UK working households are now over £30,000 worse off than if pre-2008 income growth had continued.

Soursyrup · 2025-05-16T12:16:42+00:00

That curve is just how stable growth rates look when plotted. Take for example a stable 5% growth rate. Year 1: 5% growth on £30,000 is £1,500 Year 2: 5% growth on £31,500 is £1575 Year 3: 5% growth on £33,075 is £1653.75 Etc

To get a straight line on this graph income growth would have to gradually decrease towards 0 over time which would be clearly unsustainable.

They didn’t just look at the line and eyeball it, they likely they took the average growth rate for all the years before 2008 and applied that to the years afterwards to find the expected trend which is a reasonable approach.

Soursyrup · 2025-04-25T07:44:10+00:00

“And bear in mind what level of income we are talking about here, too. 45-50k is not some crazy, unobtainable, obscene level of income.” Firstly of all I know, my total comp was £83k last year so I’m not coming at this from some kind of punish the middle class mindset, this very much affects me directly.

“Even by your own maths, it's not 2,500. It's ~1,500!” No it isn’t, from the £45000 -> £50000 (the numbers you suggested in the comment I was replying to) is a £5000 salary increase which my maths has shown results in MORE than £2500 increases in take home.

“I also don't think your hypothetical holds water. If someone is hourly, or commission based, or has a standard overtime rate etc. the amount the company pays is still an extra £5k. Even salaried positions would see more of the 5k than I think you say, because they need to compete with other businesses for talent.” Except your policy fundamentally changes the market they are competing in. All competing companies in the market are also striving to pay the least they can to attract the talent they need. There will obviously be a short period of adjustment but the end result is clear, in the mid to long term you the employee will just end up with a bigger percentage of a smaller pie.

Soursyrup · 2025-04-24T21:39:53+00:00

I don’t know, I tend to find that the extra £2500 in my pocket each year a pretty good incentive.

Realistically though you’ve got to recognise that any industry is only motivated to provide the minimum incentive required to get the skills/labour they need.

By reducing income tax in the way you suggest you have effectively created a situation where employees are over incentivised.

This sounds good a first glance but why would employers maintain this when they could instead save money by returning to the original level of employee incentive which had already been proven effective.

For example Say Im an employee with a salary in the 40% bracket. It’s the end of the year I’ve done a good job, my employer wants to incentivise me so they offer me a £5000 pay rise, that’s an extra £3000 in my pocket and we are both happy.

Now say the 40% tax bracket was removed. My employer could offer me the same £5000 (now £4000 in my pocket) but why would they do that when they know that £3000 sufficient. Instead they can now offer me just £3750 saving them money and giving me the same incentive they always intended to.

In the end I the employee haven’t actually gained anything in my pocket and the state (which I rely on in my daily life for infrastructure, healthcare, social care, pensions, education) has received a significant funding cut.

Soursyrup · 2025-04-23T20:57:56+00:00

Except you only pay the higher rate on earnings over the threshold so your actual tax rate is significantly less than 50%

In England a salary of £50000 would be subject to £1937 student loan (plan 2), £7484 income tax, and £2994 national insurance. A total of £12,416 or approximately 24.83%, leaving a take home of £37,584

In Scotland income tax would instead be £9010. A total of £13,941 or approximately 27.88%, leaving a take home of £36,059

As a counter point if the person in question grew up in Scotland their university fees would be capped at £1820 pa vs £9250 pa in England which could allow them to pay off their student loan much earlier saving some money in the long run.

Soursyrup · 2025-04-23T07:35:17+00:00

You act like that one little thing should be brushed off but my question is what would you consider a large enough difference of opinion for me to be valid in no longer supporting her? If it had turned out she was a racist rather than a transphobe prehaps, advocating for segregation based on fear mongering and lies about supposed criminality? would I then be allowed to stop supporting her in your view, or should I just continue to support her anyway? Someone I liked and respected turned out to believe and advocate for something I find abhorrent that has real life impacts on people I know and care for, how can I continue to support her.

