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Should stamp duty be scrapped in the UK?

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 13h

The FT riding roughshod over Betteridge's law there.

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 13h

Should stamp duty be scrapped in the UK? on.ft.com/42x80Pj

Conservative party says property tax deters people from moving house and stifles productivity

on.ft.com

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 13h

Dan notes this also applies to China. I'd extend this to say that China growing fast from a very low base also doesn't tell you much about the desirability of the current 'Chinese model' beyond "ending Maoism works" - not much use unless you're currently beating all your scientists to death.

Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 21h

Perhaps not the main point but I always hate it when people view it as a sign of failure when poorer countries grow faster. There is absolutely no intrinsic reason why Poland should have lower income than the UK or any other EU country forever, and that means it will have to grow faster sometimes

Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 22h

"15 years ago, Polish workers came here to find opportunity. Now Poland is growing twice as fast as we are," says Kemi Badenoch.

Any ideas what may have happened in the interim?

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 16h

Sure, I get the reference. As I say, I wasn't entirely disagreeing, but clearly the 'product' that's worth a fortune isn't (entirely) attributable to arts degrees. Of course this isn't just true of the arts, and of course financial value is not the only measure of the worth of a degree.

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 16h

What about Switzerland? (Old Swiss Confederation defeated the Hapsburgs at the Battle of Mortgarten in 1315).

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 17h

plus ça change plus c'est la même chose www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpNY...

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 17h

Not entirely disagreeing, but are there any estimates of what % of the value of creative industries is attributable to people with arts degrees? I mean, Amy Winehouse didn't go to uni and Mick Jagger dropped out of a finance degree at LSE.

Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 22h

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 23h

It all comes down to the alternative tho doesn't it? I'm very happy for my kids not to go if there's a good alternative. And that's what the UK has always been crap at.

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 23h

Indeed. Tho other societies provide coming of age experiences for young people that cost a lot less than 3x£9k

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 1d

If he had, he wouldn't have had to worry about UKIP flipping seats from Tories to Labour and prob wouldn't have promised a referendum on Brexit

a man in a suit and tie is saying " mais dehors les romanos "

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 2d

Connoisseurs of revolutions (whether 1645 or 1791) will be pleased to see calls for self-denying ordinances

StefAppriou @stefappriou.bsky.social · 3d

Je propose qu'on interdise aux 577 députés qui ont été élus de se représenter !

On en a marre de ces tocards qui ne pensent qu'à leur gueule, à leur parti et à la présidentielle !

( Dommage pour les rares qui faisaient le taf ! )

ALT: a man in a suit and tie is saying " mais dehors les romanos "

media.tenor.com

2

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 2d

I guess all civilisations end, but I genuinely didn't think this would be how ours would.

Rhodri Marsden @rhodri.biz · 2d

A text from my mum. The general population appear to be losing their minds

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 4d

Just as many things used to go through DFID to juke the ODA stats

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 5d

(I should say, if I was designing a water system I wouldn't design it like the current English model, I just don't recall a halcyon era when UK central government invested optimally in public infrastructure)

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 5d

Environmentalists: Reform are about to take control of the state which is disastrous as they hate the environment
Also environmentalists: let's give the state more direct control over the environment, and a direct trade-off between otters and cancer drugs.

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 5d

The current model, where the government can require companies to invest, decide how much of this is passed on to households, and then claim they have nothing to do with bills seems politically more conducive to investment than if sewers start competing directly with the NHS?

England’s water can be renationalised without compensation, activists say

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 5d

I'm pretty relaxed about shareholder compensation in these cases, but no one seems very keen to explain why public ownership, in a time of serious fiscal challenge, is going to magically solve a problem that we know will require enormous capital spending www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Campaigners cite previous court rulings against shareholders, such as in the case of Northern Rock bank

No 10 announces decision although role will not legally be taken on until January, before an enthronement service Sarah Mullally has been named as the first female leader of the Church of England as Downing Street announced the 106th archbishop of Canterbury nearly a year on from Justin Welby’s resignation over the handling of a safeguarding scandal. This is the first time an archbishop of Canterbury has been chosen since the Church of England allowed women to become bishops in 2014. Continue reading...

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 5d

I think it confuses two different sorts of unfairness. We shouldn't put up with injustice, but we should recognise that misfortune is random, sometimes bad stuff happens that's no one's fault (life ISN'T fair) *and therefore we should be sympathetic to people who suffer it*.

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 5d

Now they've crossed that Rubicon, is the Archbishop going to finally make it to London after 1400 years?

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 5d

Sarah Mullally is named as first female archbishop of Canterbury

BrewDog sells Scottish ‘rewilding’ estate it bought only five years ago

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 5d

Are you saying George Orwell was wrong about pigs?

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 5d

20th century communists wanted the state to do everything and anarchists want it to do nothing, so at least they're only half wrong.

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 5d

Increasingly seems like a weird feature of the C21st, that we expect the market to do stuff governments should do, while also wanting governments to do what the market does better. It's all arse about face basically.

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 6d

The perils of thinking the private sector will supply public goods. Yes, it might happen if the incentives are there (which means meaningful govt created climate markets), but otherwise this is just wishful thinking. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Latest disposal by ‘punk’ beer company follows £37m loss and closure of 10 pubs

BrewDog sells Scottish ‘rewilding’ estate it bought only five years ago

Neal Hockley @nealhockley.bsky.social · 6d

The perils of thinking the private sector will supply public goods. Yes, it might happen if the incentives are there (which means meaningful govt created climate markets), but otherwise this is just wishful thinking. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Latest disposal by ‘punk’ beer company follows £37m loss and closure of 10 pubs