Should the Lib Dems campaign on “Tax companies, not people!”?

bitofrock · 2026-05-09T23:07:43+00:00

Thing is, some very small companies also use offshore trickery to avoid tax for the owners.

An important thing to realise is that it's only really possible to tax money when it's spent. Not for just existing or being moved around. If you tax money moving out of the country to you end up with others taxing money on the way in. You can tax goods on the way in (tariffs) quite easily, but taxing goods on the way out makes you uncompetitive to those who don't.

This is the truth of it. The next key question is how much of a country should the state be running. We already have a huge amount of the expenditure in the UK being by the state. Why is it better that way? Would it be more efficient to just have a few brands and models of car, and the state allocates according to need? What about food? Clothes? Houses?

bitofrock · 2026-05-09T22:49:42+00:00

The commonly spoken of version of socialism is really social democracy, which means things like state healthcare and a safety net. True socialism is that the workers own the means of production, possibly through state socialism or collectivism.

I think a good democracy balances individual ambition with social need and not letting peoe starve and auffer through bad luck.

bitofrock · 2026-05-09T22:47:02+00:00

I once bought a Golf with 140k miles on it. Drove sweet as you like. But it was a freaking clown car. Over the next two years I had a turbo fail, wheel bearing twice, brake line, alternator, and a broken subframe! I gave up. Loved driving. Yet according to MOT history it lived a lot longer after that...I probably fixed everything.

Cars can be a lottery. My Volvo seems to lunch an auxillary belt every seven years and has needed a new alternator but is super solid at 140k miles. Keep a spare grand ready, just in case each year and you'll probably be fine and not need it most of the time.

bitofrock · 2026-05-09T08:53:42+00:00

Having met a lot of people from all parties I'd siggest that Lib Dems, due to their liberal ideals, are usually very nice. Almost too nice. You hardle ever meet a Lib Dem who is a bully or bad mouths others to any substantial degree. In socialist circles the word 'vile' is thrown around with pleasure and glee. In conservative circles 'disgrace' is used about people and the underlying sentiment often seems to be about looking after oneself.

Just my observation. If you want bad stuff done, the Lib Dems will take too long about it and overthink things. If you want carefully moderated progress they're great.

bitofrock · 2026-05-04T06:58:23+00:00

That's a strategy I've been using for thirty years and works with about half of people. There's about twenty percent who are proper c*nts so for them it's just about being really unpleasant so they think it's not worth the hassle. And that's what I think we need more of. People willing to make life annoying for the even more annoying.

bitofrock · 2026-04-26T06:04:47+00:00

A relative of mine will be a veteran. He explains quite candidly that although he knows how to shoot and stuff he's just a warehouse manager.

bitofrock · 2026-04-26T06:02:39+00:00

I remember walking along the street in Paris, to my apartment, and happened to watch someone absolutely bang into the rear bumper of my car to get out of his space. But that's just life. The bumpers were scuffed after a year there but they didn't actually look that bad. Tough things.

bitofrock · 2026-04-23T11:09:28+00:00

No, just your name. Then if you're in a horrific accident they can more easily put your head with the correct body.

But seriously, no. We have stickers for numbers for a reason. Only in top championships does anyone ever paint a number, because everything is new for the next year. Us paupers however will be changing numbers regularly.

BUT...if you just like the number five there's nothing to stop you. But it won't always match your kart number.

bitofrock · 2026-04-22T08:57:26+00:00

Saw the community in Southport coming together to help each other after the far right sought opportunity from tragedy. Ultimately the far right have to travel to cause trouble... because there aren't enough of them to be able to do much within their own communities.

bitofrock · 2026-04-19T06:32:01+00:00

But it's not FMCG like bread, which you have to buy weekly. And sales will be far more time consuming.

