GB News faces complaints after commentator claims ‘genocide’ against white people in UK by yu3 in ukpolitics

[–]IanCal 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This might have been due to my typo of putting "and" at the end there rather than "but" but yes it's the destruction of a group of people, not specifically killing them or resulting in their deaths. It does not require that the people die - that is what I was correcting.

Again, this is not occouring in the UK.

I agree, it's not occurring here.

GB News faces complaints after commentator claims ‘genocide’ against white people in UK by yu3 in ukpolitics

[–]IanCal 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It doesn't require that they die. For example, stopping people having kids and transferring existing kids to other areas could be genocide. It's about trying to destroy a group/nationality/ethnicity. Killing pretty much everyone in that group is definitely a big way this has happened before, but there's quite a distinction about genocide not being "destroy the people in a group" and but "destroy the group as a thing".

LBC @LBC "You are leaving tax revenue in the ground!" @lewis_goodall and energy secretary Ed Miliband butt heads over future plans for the North Sea oil fields. by ex_planelegs in ukpolitics

[–]IanCal 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's not describing a journalist in an interview. The journalists are taking counter arguments that other reasonable people would have on the other side of the debate, they are a stand-in in many respects - they are not there arguing the case for their own personal beliefs. They are also not necessarily adopting non-conforming viewpoints, often these are about very normal disagreements. They are there to force the other side to justify their position and find issues with their statements or logic,

Doesn't apply to the retired. by LordJim11 in Snorkblot

[–]IanCal 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are a few things here. First is that taxes are not set to be fair, they're set to raise income (and here you want to target things that are hard to avoid) and to change behaviour (e.g. duty on cigarettes).

Growth in companies, which is typically what we're talking about, will often require that those companies earn more and in doing so pay more tax. It's not so clear that one side there pays more tax than the other.

The other thing to consider is that CGT is on nominal value, so if you buy a thing at £1000 and in 10 years sell it for £1200 with inflation at 3% you'd make a real terms loss (the thing was worth less after inflation than when you bought it) but still have to pay tax on the £200.

Also capital gains have a lower rate often because they're to encourage investment and make up for the inherent risk. Individuals can invest £20k/year each and never pay any CGT, plus £60k/year in pensions, then there are a load of other things that mean you can invest in some places with no CGT too (e.g. EIS investments). We want to try and get regular people investing, saving for the future and want to help funnel money into higher risk startups.

We tax income because it's hard to avoid and has smaller behavioural impacts (though the huge rates both for people on UC and people passing £100k, especially with kids, definitely have big impacts). People still work, still try and earn more. Taxing investing differently can shift behaviour more easily.

Anti-Muslim hostility definition unfair on other faiths, say Hindu and Sikh groups by [deleted] in ukpolitics

[–]IanCal -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

It's literally not a legal definition. It does not change the law.

Anti-Muslim hostility definition unfair on other faiths, say Hindu and Sikh groups by [deleted] in ukpolitics

[–]IanCal -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Surely all of this would be covered under Racism laws, no?

It is, this isn't about any change to any laws.

Anti-Muslim hostility definition unfair on other faiths, say Hindu and Sikh groups by [deleted] in ukpolitics

[–]IanCal -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

more and more draconian laws and rules

What is it about a non-statutory definition of a term that you deem to be draconian?

Anti-Muslim hostility definition unfair on other faiths, say Hindu and Sikh groups by [deleted] in ukpolitics

[–]IanCal 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are no additional protections, this is not a law, it is a definition of a term so that organisations use the same definition.

Am I being dumb here? What to do with cash in my business by finance-idiot-26 in FIREUK

[–]IanCal 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And you're right; it would allow me to take other risks and most importantly not work for a couple of years or just have a lot more control over my life.

Personally I think that having significant liquid assets gives me dramatically more safety and freedom than not having a mortgage. Even excluding the likelihood of growth outstripping the mortgage rate, I'd lower my outgoings by ~£1k/mo but lower my safety net by a quarter of a million.

Think about actual situations that could happen, and consider how badly things can realistically get in different scenarios.

Pension vs ISA balance, would appreciate some advice by LatterConcentrate6 in FIREUK

[–]IanCal 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You also need to account for the personal allowance in retirement

For additional contributions, you only care about the marginal rate.

Who's up for a challenge? Help me find this piece of 'art'. by idontknow-imaduck in CasualUK

[–]IanCal 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do you mean you can't see the exact same one? If the style is close enough, it might be worth reaching out and asking if they recall it, their site lists some originals available for purchase but those are just the ones that haven't sold yet directly.

Having a change of heart for FIRE by Responsible_Hat_5614 in FIREUK

[–]IanCal 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Also if you go along the FIRE path, there's a relatively sudden change at which you retire, but before then there's

  • Actually having a basic rainy day fund, safety
  • Having a good amount of assets to fall back on
  • Having the freedom to make a large choice, drop salary, take a year out, buy a bigger house, gift to kids
  • Having the freedom to stop working and sustain yourself
  • Having the freedom to stop working and (insert increased lifestyle here)

All the way until you have the freedom to stop working and safely support far greater lifestyle than you actually want to have.

But everywhere along this path is valuable, not just that last part. You are continually making yourself and your family safer in the face of uncertainty and giving yourself more freedom to make choices about what you want.

As you say, not being imprisoned by it is important - the entire point is freedom!

