In article ,
tim.... wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article , The Medway Handyman
wrote:
My accountants bill was £175 - but since he saved me £320 at the
stroke of a pen I didn't mind :-)

If you're self employed, a decent accountant will know what expenses
the IR will accept without question. DIYing it means they are more
likely to quibble.

IME they will also know which expensed you can "make up" without then
quibbling :-(

Can be swings and roundabouts. Some expenses you may think legitimate
aren't allowed by the IR. And they may allow some you'd not thought of.
Hence the beauty of a decent accountant.

--
*Heart attacks... God's revenge for eating his animal friends

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
tim.... wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article , The Medway Handyman
wrote:
My accountants bill was £175 - but since he saved me £320 at the
stroke of a pen I didn't mind :-)

If you're self employed, a decent accountant will know what expenses
the IR will accept without question. DIYing it means they are more
likely to quibble.

IME they will also know which expensed you can "make up" without then
quibbling :-(

Can be swings and roundabouts. Some expenses you may think legitimate
aren't allowed by the IR. And they may allow some you'd not thought of.
Hence the beauty of a decent accountant.

I really was talking about genuinely made up expenses

tim

On Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:04:38 +0000 Tim Watts wrote :
So to the Tax Office: *Bllrrrp!* for all the swearing you made me do.

I was advised to ring another department to aks them to stop sending tax
returns as we're all PAYE here (this stems back to when I was self employed
in 2006) but as they seem to keep owing me money, albeit is small amounts,
perhaps I won't... Makes you wonder about the tax system and PAYE though...

HMRC sent me a letter here in Australia reminding me that I had to submit a
return by the due date. I wrote to them pointing out I had lived here since
2008 and had no UK income to declare. They said that I had ticked a box on
the previous return saying I expected to have taxable income in 2009-10 and I
therefore needed to submit a return and since the due date had passed, I
needed to file this online.

The free HMRC online facility is not available to those living outside the UK
so I ended up having to pay £20 for TaxCalc so as to be able to submit a nil
return. Hopefully I won't have to repeat this next year, but didn't see any
question in TaxCalc re 2010-11 income.

--
Tony Bryer, Greentram: 'Software to build on' Melbourne, Australia
www.superbeam.co.uk www.eurobeam.co.uk www.greentram.com

On Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:59:22 +0000 Tim Streater wrote :
Trouble is the UK tax system is so bloody complicated that DIY-ing the
tax return is not so easy. Whereas in the US it used to take me about
an hour, once a year.

If you want to DIY, I can recommend TaxCalc http://www.taxcalc.com/ -
fill in the sections as and when until complete. Better still in years
2- as it will take the previous return as a default for the new one.

--
Tony Bryer, Greentram: 'Software to build on' Melbourne, Australia
www.superbeam.co.uk www.eurobeam.co.uk www.greentram.com

In message , Tony Bryer
writes
On Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:04:38 +0000 Tim Watts wrote :
So to the Tax Office: *Bllrrrp!* for all the swearing you made me do.

I was advised to ring another department to aks them to stop sending tax
returns as we're all PAYE here (this stems back to when I was self employed
in 2006) but as they seem to keep owing me money, albeit is small amounts,
perhaps I won't... Makes you wonder about the tax system and PAYE though...

HMRC sent me a letter here in Australia reminding me that I had to submit a
return by the due date. I wrote to them pointing out I had lived here since
2008 and had no UK income to declare. They said that I had ticked a box on
the previous return saying I expected to have taxable income in 2009-10 and I
therefore needed to submit a return and since the due date had passed, I
needed to file this online.

The free HMRC online facility is not available to those living outside the UK
so I ended up having to pay £20 for TaxCalc so as to be able to submit a nil
return. Hopefully I won't have to repeat this next year, but didn't see any
question in TaxCalc re 2010-11 income.

