Poor darsy

People like to moan. You know that.

 

Interesting piece doing the rounds in the papers about the
Mayor of Calais having a pop at the British benefits system
causing the i-legal immigrants queueing up in France to
get into Britain.

She claims the reason they do this (rather than claim asylum
in France) is that they get benefits from the moment they
claim; apparently they get accommodation and £42 a week spends.
The papers are quoting an average wage in Somalia at £120 a
*year*, so no wonder they queue up.

Anyone care to guess how much the gubmint would save if they
adopted the "nothing for six months while we investigate" rule
that the French have would save?

/Daily Mail

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, antonye

Yes...

Last time we were in South Africa we were chatting to a barman, and Mrs
WUN joking said "We should hire you!".

By the time I'd finished wincing the guy had practically got his flight
booked. He'd heard about the minimum wage, translated that to Rand and
thought the UK's streets were paved with gold.

When I told him what he'd be paying to rent a shitty room on the
outskirts of London I could see the disbelief in his eyes.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - "He's hopeless, but he's honest"

I have already made the greatest contribution to the fight against climate
change that I can make: I have decided not to breed. Now quit bugging me and
go and talk to the Catholics.

 

Heh. Reminds me of what's written large on the back of the piste map
at Engelberg. "Die steuerguenstigste Ski Resort der Alps."

The tax difference between there and where we were previously paying
tax is actually greater by far than the cost of the mortgage.

Which is nice.

 

What does £150k pa work out as take home per month?

 

why?

The budget barely affects me at all.

 

wrote:

The only thing in it that's going to affect me is the NI increase that
was announced in the previous budget and that's hardly the end of the
world.

I certainly don't think I'm going to notice a couple of pence on a pint
of beer - it may be different for those outside of London.

 

According to the budget calculator on the BBC website, I'm actually
going to be about £200 a year better off.

Which is better than nothing, I suppose.

 

there was a good example of the North/South divide as relates to the
price of booze in the pub on Saturday night.

I bought a round which was 2 pints of beer, a pint of cider, a bottle
Smirnoff Ice, and two large glasses of wine, and this was just over
£20, which I thought was bloody good[0].

A little later I overheard two Northerners[1] having a conversation
which was running along the lines of "By 'eck the beer's fucking
expensive down here".

[0] in some the pubs I usually drink in, the two glasses of wine on
their own mightn't be far off £20.
[1] not sure which[2]
[2] does it matter?

 

I reckon the black horse is quite cheap as it goes. I certainly pay
more in the city centre pubs that I more frequently drink in, but I
don't really consider them overpriced either.

 

My rule-of-thumb is to knock off a third and divide by ten for monthly
take-home, but it may run into reciprocity failure at that level. And I
can't see that sort of remuneration being purely PAYE.

 

It fails quite dramatically at my level of remuneration too, even with
my taking pension payments into account.

 

Everything counts in large amounts...

 

that calc would have me taking home about a grand more a month than I
do.

we have scores of people working here who earn that or more on PAYE.

 

The grabbing hands grab all they can.

 

and in conclusion: Platy's talking bollocks.

 

running a few numbers, it would appear to approximate correct take-
home until the 40% tax band, but fails after that. So, I guess that
excuses him.

 

I very rarely go to pubs, but I have a feeling draft bitter is around
£1.70 a pint.

 

Having bought more than several pints of "draught bitter"[1] last night
in Richmond, I know that I was paying a lot more than that. About
£2.80, on average I reckon.

[1] Real ale

 

<g> Bugger!