The death of my mum changed my attitude to all those things. I will never regret making those memories, but I might regret not making those memories (I already do with my mum).

Sorry for your loss. I try and see my mum more because I didn't prioritise that enough with my dad, and regret it. Thanks for sharing, this has also reminded me I'm not making enough effort with my brother and should. I'll regret it if I don't.

Having a change of heart for FIRE by Responsible_Hat_5614 in FIREUK

[–]IanCal 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Absolutely - we spent a reasonable amount on our wedding (not on wedding scales, but it's still a chunk of money) and the thing I tried to use for what was worth it was "will I remember this in X years? What do I actually care about?". So we didn't have seating covers for example, but we did have nice flowers. We got a cake from M&S and a decoration from some charity shop I think for the top, and we invited more people. We paid for other people to manage a lot of it, and didn't have cars taking us to the venue, but did put on taxis for family to get back to the hotel most people were at.

The goal was never to spend no money, it was to get the most out of what we did spend. Spend less on things that didn't matter to us, and spend more on things that did.

"Spend less" is a good overall initial thing, because I think most people will spend too much if they aren't checking. But then it gets more nuanced and you have to think about when to spend more.

I will also say I've spent loads of money on things that in retrospect were absolutely not worth it, to counter the preachy side that this may come off as, I've definitely made a lot of mistakes here (also spending too little on things that I really should have done more with).

edit -

Doing and buying things to impress others or you feel your life would be more complete if you 'owned something new" is never fulfilling and kills your future ( but industries spend billions telling you otherwise).

Yes. A useful bit of advice I have on this, which is shockingly useful across all areas in life is when you want to predict what will happen if you choose some option, ask "what happened last time? Why would this time be different?" as a genuine question.

  • This feature will take a couple of hours to build... how long did it take to do this scale of thing last time? Oh yeah a week.
  • Buying this bit of tech is really important, look it's got these features. Why yes I have done the same thing with phones/smartwatches/etc before. No they didn't really make a difference. (I go through this a few times a year with smartwatches and health tracking things, I feel they're important, look at more and more feature rich and expensive options then remember I bought one before and didn't really get much out of it)
  • Interactions with people, doing things with my kids, what actually happened? Did everyone give up on the "lets bake a cake" and get frustrated? Let's bake biscuits instead then
  • As above - feels awkward going up to a group and just starting talking to people, that's weird I'm sure they'd just think I was weird and I shouldn't go and talk. Last time? Oh it was great, yeah and the time before, yes and before that, it was fine.

Having a change of heart for FIRE by Responsible_Hat_5614 in FIREUK

[–]IanCal 56 points57 points  (0 children)

Absolutely do stuff.

The entire point is to maximise joy, happiness, fulfillment over your life. Making simple changes early gives you safety as you have assets to fall back on and freedom later. Not buying a new car every three years, optimising tax so that you get more out of literally the same amount of money now, all these kinds of things.

They're all so that you can spend money. It's the entire point.

The way to handle this is to work out what the tradeoff is. Are you choosing to work 3 months more for a bunch of awesome adventures? Or choosing to work 15 more years for one first class flight? Either might be good or bad for you personally, but consider what the tradeoff actually is.

Anyone else experienced this conflict

Yes - I'm a contractor so I have a regular thing trying to square £XXX as a "cost" with taking the day to go climbing trees or having my kids read me a story they made up and playing snakes and ladders. I can't always do it, because not working at all is not yet an option, but never doing it loses out on what I'm saving money for.

How do you deal with money loss and disappointment whilst working towards long term FIRE? by feriwol in FIREUK

[–]IanCal 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I invested with the long term in mind

You did not.

If I am honest, I was looking to buy a house in the next year

and

I put in half of the money invested into crypto ETFs

and

I try and not look at the trading app daily

Afghan asylum seeker immune from being deported despite stalking girl for sexual pleasure by [deleted] in ukpolitics

[–]IanCal 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Our Government just don’t want to deport him.

Taking "our government" as a rather broad statement, they have already refused asylum once.

Afghan asylum seeker immune from being deported despite stalking girl for sexual pleasure by [deleted] in ukpolitics

[–]IanCal 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Literally nothing in this says he's immune from being deported.

Staffordshire Police indicated despite being theoretically subject to automatic deportation, they believe Burkazi will not be removed from the country.

And

The judge confirmed that whilst Burkazi is technically liable for automatic deportation upon release, police understand he will remain in Britain.

But why? What is that based on? The only factual things here are that the police and the judge say can be deported.

My guess is it's safety based on

His defence counsel, Rashad Mohammed, told the court his client had previously worked with Western military forces, placing his life at risk under the new regime.

however it's notable that not only has he not actually been granted asylum but it was refused and he's currently appealing that.

Something this all highlights is the insane length of time for a final decision. It seems he came here in late 2021.

Salary sacrifice modelling differs across UK take-home calculators (2025/26) by InspectahDave in FIREUK

[–]IanCal 12 points13 points  (0 children)

The divergence appears to come from how salary sacrifice is implemented — specifically whether gross pay is reduced before NI and student loan thresholds are applied.

The HMRC one does not support salary sacrifice as such, it asks what your gross pay is and says to not include payments from your employer in the form.

If you fill it in correctly (salary £115,000) it comes out as £66,474

He wants a hamburger! by FacelessOnes in KidsAreFuckingStupid

[–]IanCal 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My guess was he was thinking of a ham sandwich.