[inheritance tax] exemplifies the political divide

Iain Dale mentioned Michael Crick's question to Broon:

Do you agree that the Tory proposals on Inheritance Tax are popular and will you steal them?

JRD put the Labour point of view:

[The Tory Plan] does nothing for social cohesion, or helping the least well off. It is cynically designed to appeal to the Daily Express reading Middle Englanders who must make up an increasing proportion of their support.

Dizzy wrote of the three card trick being pulled:

Darling "doubles" the threshold for married couples to £600,000.

All of this is well and fine but Matt Sinclair gets down to the iniquitous nature of the tax itself:

Inheritance Tax is a particularly egregious attack on the interests of those who die because it strikes not only at the financial security they wish to provide for those left behind but also at the home that they all shared.

The family home is a crucial part of the stability that many people, when considering their own deaths, would want their family to be able to maintain for as long as they felt it necessary.

A tax bill of tens of thousands of pounds that forces them into a hasty sale of their home and the fresh trauma of relocation is an alarming prospect to anyone considering the fate of those they care about.

Amen to that.

At the risk of rehashing tired old fundamentals on an issue which only realizes the government less than 1% a year anyway, Inheritance Tax or Estate Tax is simply an abomination on the face of the earth and not only that but it perfectly exemplifies the left-right divide in theoretical politics:

There are the majority who work as best they can and take what opportunities arise, fall back, go forward again, marry, have a family and slowly build a nest egg. Some have huge nest eggs and most average.

Along comes someone else and swipes half of it to become a drop in the ocean of bloated governmental wastage and the people who actually put in the hard work lose.

This is iniquity. This is institutionalized greed. This is the easy and casual way one section of our society greedily eyes the fruits of other people's labours and wants it redistributed to themselves. If they went and took it at gunpoint, they'd be in prison so they let the government do it for them.

It's not redistibution to the needy at all - it's redistribution to the lazy, the complainers, the moaners, the sit on your butt and do nothings. The truly needy - pensioners and the mentally ill - they need and absolutely should receive government patronage and on a far grander scale than now. Once the free handouts to freeloaders ceases, that money can then go to the truly needy.

And what of the newly dispossessed? For a start, they're not dispossessed - it's just the unwarranted largesse which has stopped. For them there are Grameen style opportunities which do exist if one only looks.

I personally have been unemployed and received government largesse for about two months whilst job interview after job interview came to nothing and all of it was cutting huge swathes through my available cash.

In this situation there is a lot of free time. It should be used for strategic planning, for putting irons in the fire, for thinking laterally and keeping oneself presentable.

In the end, energy, drive and a certain amount of rationality will win out, provided you have presented yourself widely enough and though you feel like screaming and ending it all, you maintain your pleasant visage of employability and one day the odds fall your way.

They always do. [Also helps to put your faith in the Lord but most will ignore this aside.]

The employable will be employed and go from job to job with the occasional hiatus. The unemployable won't do anything about it until they have to. I've lived next door to these people and I know them for what they are.

Regular readers can make up their own minds whether I'm a cruel man or no but I assert that this is not cruelty - it is helping people help themselves.

As for Inheritance Tax - it falls squarely into the category of grand theft from the resourceful, followed by unwarranted largesse to the wrong people with the wrong attitude.

[blogfocus wednesday] might surprise you, might not

1. What's the connection between Jeremy Jacobs, Michael Palin and Yalta? Margate, that's what!

So pleasing to see my home town of Margate mentioned on Michael Palin's travel programme this evening. Years ago, Margate & Yalta were "twinned" with each other. Judging by tonight's programme, Yalta appears to be holding up as a seaside resort rather better! Having said that, the above photo from 2003, shows a reasonably busy Margate seafront.

2. Is it just me but is Bob G's deadpan delivery a hoot?

Welcome to Inkafterlife.com. We make custom photo memorials by creating a custom ink formulation using ashes from a loved one or pet and our ink. We then print a beautiful memorial photo using that blended ink.

Is it just me, or does that sound sort of creepy? I'm not sure I want someone's remains hanging on my wall.

3. The Reactionary Snob explains the reason we blog:

As the Greek notes, it is good to know that our media are an example of righteousness, scholarly integrity and unbiased virtue.

We bloggers blog for the love of it - the vast majority of us are biased old soaks who no one in the pub will listen to any longer so we come home and bash out something on the laptop.

