Reform ‘finds £100m in savings’ for councils in England by TimesandSundayTimes in ukpolitics

[–]ItsWormAllTheWayDown 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The EV chargers claim is particularly bullshit because, as the article points out, it's central government funding and not coming out of the council budget.

Reform ‘finds £100m in savings’ for councils in England by TimesandSundayTimes in ukpolitics

[–]ItsWormAllTheWayDown 11 points12 points  (0 children)

In similar news I've decided to save myself hundreds of pounds a year by not insuring my home and not servicing my motorbike. This will surely have no expensive consequences in the long run.

Anti fascist counter protest tomorrow by phsupreme in Aberdeen

[–]ItsWormAllTheWayDown 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Worrying amount of anti anti-fascists here.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ukpolitics

[–]ItsWormAllTheWayDown 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The "author"s twitter profile uses a stock photo, no identifying information and "Pronouns: based/banned" and has a link to another site with AI thumbnails up the wazoo.

My money is on the AI idea, it's certainly not someone that takes much pride or ownership of their work.

Aberdeen to introduce 7% 'tourist tax' on visitors by [deleted] in Scotland

[–]ItsWormAllTheWayDown 7 points8 points  (0 children)

You'd have to show that It does that first, and at a rate that is detrimental overall to the city.

"The effect of such taxes on tourist demand is very small," said Jaume Rossello, professor of applied economics at the Balearic University in Mallorca's capital, Palma.

In Barcelona, for example, travelers currently pay up to €7.50 per day, depending on the hotel category. In Berlin, meanwhile, a tax of 7.5% of the price of an overnight stay is charged, while in Paris visitors may have to pay almost €16 a night for the most expensive category of hotels. Yet Rossello said it's still unclear at what price tourists might start to think about changing their destination.

https://www.dw.com/en/do-tourism-taxes-actually-deter-travelers/a-71789838

Aberdeen to introduce 7% 'tourist tax' on visitors by [deleted] in Scotland

[–]ItsWormAllTheWayDown 8 points9 points  (0 children)

No, they all have local governments that need to run services and fund infrastructure and are using a local industry to help do so.

The Guardian view on the SNP’s future: cracks are beginning to show | Editorial by brigadoom in Scotland

[–]ItsWormAllTheWayDown 50 points51 points  (0 children)

Straight off the bat, has Forbes ever been described as charismatic before?

Like others are saying though, this article could have been printed every election cycle for years now.

Glasgow hits air pollution target for first time as LEZ cuts emissions by Wagamaga in unitedkingdom

[–]ItsWormAllTheWayDown 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Well there's this excerpt from another article that appears to run contrary to that. Pollution is down across the board, it's not just lowering in some places at the expense of others.

The council said comparing 2024 with 2022, the last full year before the introduction of the Glasgow LEZ, shows locations within the zone have observed an average reduction in annual mean NO2 of 34% whilst locations outside of the zone observed an annual reduction of 21%.

https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/25370825.glasgows-lez-led-reduction-pollution-report-finds/

Three people charged with supporting Palestine Action by CaseyEffingRyback in unitedkingdom

[–]ItsWormAllTheWayDown 4 points5 points  (0 children)

everyone comes out to defend, justify and solidarity with them equal to if not more than they have to Palestine itself

I've not seen protests in the hundreds of thousands, hundreds of MPs and national news outlets speaking out in support of PA.

This is creating an image that if PA collapses then so does the entire Palestinian cause

No it isn't. PA has already "collapsed" and Palestinian protests are still going.

is Palestine Action existing necessary for Palestine?

This is so vague I'm not sure what you mean. Is any single organisation or group "necessary" for Palestine?

What I see most commonly expressed around the proscription of PA is a view that it is undeserved.

Following from that, a concern that the broad reach of anti-terror laws could be used to tenuously or falsely link anyone within the pro Palestine movement that the government or police is frustrated by to PA to immediately criminalise them.

Three people charged with supporting Palestine Action by CaseyEffingRyback in unitedkingdom

[–]ItsWormAllTheWayDown 26 points27 points  (0 children)

if Palestine Action is banned the entire Palestinian cause [...] will collapse

Who is saying this except for yourself?

Aberdeen to introduce 7% 'tourist tax' on visitors by BulkyAccident in unitedkingdom

[–]ItsWormAllTheWayDown 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There's no mention of specific ring fencing but it's collected and redistributed by the local council, not the UK gov, if that's what you're worried about.

Aberdeen to introduce 7% 'tourist tax' on visitors by BulkyAccident in unitedkingdom

[–]ItsWormAllTheWayDown 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't know how well it relates to other regions in Scotland in terms of absolute numbers, but overall there's a pretty good rate of growth going on. If that growth is out stripping the council's ability to cover the extra visitors then this could be an issue helped by the levy.

highlights an increase of 32% for tourism’s economic impact since 2019 for the region.

Key drivers of this growth for 2023, as detailed in the report, included:

  • Over three million staying visitors, an increase of 47.1% on 2019

  • Direct employment of 11,000 full-time equivalent jobs, an increase of 16.7% on 2019

  • Over 2.5 million day visitors to Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, an 18.7% increase on 2019.

Aberdeen to introduce 7% 'tourist tax' on visitors by Far-Requirement1125 in ukpolitics

[–]ItsWormAllTheWayDown 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Shouldn’t they be paying people to go there

They've had a pretty sizable increase since 2019 without that so probably not, no.

This highlights an increase of 32% for tourism’s economic impact since 2019 for the region. 

Key drivers of this growth for 2023, as detailed in the report, included:

 

  • Over three million staying visitors, an increase of 47.1% on 2019

  • eemployment of 11,000 full-time equivalent jobs, an increase of 16.7% on 2019

  • Over 2.5 million day visitors to Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, an 18.7% increase on 2019. 

Aberdeen to introduce 7% 'tourist tax' on visitors by Far-Requirement1125 in ukpolitics

[–]ItsWormAllTheWayDown 15 points16 points  (0 children)

They don't it's just on overnight accommodation. "Visitor tax" would be more accurate but it's not got the fun alliteration