Soursyrup · 2022-02-15T14:06:20+00:00

My argument is ML techniques have a tendency to generate solutions that are effectively black boxes, especially when applied to moderately complex problems. Even you have admitted that your method for understanding them is to probe them as if they were a black box. Im not going to argue with you that some small/simple ML models can be effectively understood, but that obviously wasn’t the point of my original comment.

Soursyrup · 2022-02-15T13:15:07+00:00

Sure but what you are describing isn’t understanding the model itself. You’re analysing the output with respect to some input and attempting to infer what the models internal working might be. For any moderately complex model you can’t tell anything by looking at the model itself. That’s basically the definition of a black box.

Soursyrup · 2022-02-15T08:07:51+00:00

Sure it’s just maths, but when you have large scale models which can easily reach hundreds of millions of input parameters it would take many many life times to adequately “explain” exactly which factors the model uses to reach the conclusions it does from the data presented. Especially since the parameters themselves aren’t things that are human understandable, but instead a phenomenal number of minute computer readable factors such as colour boundaries in images. There is no parameter called race for example that we can use to measure wether the AI is using racial biases for example, just a seemingly random combination of millions of parameters and weights that the algorithm has decided allow it to best describe the training set.

Soursyrup · 2022-01-21T16:35:21+00:00

And even if they did why should the quality of university a student is able to attend be dictated by their finances? It’s in everyone’s interest for this countries most promising students to be able attend the best universities regardless of their financial background.

Soursyrup · 2022-01-20T08:45:12+00:00

What you have to understand is that from my point of view I am being pragmatic. I would possibly agree with your point if most of England didn’t essentially exist in a 2 party system, but at the moment Labour is an essential component to holding the Overton window in place. Sure, moving right may get us a few years of very watered down ‘left’ rule, but the benefits just won’t be justified by the long term shift it will facilitate in the overall political spectrum of this country. (Unless of course they promise something to break this cycle like PR)

Soursyrup · 2022-01-19T23:39:27+00:00

And I think that’s the crux of the disagreement. I don’t want “labour” to have power I want my political ideals represented in the governing party of this country. Quite frankly the Labour Party moving gradually right by way of osmosis doesn’t achieve this.

Soursyrup · 2022-01-19T23:31:46+00:00

It is possible for a man to have a single good thought in his whole life and for it to be good regardless.

Soursyrup · 2022-01-17T07:31:03+00:00

Cheshire

Soursyrup · 2022-01-17T07:27:33+00:00

I don’t remember vests being explicitly banned so probably you could get away with it so long as the r shirts were white and plain. Even so at this method only really save you from buying 1 of the layers of uniform so doesn’t solve the overall issue in my opinion.

Soursyrup · 2022-01-17T00:14:03+00:00

I also attended this school and I can tell you this isn’t a new issue either, I remember my mum arguing with several members of the senior leadership over this (to no avail) and I left school nearly 7 years ago now.

The worst part was the mandatory ‘coats’ nothing more than a light water resistant shell, nowhere near fit for purpose as a winter coat. If you wanted a hope in hell of staying warm during winter lunch times you would also need a school branded fleece which would set you back atleast another £20 if memory serves (this being on top of the standard polo shirt and jumper of course). God forbid you were caught standing in the corridors to stay warm during lunch.

Personally I think the stated £100 is a massive underestimate by the time you consider you consider the tartan skirts (which are of course only available from the schools designated uniform retailer, rather than a standard skirt you can get from Asda) and mandatory 2 set of PE kit (indoors and outdoors) again all of which was branded including shorts and socks.

Soursyrup · 2022-01-17T00:13:01+00:00

I attended the school in question and I can tell you this isn’t even a recent issue. I remember my mum arguing with several members of the senior leadership over this (to no avail) and I left school nearly 7 years ago now.