Could you not have downloaded the online PDF form, filled it in, and
posted it? That's what I did. Or had you gone past the 'do-it-by-post'
deadline?
--
Ian

Ian Jackson wrote:

In message , Tony Bryer
writes
On Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:04:38 +0000 Tim Watts wrote :
So to the Tax Office: *Bllrrrp!* for all the swearing you made me do.

I was advised to ring another department to aks them to stop sending tax
returns as we're all PAYE here (this stems back to when I was self
employed in 2006) but as they seem to keep owing me money, albeit is
small amounts, perhaps I won't... Makes you wonder about the tax system
and PAYE though...

HMRC sent me a letter here in Australia reminding me that I had to submit
a return by the due date. I wrote to them pointing out I had lived here
since 2008 and had no UK income to declare. They said that I had ticked a
box on the previous return saying I expected to have taxable income in
2009-10 and I therefore needed to submit a return and since the due date
had passed, I needed to file this online.

The free HMRC online facility is not available to those living outside the
UK so I ended up having to pay £20 for TaxCalc so as to be able to submit
a nil return. Hopefully I won't have to repeat this next year, but didn't
see any question in TaxCalc re 2010-11 income.

Could you not have downloaded the online PDF form, filled it in, and
posted it? That's what I did. Or had you gone past the 'do-it-by-post'
deadline?

If you re-read carefully, that's what he said.

But it doesn't make sense to say that "because the due date [for the
paper return] had passed, he needed to file online". Because not
everyone is computer literate and has access to a computer, it follows
that not everyone *can* file online. Therefore HMRC *must* accept
paper returns even after the paper return deadline, in the same way as
they will obviously accept online returns after the online deadline.
The only difference is that late returns attract a penalty. So what?
The penalty is reduced to zero if the tax due is zero.

It seems highly dubious that if HMRC disallow direct computer access
from abroad for online filing in the normal way, that they should
nevertheless allow access from abroad using a third party product.
But perhaps taxcalc doesn't speak to HMRC directly at all. Perhaps
it just collates all the necessary information using a "friendly"
interactive interface, and then simply prints out an HMRC-compatible
paper form with all the fields filled in, ready to be signed and posted.

In other words, perhaps taxcalc is just a sweetener which takes some
of the drudgery out of filling paper forms in by hand, and perhaps our
Tony is one of those people to whom filling in paper forms is worse than
nursing a hangover, but is quite happy to get the job done by playing
with a computer. Even if it takes longer and costs more.

On 26/02/2011 in message Ronald
Raygun wrote:

perhaps our
Tony is one of those people to whom filling in paper forms is worse than
nursing a hangover, but is quite happy to get the job done by playing
with a computer. Even if it takes longer and costs more.

I'm one as well, perhaps we should have a special name :-)

--
Jeff Gaines Wiltshire UK
The facts, although interesting, are irrelevant

"Ronald Raygun" wrote in message
...
Ian Jackson wrote:

In message , Tony Bryer
writes
On Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:04:38 +0000 Tim Watts wrote :
So to the Tax Office: *Bllrrrp!* for all the swearing you made me do.

I was advised to ring another department to aks them to stop sending
tax
returns as we're all PAYE here (this stems back to when I was self
employed in 2006) but as they seem to keep owing me money, albeit is
small amounts, perhaps I won't... Makes you wonder about the tax system
and PAYE though...

HMRC sent me a letter here in Australia reminding me that I had to submit
a return by the due date. I wrote to them pointing out I had lived here
since 2008 and had no UK income to declare. They said that I had ticked a
box on the previous return saying I expected to have taxable income in
2009-10 and I therefore needed to submit a return and since the due date
had passed, I needed to file this online.

The free HMRC online facility is not available to those living outside
the
UK so I ended up having to pay £20 for TaxCalc so as to be able to submit
a nil return. Hopefully I won't have to repeat this next year, but didn't
see any question in TaxCalc re 2010-11 income.

Could you not have downloaded the online PDF form, filled it in, and
posted it? That's what I did. Or had you gone past the 'do-it-by-post'
deadline?