4. Prodicus supplies an interesting analogy for politics:

Kevin McCullagh is right. It's by no means all over and Brown will survive all this with a smile on his face. I am bracing myself for the emetic effect of Miliband Major taking to the airwaves over the next week or so. It is an appalling prospect. Politics can be a disgusting business, like eating worms, and there is more to come before we see these bastards off.

5. I'm not the only one, by a long shot, doing blogroundups and here's one of the best - Steve Green:

Got some time to kill but don't know where to go? Why don't you climb aboard the Magical Mystery Blog Tour Bus. There are still a few places left. Click on STOP 1 and the Bus will take you to your first Mystery Blog location.

To get back on the Bus just click the Back Button and click STOP 2 to continue the Tour. I think you can work the rest out. Enjoy the ride:

STOP 1

STOP 2

STOP 3

STOP 4

STOP 5

6. Our latest Blogpowerer is of the Left and here is jrd's take on the problem of history:

Apparently pupils should be taught to "take pride" in Britain's history.

Now, don't get me wrong, there are parts of British history which people can easily take pride in. There are also parts which may bring feelings of great shame (slave trade anyone?). My argument is that it's not the role of the history teacher to be a government's political football - teaching kids a one-sided view of the past.

History cannot be just a list of dates and facts (who decides the facts anyway, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter!). Pupils must be taught to investigate, to analyse, to spark an interest. If history is not allowed to do this, then it fails as a subject, and we fail our young people.

7. William Gruff is waxing lyrical about our much loved … er … leader:

He had only one, if the ribald songs of my youth have any veracity, but he had two eyes and that means that he had one testicle and one eye more than the Greater Scotch McReich's Führer. The 'news' that Gordon The McGravy Train Engine hasn't the balls to face the English electorate came as no news to Gruff. The Thane of Kirkcaldy knows well enough that he is not welcome here and his days over us are numbered. Deny us what drugs he will, steal as much from us as he can, we will see that foreign prince sent forth from England's green and pleasant land without the mandate he so desperately craves.

8. Finally, Chip is in shock and with good reason:

You find the Chipster in the mood for litigation. As you can no doubt see, my complimentary copy of J.D. Williams’ new Autumn and Winter catalogue landed on the doorstep today. What else can I say except that promises were not kept by the industy leaders in the larger sized gusset. I never wanted you to see me like this. It’s somewhat humbling, especially since I thought that I’d had a zero-Y-front clause written into my contract. The picture was taken when I was much younger and in a bad place. It was actually a few months ago when I was stuck on the corner of Poverty and Flat Broke.

There it is for another evening, folks but I hope to see you on Saturday evening again.

[wednesday] child loving and giving

One of the Wodin chorus chanting Spam in the café

In the original 1887 poem, Wednesday's child is loving and giving.

Wednesday - the name comes from the Middle English Wednes dei, which is from Old English Wēdnes dæg, meaning the day of the Germanic god Woden (Wodan) who was a god of the Anglo-Saxons in England until about the 7th century.

Wēdnes dæg is like the Old Norse Oðinsdagr ("Odin's day"), which is an early translation of the Latin dies Mercurii ("Mercury's day"). Though Mercury (the messenger of the gods) and Woden (the king of the Germanic gods) are not equivalent in most regards.

Russian does not use pagan names but instead uses sredá, meaning "middle," similar to the German Mittwoch. Portuguese uses the word quarta-feira, meaning "fourth day."

Hope that clears that up. There's not much of the day left.

[fuddy duddy] when is it time to get out

Having just left an opinion at Blogpower which puts me squarely within the "fuddy-duddy" category, as opposed to the "bright young things" who Google execs refer to as hip, happening and displaying "a sense of urgency", this article was of interest:

In 1982, Brian Reid received the prestigious Grace Murray Hopper Award for his work in developing an early word processing system.

Later, while working at Digital Equipment Corporation, he pioneered an experiment in electronic publishing that was a precursor to the forums and discussion board that are now a pervasive part of the internet.

And it was there than he was also involved in the creation of the first firewall and, in 1991, the leading search engine of its day, Alta Vista.

Things change and people age:

Reid claims that despite receiving a thumbs up performance review in which he was praised as "very intelligent" and "creative", he was sacked at the age of 54 after being told he was a cultural mis-match.

He lost a mega-salary and millions in stock options.

Urs Hoelzle, a Google manager 12 years his junior, was … said to have dismissed Reid's opinions and ideas as "obsolete" and "too old to matter".

