The only one I can think of is that the back gardens of the houses along the front might have ended up a few feet shorter, but at least they would have been more 'open'.

Peak stuff

From The Daily Mail:

The amount of stuff Britain consumes has fallen by around a third in just over a decade as the world became increasingly digitised, new statistics have revealed.

The figures, from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), show that the average Britain used just over ten tonnes of stuff in 2013, compared to 15 tonnes of material in 2001. The measure, which includes food, fuels, metals and building materials, shows that Britain may have passed 'peak stuff', a term relating to how much material people use.

Just goes to show, doesn't it? I have no idea whether it really is true, but it seems perfectly plausible.

Best Laugh All Day...

Headline in the online Telegraph:

"PM:  The only Project I am interested in is Project Fact"

facepalm

(May have gone by now)

Fun Online Polls: US Presidential election, round 2

The results to last week's poll were predictable enough...

Who do you think will be the US presidential candidates in 2016?

Hillary Clinton (D) 73 votes
Bernie Sanders (D) 20 votes

Donald Trump (R) 83 votes
Ted Cruz (R) 8 votes
Marco Rubio (R) 7 votes
Ben Carson (R) 1 vote
John Kasich (R) 0 votes

This week is the grand final, who do you think will (would) win, Hillary or Donald? Please note - not who would you like to win, but who do you think is more likely to win.

Vote here or use the widget in the sidebar.

King Of The Jungle

And?

There's a lot of people outraged on Twitter (when aren't they) about this Tweet

@ilduce2016: “It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.” – @realDonaldTrump #MakeAmericaGreatAgain"

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 28, 2016

And yes, apparently those are Mussolini's words. And yes, Mussolini was a shit, but if you forget Il Duce said it, is there anything wrong with it?

Daily Mail on top form

Woman's skull is found in grounds of £4m mansion once owned by Drambuie whisky dynasty