The Politics Thread 4

[Oblomov Boblomov]

It wasn't a sexist question, and it's a perfectly legitimate asinine question used to show that politicians are just like us, regular people with interests, and are able to answer questions off-script without having to resort to pre planned statements and slogans.

Totally agree. She should have just said something like 'I'd neck a bottle and run through a field of wheat'. It would have been a bantocalypse and her approval rating would have shot up about 20pp.

[Moggy]

It wasn't a sexist question, and it's a perfectly legitimate asinine question used to show that politicians are just like us, regular people with interests, and are able to answer questions off-script without having to resort to pre planned statements and slogans.

Totally agree. She should have just said something like 'I'd neck a bottle and run through a field of wheat'. It would have been a bantocalypse and her approval rating would have shot up about 20pp.

It's funny because it's true.

[Grumpy David]

A party that seriously considers Rees-Mogg as leader is going to elect a gay woman? I don't think so.

The only party to have a female prime minister...twice...and without relying on discriminatory all-women shortlists.

Yeah they can elect a gay woman.

[Lex-Man]

A party that seriously considers Rees-Mogg as leader is going to elect a gay woman? I don't think so.

The only party to have a female prime minister...twice...and without relying on discriminatory all-women shortlists.

Yeah they can elect a gay woman.

She could also easily beat up the rest of the party.

[KK]

Caffè Nero sold £288m of lattes last year... but did not pay a bean in tax: Coffee chain is branded 'parasitic' as it claims loss

Caffè Nero has not paid a penny in UK corporation tax for a DECADE despite selling around £2billion of lattes and flat whites.

The company that controls the chain’s 637 shops in the UK and Ireland, Italian Coffee Holdings, has just reported sales of £288million for the 12 months to May 31, 2017 – but paid zero corporation tax for the year.

Italian Coffee Holdings, which has its headquarters in London’s Covent Garden, made a profit of just under £26million. But it paid no UK corporation tax because its parent company made a £25.5million loss. The red ink was caused by interest payments on its large borrowings from banks.

Corporation tax is charged at a rate of 19 per cent on a company’s profits, but if firms make a loss they do not have to pay anything.

Caffè Nero, founded by Californian private equity mogul Gerry Ford in 1997, has paid zero corporation tax to the British Exchequer since 2007.

In that year, Mr Ford, who had previously listed the company on the London Stock Exchange, turned it back into a private company. In order to do so, he borrowed large sums from banks. At the latest count, the Caffè Nero group’s net debt is around £300million.

The annual interest payments on those loans has been larger than the profits ever since, leaving Italian Coffee Holdings’s parent company, Caffè Nero Group Holdings, running at a loss.

Directors said that meant ‘no entity within [the group] was due to pay tax for the year’.

The coffee chain’s ultimate parent company is incorporated in the tax haven of Luxembourg. Mr Ford holds controlling stakes through two firms based in the Isle of Man.

The rival chain Starbucks made a £200million voluntary contribution to HMRC when consumers threatened a boycott of the brand.

There is no suggestion Caffè Nero has broken any tax rules and it has created nearly 1,000 jobs in the past three years.

But Paul Monaghan, chief executive of the Fair Tax Mark ethical accreditation scheme, said its tax arrangements are ‘parasitic’ and ‘insulting to the intelligence of the British people’.

He added: ‘Time and time again, the likes of Caffè Nero come up with reasons to avoid paying their share of corporation tax.’

A spokesman for Caffè Nero said the company ‘has always, and will continue to pay, all applicable taxes due in the UK’. It paid more than £61million of other taxes such as VAT and payroll levies to the UK Government in 2016-17.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mark ... le-5485883

About time customers started going elsewhere. It’s not like there’s a shortage of places to get a cup of coffee these days.

[Grumpy David]

Britain's 'worst ever' child grooming scandal exposed: Hundreds of young girls raped, beaten, sold for sex and some even KILLED

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/britains-worst-ever-child-grooming-12165527

SPECIAL SUNDAY MIRROR INVESTIGATION: Authorities failed to act over 40 years - despite repeated warnings to social workers - with up to 1,000 girls, some as young as 11, abused in Telford

Social workers knew of abuse in the 1990s but police took a decade to launch a probe.

Council staff viewed abused and trafficked children as “prostitutes” instead of victims, according to previously unseen files.

Authorities failed to keep details of abusers from Asian communities for fear of “racism”.

Police failed to investigate one recent case five times until an MP intervened.

One victim said cops tried to stop her finding out why her abusers had not been prosecuted because they feared she would talk to us.

