Oren Kopit

Has anyone polled the public on how hated the stupid attached bottle cap thing is? Or on useless paper straws? Interested to see public attitudes here.

No surprises there then 🙄

Captain hindsight only 2 weeks late!

Principal Skinner speaks out on Iran. Turns out he has nothing significant to say. Irrelevant bystander.

As Wes Streeting said, you have no growth strategy. The average person is poorer under Labour.

Here's one free month of Starlink service! Starlink high-speed internet is great for streaming, video calls, and gaming in even the most remote locations on Earth. starlink.com/residential?re…

Suppose that once a week, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to £100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this: The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay £1. The sixth would pay £3. The seventh would pay £7. The eighth would pay £12. The ninth would pay £18. And the tenth man (the richest) would pay £59.　 So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every week and seemed quite happy with the arrangement until, one day, the owner caused them a little problem. “Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your weekly beer by £20.” Drinks for the ten men would now cost just £80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free but what about the other six men? The paying customers? How could they divide the £20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share? They realized that £20 divided by six is £3.33, but if they subtracted that from everybody’s share then not only would the first four men still be drinking for free but the fifth and sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.　 So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fairer to reduce each man’s bill by a higher percentage. They decided to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using and he proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay. And so, the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (a 100% saving). The sixth man now paid £2 instead of £3 (a 33% saving). The seventh man now paid £5 instead of £7 (a 28% saving). The eighth man now paid £9 instead of £12 (a 25% saving). The ninth man now paid £14 instead of £18 (a 22% saving). And the tenth man now paid £49 instead of £59 (a 16% saving).　 Each of the last six was better off than before with the first four continuing to drink for free.　 But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings. “I only got £1 out of the £20 saving,” declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, “but he got £10!“　 “Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a £1 too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!”　 “That’s true!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get £10 back, when I only got £2? The wealthy get all the breaks!”　 “Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison, “we didn’t get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!” The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.　 The next week the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important – they didn’t have enough money between all of them to pay for even half of the bill!　 And that’s how it works. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy and they just might not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.　 For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

This Rachel Reeves Budget has absolutely done my head in. It’s like they have sat down in a room and said “How can we make life harder for normal, hard working people?” And then ticked every box. Freezing income tax and NI thresholds? That’s basically a stealth tax on grafters. You work harder, get a tiny pay rise, and then government grabs it before it even hits ya bank. Then she whacks businesses right in the bollex by gutting the pension salary sacrifice benefit, so companies have to cough up more just to offer staff a basic pension. Punishing you for trying to do the right thing. They really want people to not work and stay indoors on the system. It’s madness. The people actually trying to build something…. Like run a cafe, a market stall, a gym, a shop, a small manufacturing firms a builder, a plumber, the black cab drivers and so many more hard working people are being squeezed from every angle. Higher wages, higher taxes, more pension costs, more rules, more pressure… and less support. We should be making it more attractive for businesses. Not scaring them off to move their money abroad. If Labour actually cared and actually wanted this country to thrive and do well again they would Cut taxes so hardworking people keep more of their own money and support small businesses properly. We gotta make Britain attractive again to invest in. Give stability, Small businesses are the backbone of this country. They’re the people up at the crack of dawn keeping this country going. Making jobs for people. Supporting local economies. Not sitting back waiting for a handout. Why do we get punished to cover the cost of all these poxy handouts!! It’s about time someone called it all out. In fact that’s just what I’m gonna do. When the small businesses dry up and stop paying their taxes and start losing money. The country will fall apart. Some people don’t realise how important they are! Bosh❤️

This was not a budget for me or my family. Quite the opposite. This was not a budget for working people or growth, what a missed opportunity. Why are the people leading our country so incompetent and misguided. We need change now to undo the damage of successive bad government.

@Peston The OBR forecasts will show even greater mismanagement in the past year under Labour but they’ll pretend it has nothing to do with their crippling decisions on people’s finances.

Reeves: “years of economic mismanagement have limited our economic potential”

The Chancellor thinks she can tax her way to productivity growth. She thinks she can spend your money more efficiently than you. She’s wrong!

@RachelReevesMP thinks she can tax her way to productivity growth. She thinks she can spend your money more efficiently than you. She’s wrong!

@Keir_Starmer But not in Birmingham 🤷🏻‍♂️

I will do everything in my power to guarantee Jewish communities the security they deserve.

Labour might fair better in if they focused on governing well and dropped their obsession with Reform 🤷🏻‍♂️ the country deserves better than this.

The murder of Charlie Kirk is a tragedy, and a sign of the utter desperation and cowardice of those who could not defeat him in argument. Charlie Kirk has been killed not for espousing extremist views - because he didn’t. He has been killed for saying things that used to be simple common sense. He has been killed because he had the courage to stand up publicly for reasonable opinions held by millions and millions of ordinary people both in the US and Britain. The world has a shining new martyr to free speech. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones.

Thank you Ange! 🏆⚽️

@DisneyPlus why is this considered appropriate content and categorisation for a child’s profile rated 6 and below?

Officially the coldest line in football history 🥶

Breaking: VICTORY! The BBC has pulled the Gaza documentary off air. It is no longer available on iPlayer. The BBC Hamas propaganda video has gone.