If you re-read carefully, that's what he said.

But it doesn't make sense to say that "because the due date [for the
paper return] had passed, he needed to file online". Because not
everyone is computer literate and has access to a computer, it follows
that not everyone *can* file online. Therefore HMRC *must* accept
paper returns even after the paper return deadline, in the same way as
they will obviously accept online returns after the online deadline.
The only difference is that late returns attract a penalty. So what?
The penalty is reduced to zero if the tax due is zero.

It seems highly dubious that if HMRC disallow direct computer access
from abroad for online filing in the normal way, that they should
nevertheless allow access from abroad using a third party product.

I don't think that it disallows access, what they may do is not post out the
PIN code to other than UK addresses.

tim

"Ronald Raygun" wrote in message
...

In other words, perhaps taxcalc is just a sweetener which takes some
of the drudgery out of filling paper forms in by hand, and perhaps our
Tony is one of those people to whom filling in paper forms is worse than
nursing a hangover, but is quite happy to get the job done by playing
with a computer. Even if it takes longer and costs more.

I think that the online filing system for IT is just wonderful (if you
ignore the fact that it's collecting something that you'd rather not pay)

tim

tim.... ) wibbled on Saturday 26 February 2011
18:15:


"Ronald Raygun" wrote in message
...

In other words, perhaps taxcalc is just a sweetener which takes some
of the drudgery out of filling paper forms in by hand, and perhaps our
Tony is one of those people to whom filling in paper forms is worse than
nursing a hangover, but is quite happy to get the job done by playing
with a computer. Even if it takes longer and costs more.

I think that the online filing system for IT is just wonderful (if you
ignore the fact that it's collecting something that you'd rather not pay)

tim

I agree, once you get past the fairly onerous registration procedure (which
to be fair, is onerous in an attempt at being secure).

It's as near to being "click sod all to do a nil return" as it reasonably
can be - rather than the paper form that requires zeros everywhere. And at
least it runs on firefox/linux - unlike their first attempt back in 1997 +/-
that was a pure windows program...

--
Tim Watts

In message , John
Rumm writes
It may be because the online process is not fully online. You can
register and complete a return online, however the supplying of the
access code and pin etc are done by post. If you already have access
details for the site then no doubt one could gain access from abroad
via VPN or proxy if direct access is blocked.

But perhaps taxcalc doesn't speak to HMRC directly at all. Perhaps
it just collates all the necessary information using a "friendly"
interactive interface, and then simply prints out an HMRC-compatible
paper form with all the fields filled in, ready to be signed and posted.

Don't laugh, but in the first few years of online filing, that is
exactly what the HMRC web site did! They re-keyed everything you
entered into their old system for the actual calculations to be repeated.


They then went to a system which was always closed for maintenance for
the week when returns were due [1]

Then a system that wasn't but crashed all the time

They finally seem to have got their act together a bit more now


[1] - referring to EOY online submissions here

--
geoff

On Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:27:44 +0000, John Rumm
wrote:

On 24/02/2011 18:02, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Capital gains is the worst aspect. the income is not too hard.

Trying to woprk outm, which, of many rferwent buy/sell episodes of
differing stock block sizes, constitutes a gain or loss is ..challenging.

When frequent trading was costing me more in accountants fees than it
made, I stopped.. Now it's just ' buy a block, hold, sell a block' as
opportunities arise, or buy and hold a block for several years..

Doing it inside a self select ISA takes away all of the CGT related pain...

Ditto.


--

On 01/03/2011 23:45, Doctor Drivel wrote:

He would have probably lost £2,940,000 in tax! (given it was probably
during the 70's when the 98% tax rate applied to "unearned income"
such as royalties from inventions etc).

A pity they never exteded that to land instead.

I am sure Investment bankers would be united in their support for
Dribble if they knew there was a chance of introducing a tax system that
would leave them paying next to no tax.

