User Profile

[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?...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

There were 20 candidates (including Khan and Binface) - are you saying the other 18 were all "far-right nut jobs"? I suspect at the very least, the Tories and Lib Dems might quibble with that description....

[Peoplesoft bloke]

A bit hyperbolic, and not what anyone is saying just because some of us didn't love Thatcher.



Most developed nations have ended up as largely capitalist mixed economies. Not many Countries privatised State Monopolies for purely ideological reasons. Thatcher did create a...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

As I said, we don't and cannot know because that isn't what happened.

I think a lot of young people today trying to get a start and make a living might question how Thatcherite policies have helped them - especially in relation to housing. Also the water privatisation (i am old enough...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Thatcher made a lot of changes, no argument. Whether they have been an overall improvement is subject to debate, and we don't (and can't) know what would have happened if we'd not had our Thatcher revolution (like France).

I see one of Burnham's early ideas is to scrap digital ID.
...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Everyday folk are great at

Not being insured
Driving away without stopping
Having false plates/lying about who they are
Arguing straight out lies about what happened
crash for cash

So, once again, I'm not sure why technology has to be uniquely perfect...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

It seems to me that the speed of assessing the situation was key - along with the river as a possible emergency landing place. Nothing in any of that is incompatible with AI as far as I can see.

I'm not arguing Capt Sully isn't a hero for what he did - just that it's becoming less and...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

100% agree - it's times like this when I miss Dilbert, although it was probably covered.

Like the current rush for AI, Agile adoption at most places consisted of some high-ups telling everyone to insert the word Agile into a lot of things....

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Why are you both insisting AI couldn't have identified the Hudson as an option?

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Pretty easy - will ignore all speed limits, tailgate the flip out of anything/everything and ignore any rules/courtesy that doesn't suit them. A bit like people trying to barge you out of the way on the tube - expect everyone else to recognise their innate superiority and importance and defer to them...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

No argument from me about keep flying skills - BUT in simulator exercises, other pilots got back to the airport (or landed at Teterboro) about half the time - and that was relying on human decisions too. That landing is (rightly) hailed because no-one died, but ditching in a river is a big risk - lucky...