Add Telford to this list: Rochdale, Rotherham, Newcastle, Derby, Bristol, Keighley, Aylesbury, Halifax, Peterborough, Oxford and Banbury

Deliberately vague language of "Asian" (Turkey all the way to Japan) but betting money would be on men of Pakistani Muslim backgrounds.

[Dual]

What can be done? The police are too afraid of upsetting the Muslim community.

[Lex-Man]

Caffè Nero sold £288m of lattes last year... but did not pay a bean in tax: Coffee chain is branded 'parasitic' as it claims loss

Caffè Nero has not paid a penny in UK corporation tax for a DECADE despite selling around £2billion of lattes and flat whites.

The company that controls the chain’s 637 shops in the UK and Ireland, Italian Coffee Holdings, has just reported sales of £288million for the 12 months to May 31, 2017 – but paid zero corporation tax for the year.

Italian Coffee Holdings, which has its headquarters in London’s Covent Garden, made a profit of just under £26million. But it paid no UK corporation tax because its parent company made a £25.5million loss. The red ink was caused by interest payments on its large borrowings from banks.

Corporation tax is charged at a rate of 19 per cent on a company’s profits, but if firms make a loss they do not have to pay anything.

Caffè Nero, founded by Californian private equity mogul Gerry Ford in 1997, has paid zero corporation tax to the British Exchequer since 2007.

In that year, Mr Ford, who had previously listed the company on the London Stock Exchange, turned it back into a private company. In order to do so, he borrowed large sums from banks. At the latest count, the Caffè Nero group’s net debt is around £300million.

The annual interest payments on those loans has been larger than the profits ever since, leaving Italian Coffee Holdings’s parent company, Caffè Nero Group Holdings, running at a loss.

Directors said that meant ‘no entity within [the group] was due to pay tax for the year’.

The coffee chain’s ultimate parent company is incorporated in the tax haven of Luxembourg. Mr Ford holds controlling stakes through two firms based in the Isle of Man.

The rival chain Starbucks made a £200million voluntary contribution to HMRC when consumers threatened a boycott of the brand.

There is no suggestion Caffè Nero has broken any tax rules and it has created nearly 1,000 jobs in the past three years.

But Paul Monaghan, chief executive of the Fair Tax Mark ethical accreditation scheme, said its tax arrangements are ‘parasitic’ and ‘insulting to the intelligence of the British people’.

He added: ‘Time and time again, the likes of Caffè Nero come up with reasons to avoid paying their share of corporation tax.’

A spokesman for Caffè Nero said the company ‘has always, and will continue to pay, all applicable taxes due in the UK’. It paid more than £61million of other taxes such as VAT and payroll levies to the UK Government in 2016-17.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mark ... le-5485883

About time customers started going elsewhere. It’s not like there’s a shortage of places to get a cup of coffee these days.

This is sad news for me, they are my favourite coffee shop chain. I've tried to get into the independent shops in my area but there coffee is terrible.

[Hexx]

twitter.com/hendopolis/status/972960011637919745

Um...death?

[satriales]

Not blocking the inquiry, and not accepting Russian donations would be a start.

[Moggy]

Not blocking the inquiry, and not accepting Russian donations would be a start.

twitter.com/trickyjabs/status/972960144056348673

[Moggy]

strawberry float me it’s like we are back in the 70s

Police are investigating an incident where white pupils allegedly tied a black student to a lamppost, whipped him with sticks, and called him racist names as part of a “mock slave auction”.

The board of governors at the secondary school in Bath, in Somerset, has allowed three of the alleged perpetrators to return to school after they were originally expelled.

Parents were not told about the alleged incident – where seven teenagers allegedly carried out the attack at school during lunchtime on 22 January – until yesterday, the Bath Chronicle reports.

The headteacher of the school, which has not been named to protect the victim’s identity, initially expelled three of the alleged perpetrators - but governors allowed the teenagers to return to class.

Four other boys were only excluded for around a fortnight for their actions.

The incident emerged just a week after police arrested two students for racist chanting directed at a Nottingham Trent University student in her halls of accommodation.

The school in Bath said it “thoroughly investigated” the incident in January and said it took action “in line with statutory procedures”.

The pupils’ parents did not wish to comment but other parents were shocked to hear of the abuse.

A father of a pupil the school told the Chronicle: “I've got a mixed-race son. He's thinking 'They're going to stick up for the white kids but we get in trouble if we do something wrong'."

His partner agreed, saying she was still ”reeling“ from shock at the school’s approach to the situation. "I want that child to know he's got people around him, supporting him, who will not tolerate that kind of behaviour," she said.

She added: "The boy it happened to is just the sweetest little thing ever. He's so sweet and kind and gentle. It just makes it even worse.”