On 02/03/2011 11:56, John Rumm wrote:

He would have probably lost £2,940,000 in tax! (given it was probably
during the 70's when the 98% tax rate applied to "unearned income"
such as royalties from inventions etc).

A pity they never exteded that to land instead.

I am sure Investment bankers would be united in their support for
Dribble if they knew there was a chance of introducing a tax system that
would leave them paying next to no tax.

Are you suggesting Dribble is some kind of banker? ;-)

Close.

On 21/02/2011 22:48, Andy Champ wrote:

Big snip

For next tax year the highest marginal tax rate will be 65.8%. And if
you think it's fair to tax the rich - remember that unlike the rest of
us, they can up sticks and leave, taking their money with them.


I drink with someone who reckons he is worth a million pounds and he
says both he and his wife want for nothing. They change cars everytime
the guarantee runs out and has owned some impressive cars in the past.
Aston Martin, Alvis etc.

He is a very nice man and never flaunts his wealth. He is out in Tobago
at the moment, but when he comes in for a pint, we always have a very
good chat and laugh about the old days and that is very important to
him. Me as well, if I admit it. He is 89 and I will be 65 this year.

Dave

On 02/03/2011 11:56, John Rumm wrote:
On 02/03/2011 07:50, Roger Chapman wrote:
On 01/03/2011 23:45, Doctor Drivel wrote:

He would have probably lost £2,940,000 in tax! (given it was probably
during the 70's when the 98% tax rate applied to "unearned income"
such as royalties from inventions etc).

A pity they never exteded that to land instead.

I am sure Investment bankers would be united in their support for
Dribble if they knew there was a chance of introducing a tax system that
would leave them paying next to no tax.

Are you suggesting Dribble is some kind of banker? ;-)

I don't think so, but the word does rhyme :-)

Dave

In message , Dave
writes
On 02/03/2011 11:56, John Rumm wrote:
On 02/03/2011 07:50, Roger Chapman wrote:
On 01/03/2011 23:45, Doctor Drivel wrote:

He would have probably lost £2,940,000 in tax! (given it was probably
during the 70's when the 98% tax rate applied to "unearned income"
such as royalties from inventions etc).

A pity they never exteded that to land instead.

I am sure Investment bankers would be united in their support for
Dribble if they knew there was a chance of introducing a tax system that
would leave them paying next to no tax.

Are you suggesting Dribble is some kind of banker? ;-)

I don't think so, but the word does rhyme :-)


A DIY lister called drivel
made joints that didn't just dribble
The joints that he made
with his cheap hacksaw blade
gushed and flowed all over the place and flooded half of milton keynes
before they came and turned off the supply and took him away in a
straitjacket still ranting over the advantages of having two condensing
boilers instead of one

Well you didn't really expect it to rhyme, did you?



--
geoff

Dave wrote:

I drink with someone who reckons he is worth a million pounds and he
says both he and his wife want for nothing. They change cars everytime
the guarantee runs out and has owned some impressive cars in the past.
Aston Martin, Alvis etc.

He is a very nice man and never flaunts his wealth. He is out in Tobago
at the moment, but when he comes in for a pint, we always have a very
good chat and laugh about the old days and that is very important to
him. Me as well, if I admit it. He is 89 and I will be 65 this year.

With that big an age difference, is it not the case that when you are
talking about the "old days", you are very far from talking about the
same days?

Andy Champ wrote:

For next tax year the highest marginal tax rate will be 65.8%. And if
you think it's fair to tax the rich - remember that unlike the rest of
us, they can up sticks and leave, taking their money with them.

Andy


I moved my business to the Isle of Man,for tax accounting.
although i now spend a lot of time away in the sun i still love this green
and pleasant land too much to leave permanently.

-

Mark wrote:

I moved my business to the Isle of Man,for tax accounting. although i now
spend a lot of time away in the sun i still love this green and pleasant
land too much to leave permanently.