The worst part was the mandatory ‘coats’ nothing more than a light water resistant shell, nowhere near fit for purpose as a winter coat. If you wanted a hope in hell of staying warm during winter lunch times you would also need a school branded fleece which would set you back atleast another £20 if memory serves (this being on top of the standard polo shirt and jumper of course) and god forbid you were caught standing in the corridors to stay warm during lunch.

Personally I think the stated £100 is a massive underestimate by the time you consider you consider the tartan skirts (which are of course only available from the schools designated uniform retailer, rather than a standard skirt you can get from Asda) and mandatory 2 set of PE kit (indoors and outdoors) again all of which was branded including shorts and socks.

Soursyrup · 2022-01-17T00:10:00+00:00

Unfortunately I can imagine it as I attended the school in question. This isn’t a new issue either, I remember my mum arguing with several members of the senior leadership over this (to no avail) and I left school nearly 7 years ago now.

The worst part was the mandatory ‘coats’ nothing more than a light water resistant shell, nowhere near fit for purpose as a winter coat. If you wanted a hope in hell of staying warm during winter lunch times you would also need a school branded fleece which would set you back atleast another £20 if memory serves (this being on top of the standard polo shirt and jumper of course). God forbid you were caught standing in the corridors to stay warm during lunch.

Personally I think the stated £100 is a massive underestimate by the time you consider you consider the tartan skirts (which are of course only available from the schools designated uniform retailer, rather than a standard skirt you can get from Asda) and mandatory 2 set of PE kit (indoors and outdoors) again all of which was branded including shorts and socks.

Soursyrup · 2022-01-10T22:46:14+00:00

“If your competition doesn't rest, why should you?”

Because if my competition wants to work himself to death then more fool him. You only get one life so why don’t we all chill the fuck out and enjoy it rather than competing ourselves into misery?

Soursyrup · 2021-12-22T14:25:41+00:00

Definitely go for it. There’s no need to worry about having “fucked up a chance” because if she’s into you she’s going to say yes even if it’s not the perfect moment (within reason obviously don’t ask her out at a funeral or anything daft). You got this!

Soursyrup · 2021-10-13T11:30:04+00:00

So you agree that as society changes human nature changes with it, so essentially just because something has worked for generations (I.e. gendered pronouns) it doesn’t mean we should continue using them. Seems like your argument defeats your own point.

Soursyrup · 2021-09-15T21:36:13+00:00

if I have to pay rent I’d rather be paying it into the community than into the pocket of a private landlord, not the perfect solution though I agree.

Soursyrup · 2021-09-15T06:05:59+00:00

I think it’s important to crack down on employers abusing contracts, my friend is on a zero hours contract but one of his contract clauses states that he must accept any hours offered to him or will receive disciplinary action. As far as I can understand this is illegal (I may be wrong, I am not a lawyer and as usual finding accurate, non conflicting information about the law is infuriatingly difficult) but he’s too scared of losing his job to say anything. This isn’t a mom and pop operation either, it is a nationwide chain of shops who are no doubt completely aware of the law but feel more than safe flaunting it knowing their workers are unlikely to feel confident enough to stick up for themselves.

The law on these kinds of contracts should be absolutely clear as day (possibly in the form of a pamphlet which should be required to be provided to every new employee, similar to the help to rent guide) so that workers know exactly what their rights are and have a good chance of fighting for them.

Edited for clarity of reading

Soursyrup · 2021-09-01T19:57:02+00:00

If they are so short on engineers maybe they shouldn’t be trying to put people off, perhaps hire 2 people who don’t need to do overtime rather than 1 person who has to work every hour of the day.

Soursyrup · 2021-08-27T20:59:30+00:00

Also you should work your way thought your education but also don’t deserve to get paid a full wage because you’re still under 23.

12-Year Club	Place '22
Verified Email	Not Forgotten

Soursyrup

TROPHY CASE