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[Peoplesoft bloke]

Out of the blue a recruiter sent me a linkedin about a ("up to") £600 a day 6th month gig today. I was slightly tempted until realised that even if it lasts the 6 months there's not much else out there.

This is the first sniff of a worthwhile gig I have had in more than a year...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Yep, I get loads of insect bites in summer - even more so if I go somewhere hot(ter).

[Peoplesoft bloke]

You make it sound as if DERA became Qinetiq - but it didn't. There was a split and some of DERA remained government run. Source - I worked there at the time....

[Peoplesoft bloke]

As usual, The Eye is right on the money...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I'd have been happy to leave it as it was. The triple lock was a Tory reaction to Pensioners getting a 75p rise one year during the Blair years when Brown was chancellor....

[Peoplesoft bloke]

State Pension has been taxable since 1946.
Thatcher made unemployment benefit and some others taxable in 1981/2....

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I don't think it's a controversial view at all, in fact it's exceedingly common to encounter such blanket assertions online from people with right wing views, of which there's no shortage.

Just as it would be a mistake to pretend everything Thatcher did was evil and wrong, it would be silly...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Of course it would, but that would have been a clear way to communicate, not a faux-intellectual bit of arse....

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I agree but probably not for the same reasons. Oddly, any attempt to challenge/question/disagree with points made by some posters is met with a series of weird unrelated and condescending posts instead of addressing the actual issues raised....

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Went to Portugal in June. The EES system wasn't in operation on entry, minimal queues, passport official just looked at passport, no stamp.

On exit, the EES machine didn't want to take my prints etc (assume as it didn't "know" I was even in Portugal) - directed me to official...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

or if you prefer - tax Policy associates -

Mrs Thatcher is still heralded as a tax-cutter by many. But what actually happened to UK tax revenues, as a proportion of GDP, over her premiership?

They went up a lot, then down a fair bit, but not as much as they went up.
...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I was talking about Thatcher - she quit in 1990.

Here's one of a number of sources -

Creating a Dynamic Society: The Tax Reforms of the Thatcher Government

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 March 2017

Margaret Thatcher initially...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Here





I absolutely can, which is why I was careful to mention that taxes rose not, just just in absolute (revenue) terms, but as a proportion of GDP.

The tax burden - as a proportion of GDP increased over the period of Thatcher's leadership....

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Well no, and of course nothing I've written suggested that.


Ah, so increases in tax paid for.....er .......reductions in tax, and was spending tax in "useful directions" unlike today.
Well that all makes perfect sense....

[Peoplesoft bloke]

So what good things did Thatcher spend the tax revenues on exactly? Apparently it wasn't "stuff" or "people", so what?

I am 64 by the way so I did live through some of this.

Also the classic "it's envy" sneering - presumably based on the bible...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

You're countering an (admittedly) oversimplification with another. In it's purest form, you describe a great version of capitalism, but the actual world doesn't work that way. Many so called wealth-creators are nothing of the sort (except for themselves).

I'd love to hear about all the...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

What useful directions?...