But you don't love it enough to pay your dues. Like some it seems you
want the best of both worlds.

And if you are goign to use this field in the headers of your post:

Mail-Copies-To:

Make the email address routable, you ****ing plonker. As it is you're
just being a pain in the arse to anyone with a properly configured
newsreader.

WTF would anyone request a mailed copy of a Usenet post and then make
sure that the address is inappropriate for that use, other than them
being a drooling, cock-sucking moron of the first order?

In article , Huge
scribeth thus
On 2011-03-02, Dave wrote:
On 21/02/2011 22:48, Andy Champ wrote:

Big snip

For next tax year the highest marginal tax rate will be 65.8%. And if
you think it's fair to tax the rich - remember that unlike the rest of
us, they can up sticks and leave, taking their money with them.


I drink with someone who reckons he is worth a million pounds and he
says both he and his wife want for nothing. They change cars everytime
the guarantee runs out and has owned some impressive cars in the past.
Aston Martin, Alvis etc.

He's probably worth rather more than a million pounds, then.



Well I know a few who are worth around 40, 95, and 180 million and I
wouldn't say they are any happier than the average Joe on the
streets;!...
--
Tony Sayer

Huge gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

I drink with someone who reckons he is worth a million pounds and he
says both he and his wife want for nothing. They change cars
everytime the guarantee runs out and has owned some impressive cars
in the past. Aston Martin, Alvis etc.

He's probably worth rather more than a million pounds, then.

Well I know a few who are worth around 40, 95, and 180 million and I
wouldn't say they are any happier than the average Joe on the
streets;!...

Quite likely, but my point was that you need rather more than a million
pounds to live a millionaires lifestyle these days.

Mill in liquid assets, p'raps.

On 03/03/11 12:36, Huge wrote:
...

Quite likely, but my point was that you need rather more than a million
pounds to live a millionaires lifestyle these days.

These days, you need not a million in assets, not a million net-worth, not
even a million in the bank, but an annual income of a million (at least) to
live a 'millionaire' lifestyle


--
djc

In article , Adrian
scribeth thus
Huge gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

I drink with someone who reckons he is worth a million pounds and he
says both he and his wife want for nothing. They change cars
everytime the guarantee runs out and has owned some impressive cars
in the past. Aston Martin, Alvis etc.

He's probably worth rather more than a million pounds, then.

Well I know a few who are worth around 40, 95, and 180 million and I
wouldn't say they are any happier than the average Joe on the
streets;!...

Quite likely, but my point was that you need rather more than a million
pounds to live a millionaires lifestyle these days.

Mill in liquid assets, p'raps.

Nope.. all cash in the bank .. well perhaps somewhere that does a better
interest rate;!..
--
Tony Sayer

In article ,
tony sayer wrote:
Well I know a few who are worth around 40, 95, and 180 million and I
wouldn't say they are any happier than the average Joe on the
streets;!...

I only knew well one rich person. He moved to Chille to maintain his
lifestyle and died of drink. ;-(

--
*I'm already visualizing the duct tape over your mouth

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Huge wrote:
Quite likely, but my point was that you need rather more than a million
pounds to live a millionaires lifestyle these days.

I'll bet there are quite a few on here who are millionaires on paper when
property values and pension investments are taken into account...

--
*It IS as bad as you think, and they ARE out to get you.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 03/03/11 08:10, Steve Firth wrote:
wrote:

I moved my business to the Isle of Man,for tax accounting. although i now
spend a lot of time away in the sun i still love this green and pleasant
land too much to leave permanently.

But you don't love it enough to pay your dues. Like some it seems you
want the best of both worlds.


I do pay my dues, but now to where *I* want them to go.