The mother called for the boys’ parents, the school and the governors to take responsibility. “Someone has to be held accountable for it. Someone has to say sorry,” she said.

In a message on Tuesday, the school said: “[The allegation] involved a group of established friends and related to a single incident of unacceptable behaviour within the school grounds.

"A full investigation was instigated in line with both internal school procedures and Department of Education requirements, including contact with the police.

“You can be assured that the school has taken this incident exceptionally seriously and that our absolute priority was, and remains, that the right path is taken for all those involved as well as the wider school community.

”Given the ongoing police investigation and the need to protect all those involved, you will understand that it has been necessary to maintain confidentiality and consequently that the school does not wish to comment further."

A police spokesman said: "We were made aware of an incident at [a school in] Bath, on January 22, which took place around lunchtime. Enquiries are ongoing and the school is assisting. Six boys have voluntarily attended a police station and another has agreed to voluntarily attend."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/educa ... 55206.html

[Vermilion]

Attacks like this were common when i was at school, but it was just hushed up and swept under the carpet back then.

That's probably why some of the people i attended class with are now in jail.

[Lex-Man]

Attacks like this were common when i was at school, but it was just hushed up and swept under the carpet back then.

That's probably why some of the people i attended class with are now in jail.

You had mock slave auctions at your school?

[Vermilion]

Attacks like this were common when i was at school, but it was just hushed up and swept under the carpet back then.

That's probably why some of the people i attended class with are now in jail.

You had mock slave auctions at your school?

Probably, i didn't see everything that went on, but it was certainly that sort of place.

[Moggy]

I can’t remember anything remotely like that happening when I was at secondary school in the 90s. I certainly heard people using racist language but I can’t remember any Black or Asian people being attacked.

What shocked me about that story wasn’t so much what the kids did (which is horrific by itself) but the reaction of the school and the governors. A couple of suspension and the overturning of expulsions? All while covering it up? Utterly disgusting.

[Vermilion]

Suspensions/expulsions weren't even used at my school (also in the 90's), the worst of the yobs there were allowed to do whatever they liked with impunity.

[Drumstick]

I can’t remember anything remotely like that happening when I was at secondary school in the 90s. I certainly heard people using racist language but I can’t remember any Black or Asian people being attacked.

What shocked me about that story wasn’t so much what the kids did (which is horrific by itself) but the reaction of the school and the governors. A couple of suspension and the overturning of expulsions? All while covering it up? Utterly disgusting.

A lot of this is seeping back into society now. Slavery too.

[captain red dog]

I don't think we are getting the full story here. I would suspect this was spawned by something the kids learned in class, and probably a lack of quality teaching around the subject. In my experience kids don't know about slave auctions off their own back.

I'd also suggest there is an element of sensationalising from the press and media. I'm not sure permanent exclusion is a necessary response. Temporary exclusion and isolation, getting to the bottom of why the kids acted that way and helping them not to repeat that behaviour and understand how offensive it is, would be a far better solution.

Edit: Also agree with Drumstick. Modern slavery is far more subtle but is alive and well in Britain. Just look at the likes of Sports Direct or any major warehouse operator. They pretty much traffic cheap labour from Eastern Europe and pay them a pittance on easily terminated contracts, with no genuine sick pay, pretty much forbid them to join trade unions. Its basically right on the line of legality when it comes to the slavery laws.

[Moggy]

Christ, where to start with this drivel.

I don't think we are getting the full story here. I would suspect this was spawned by something the kids learned in class, and probably a lack of quality teaching around the subject. In my experience kids don't know about slave auctions off their own back.

Off their own back? No probably not. But I would expect teenagers to have been taught about the slave trade in school. In fact, they have been since 2008. That's not an excuse to go out and copy what they learned though. These aren't 5 year olds copying something they saw on TV, these are teenagers. Teenagers do not tie kids up and stage mock slave auctions just because their teacher was poor at teaching history.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2 ... ry.schools

I'd also suggest there is an element of sensationalising from the press and media. I'm not sure permanent exclusion is a necessary response. Temporary exclusion and isolation, getting to the bottom of why the kids acted that way and helping them not to repeat that behaviour and understand how offensive it is, would be a far better solution.

strawberry floating hell.

Edit: Also agree with Drumstick. Modern slavery is far more subtle but is alive and well in Britain. Just look at the likes of Sports Direct or any major warehouse operator. They pretty much traffic cheap labour from Eastern Europe and pay them a pittance on easily terminated contracts, with no genuine sick pay, pretty much forbid them to join trade unions. Its basically right on the line of legality when it comes to the slavery laws.

Whataboutism.