My opinion is of no consequence. However, for what it's worth, I think they're right and that will surprise some, coming from me. Just as I don't understand half of what is going down now, technologically, I realize I must and am still capable of learning.

The problem is that I'm doing now what people did yesterday - Google Reader, mastering html, aggregating and so on. I'm poised to go Mac and learn that, with plans to use Wi-Fi and most certainly remote internet access will come with the new laptop. I have every intention of exploring the possibilities.

So I'm not turning my back on the new tech - it's just taking longer to get into it and this represents, to the young turks, a reactionary influence. Hence the comments transferred to me: "obsolete" and "too old to matter".

In a company like Google, he really had eventually become a cultural mis-match and perhaps his talents should have been directed to other start up companies where he could have called the shots and secured the talent. With his acumen, he could have created a niche slot.

Or not.

If he couldn't do that, if he was so far into the 9 to 7 comfort zone lifestyle and the things which actually do matter in life, which suits a happily married, aging man, this is fine but it is not what's required in the cut-throat computer game.

My ex-girlfriend's grandfather developed a start up company supplying hi-tech helicopter parts and till the day he died he was being consulted, for juicy fees, so he was able to successfully move laterally in his later years.

Perhaps this is what Brian Reid should have been looking at when he first started hearing the young turks comments, rather than trying this costly and ultimately futile rearguard action.

In his game, once you can't cut it any more, you simply can't cut it and it's time to develop your own expertise in your own way.

And as I know very well in the blogging game, you're only as good as your last post.

[darfur] sudan preparing to attack

Click on pic to zoom to the child's picture.

From Amnesty, admittedly via VOA but still:

United Kingdom based human rights group Amnesty International warned Tuesday that the eastern part of Darfur would soon come under deadly attacks if care is not taken to prevent the imminent danger.

This comes after the group said it received reports suggesting that Sudanese armed forces are gathering in large numbers in some towns close to the northern part of Darfur.

Meanwhile, locals are reportedly scared further attacks by opposition or government forces could derail peace talks, scheduled to be hosted by Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi in the capital Tripoli before the end of the month.

The word "attack" translated

Children bound together and burned, rape, mutilation, eyes gouged out, villages razed, crops burned and evil across the land. Devastation, the delight of a certain type of mind in high places.

Steps

1. Pray, if you are capable, that such will not happen or that something or someone will step in first.

2. Think of pro-active ways we can bring pressure to bear.

[alcohol] live better, live longer

Abigail Zuger, of the New York Times gave some advice in 2003 [pre-blogging days and unattributable] which I plan to wholeheartedly accept, irrespective:

A study published in May in the Journal of the American Medical Association confirmed that alcohol raises the blood levels of HDL, the "good" cholesterol. Moderate drinking can raise the levels more than 10 per cent. Heavy drinking raises them even higher.

By comparison, running a few kilometres a week increases HDL a fraction of that, while the B vitamin niacin, probably the most effective medication for raising HDL levels, has to be taken at high doses with many side effects for similar results. The statin low-cholesterol drugs, which work by reducing LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, seldom raise HDL levels substantially.

Half the heart benefits of moderate drinking stem directly from the HDL gain. Alcohol also makes the blood flow a little more freely, by decreasing blood proteins that promote clotting, and increasing those that prevent clotting. Like low-dose aspirin, which also helps prevent heart attacks, alcohol keeps the tiny blood cells called platelets from adhering to one another and forming damaging clots.

Alcohol may also help the heart by preventing diabetes, a risk factor for heart disease. Moderate drinkers are, on average, a little thinner than non-drinkers, and less likely to develop the diabetes associated with obesity and insulin resistance.

Besides alcohol, red wine contains more than 200 natural chemicals, mostly derived from grape skins and seeds. Many are antioxidants. The antioxidant activity in a glass of red wine equals that in seven glasses of orange juice or 20 of apple juice, one researcher estimates.

Antioxidants are widely thought to have many good effects, such as increasing tissue blood flow and protecting cells from oxidative injury much as rust-proofing protects a car.

Last December, researchers in London announced in the journal Nature that alcohol-free extracts of red wines kept blood vessel cells from producing endothelin-1, a chemical that constricts blood vessels. That may mean that red wine enhances the blood flow to organs such as the heart and brain, above what might be expected from its alcohol content.

Sounds great to me. Here's ta lookin' at ya, kid!

Crossposted at Sicily Scene