This all came about two years ago when i was trying to get home care for
a friend with a terminal illness who wanted to die at home.
Health care for people in the type of position is almost non-existent in
England yet my taxes were going to support the meddling in Afghanistan
and overseas aid to Russia, India, China, to the tune of billions of
pounds.(Britain despite all the proposed cuts in services at home is
still spending a larger proportion of national income on overseas aid
than any other G8 nation)

My 20% tax now goes to the Isle of Man which i think is deserving and is
my overseas aid,
the remanding saved tax is donated and split between a local Hospice
and the Macmillan Cancer Support charity in the UK.



And if you are goign to use this field in the headers of your post:
Mail-Copies-To:
Make the email address routable,

Tuff if you don't like it, you know what to do.

-

"Dave Plowman (News)" gurgled happily, sounding
much like they were saying:

I only knew well one rich person. He moved to Chille to maintain his
lifestyle and died of drink. ;-(

Why the sad face smiley? Sounds like he did precisely what he aimed to
do. More power to his elbow.

Mark gurgled happily, sounding much like they were
saying:

I moved my business to the Isle of Man,for tax accounting. although i
now spend a lot of time away in the sun i still love this green and
pleasant land too much to leave permanently.

But you don't love it enough to pay your dues. Like some it seems you
want the best of both worlds.

I do pay my dues, but now to where *I* want them to go.

But not to "this green and pleasant land" that you profess to "love...
too much to leave permanently".

Can't have it both ways without being accused of hypocrisy.

This all came about two years ago when i was trying to get home care for
a friend with a terminal illness who wanted to die at home. Health care
for people in the type of position is almost non-existent in England yet
my taxes were going to support the meddling in Afghanistan and overseas
aid to Russia, India, China, to the tune of billions of pounds.(Britain
despite all the proposed cuts in services at home is still spending a
larger proportion of national income on overseas aid than any other G8
nation)

Ballot box is that way ----

And if you are goign to use this field in the headers of your post:
Mail-Copies-To:
Make the email address routable,

Tuff if you don't like it, you know what to do.

Regard you as a ****wit as well as a hypocrite?

On 03/03/11 16:29, Adrian wrote:
gurgled happily, sounding much like they were
saying:

I moved my business to the Isle of Man,for tax accounting. although i
now spend a lot of time away in the sun i still love this green and
pleasant land too much to leave permanently.

But you don't love it enough to pay your dues. Like some it seems you
want the best of both worlds.

I do pay my dues, but now to where *I* want them to go.

But not to "this green and pleasant land" that you profess to "love...
too much to leave permanently".

Can't have it both ways without being accused of hypocrisy.

This all came about two years ago when i was trying to get home care for
a friend with a terminal illness who wanted to die at home. Health care
for people in the type of position is almost non-existent in England yet
my taxes were going to support the meddling in Afghanistan and overseas
aid to Russia, India, China, to the tune of billions of pounds.(Britain
despite all the proposed cuts in services at home is still spending a
larger proportion of national income on overseas aid than any other G8
nation)

Ballot box is that way ----


Tried that doesn't work, so i have voted with my wallet and feel
entirely justified.
You can call me anything you like, What you think of me is none of my
business.

-

In article , Adrian
scribeth thus
Mark gurgled happily, sounding much like they were
saying:

I moved my business to the Isle of Man,for tax accounting. although i
now spend a lot of time away in the sun i still love this green and
pleasant land too much to leave permanently.

But you don't love it enough to pay your dues. Like some it seems you
want the best of both worlds.

I do pay my dues, but now to where *I* want them to go.

But not to "this green and pleasant land" that you profess to "love...
too much to leave permanently".

Can't have it both ways without being accused of hypocrisy.

This all came about two years ago when i was trying to get home care for
a friend with a terminal illness who wanted to die at home. Health care
for people in the type of position is almost non-existent in England yet
my taxes were going to support the meddling in Afghanistan and overseas
aid to Russia, India, China, to the tune of billions of pounds.(0 despite all the proposed cuts in services at home is still spending a
larger proportion of national income on overseas aid than any other G8
nation)

Ballot box is that way ----

Not that we have /that/ much of a choice do we;?..