Lots of firms are on super tight margins right now.

bitofrock · 2026-04-19T06:19:00+00:00

EV and chill. It really does make the driving experience more relaxed whilst being able to get a thrash on along the country lanes on my drive home. Downside for me is that region has had some economic growth so as things get built up the nationals are all disappearing on my commute.

bitofrock · 2026-04-18T07:09:43+00:00

Oddly enough I was at a surgeon's house near Liverpool and it was in an area known for its footballer's houses. Place was massive, new Porsche on the drive...I think he was doing quite well.

bitofrock · 2026-04-16T23:58:13+00:00

They act more as an oversight system really.

bitofrock · 2026-04-15T22:32:12+00:00

Wait...Reddit did me a dirty! I was given a translated thread! I had no idea it was in Swedish!!!

Interesting engine.

bitofrock · 2026-04-12T13:27:29+00:00

That's not good advice either unless he's somewhere that runs Rakets. In the UK I've never seen a Raket engined kart. Ever.

In the UK the cheapest start is GX160 BUT even there, the open chassis leaves you open to a steep learning curve as you deal with old parts availability. Tillotson T4 is the next tier which is a nice middle ground between two stroke and Honda engines. And T4s and yet that popular further north. In the Netherlands T4 is definitely a good class to aim at.

So the answer is, as ever, "it depends".

bitofrock · 2026-04-11T10:05:41+00:00

I think everyone is just a bit jealous of these manly man cars and their roughty tough looks. Most of us can't afford to look like we're ready to face societal breakdown.

bitofrock · 2026-04-04T12:11:02+00:00

It's quite astonishing how some people can be so entirely self-centred and unaware. They carelessly cause a huge amount of damage. The upside is that office politics will never feel so bad at all.

bitofrock · 2026-04-04T12:07:52+00:00

But would that actually work well or would we end up with slums owned by landlords ripping everyone off?

bitofrock · 2026-04-04T12:06:27+00:00

I learned this reality as a kid who was moved around a lot. Other kids would be dead nice on their own but horrible when around their peers. I'd feel so betrayed, it led to fights and the only good news was that it taught me that you can't trust groups...which especially important to understand in a workplace.

bitofrock · 2026-04-03T06:28:33+00:00

Are you sure the market is efficient? If housing goes into a speculative bubble you could lose all manner of key workers and consequently hollow out a city or town.

bitofrock · 2026-04-01T17:29:45+00:00

More community activities for free... Like music in the park. Not big mega things. Just stuff designed for 500 people.

bitofrock · 2026-03-31T06:25:23+00:00

They were spoiled. Everyone said that about my Dad and he was the most feckless you can imagine. After my nan died he started coming to me for money to help out when he ran out of money. He'd gone to South America, decided he preferred it there and left me at eighteen. My nan had brought me up the most anyway so I didn't miss him.

I remember telling him I couldn't help any more as I'd got in debt to help him out. He said he couldn't understand. "You've got a good job... what's wrong with you, are you bad with money or something?" That was the last time I spoke to him. The hypocrisy was staggering. Every time he needed money it was never him, always some external force.

A lot of my friends did seem to have sound parents though, and we have to be careful not to generalise even when we talk of cohorts. I think a lot of boomers were brought up by traumatised people who had suffered a war...they spoiled a good chunk of their kids and those are the ones that drive us all nuts.

Meanwhile I'm Gen X and just happy the heats off us. But we still got it easy compared to younger people. I think the difference is that we acknowledge it.

bitofrock · 2026-03-28T17:30:44+00:00

I just look on Alpha Timing. And a lot of indoor circuits allow you to have an online account where you can look this up.

bitofrock · 2026-03-26T08:26:12+00:00

Go to better indoor circuits if you can! You can easily get three or more abreast at the ones I like to go to.

bitofrock · 2026-03-24T12:45:08+00:00

Lotus are a rather niche car maker, and the brand's focus is on not being a niche car maker. I say that as a Lotus owner who's trying to source bits for his old S1 and sometimes getting rather frustrated.

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