And if you are goign to use this field in the headers of your post:
Mail-Copies-To:
Make the email address routable,

Tuff if you don't like it, you know what to do.

Regard you as a ****wit as well as a hypocrite?

--
Tony Sayer

tony sayer gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

Ballot box is that way ----

Not that we have /that/ much of a choice do we;?..

shrug So stand as an indie.

In article ,
Adrian wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" gurgled happily, sounding
much like they were saying:

I only knew well one rich person. He moved to Chille to maintain his
lifestyle and died of drink. ;-(

Why the sad face smiley? Sounds like he did precisely what he aimed to
do. More power to his elbow.

Have you ever seen anyone in the months or years before they actually die
of alcoholism? It's not a pretty sight.

--
*Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 3 Mar 2011 18:34:16 GMT, Adrian wrote:

shrug So stand as an indie.

Our democracy is little more than a sham to keep the masses quiet. It makes no
real difference to how anything operates and there is no way any independent can
make a difference ? Party MPs are pretty impotent too. We are ulitimately ruled
by big business and those happy to suck up to it.

On 04/03/2011 06:20, Andy Cap wrote:
On 3 Mar 2011 18:34:16 GMT, wrote:


shrug So stand as an indie.

Our democracy is little more than a sham to keep the masses quiet. It makes no
real difference to how anything operates and there is no way any independent can
make a difference ? Party MPs are pretty impotent too. We are ulitimately ruled
by big business and those happy to suck up to it.


Oh dear and there's me thinking that we are ruled by Charities and soft
minded do gooders who seem to have permeated every political party in Britain,
all vying to give our money away "YES OUR MONEY" (not the politicians)
on every hard luck story in the World. I had thought that Cameron would change
all this but he is just as bad as the last lot.
Don
(End of Rant, subject not really appropriate for this group)

On Fri, 04 Mar 2011 06:40:22 +0000, Donwill
wrote:

(End of Rant, subject not really appropriate for this group)

It's frequently OT threads that attract most attention ! ;-)

"Dave Plowman (News)" gurgled happily, sounding
much like they were saying:

I only knew well one rich person. He moved to Chille to maintain his
lifestyle and died of drink. ;-(

Why the sad face smiley? Sounds like he did precisely what he aimed to
do. More power to his elbow.

Have you ever seen anyone in the months or years before they actually
die of alcoholism? It's not a pretty sight.

Better or worse than fading away in a care home?

On Fri, 04 Mar 2011 06:40:22 +0000, Donwill
wrote:

On 04/03/2011 06:20, Andy Cap wrote:
On 3 Mar 2011 18:34:16 GMT, wrote:


shrug So stand as an indie.

Our democracy is little more than a sham to keep the masses quiet. It makes no
real difference to how anything operates and there is no way any independent can
make a difference ? Party MPs are pretty impotent too. We are ulitimately ruled
by big business and those happy to suck up to it.


Oh dear and there's me thinking that we are ruled by Charities and soft
minded do gooders who seem to have permeated every political party in Britain,
all vying to give our money away "YES OUR MONEY" (not the politicians)
on every hard luck story in the World. I had thought that Cameron would change
all this but he is just as bad as the last lot.

I don't begrudge overseas aid to countries where people are starving
to death. However I would stop all the aid that is being given to
the banks.
--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking some articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.

On 03/03/2011 14:16, Huge wrote:
On 2011-03-03, wrote:
On 03/03/11 12:36, Huge wrote:
..

Quite likely, but my point was that you need rather more than a million
pounds to live a millionaires lifestyle these days.

These days, you need not a million in assets, not a million net-worth, not
even a million in the bank, but an annual income of a million (at least) to
live a 'millionaire' lifestyle

That was my thinking, also, which probably means you need investments of
around 20 to 30 million on top of the 20 million house ... So, to live a
millionaire's lifestyle, you need about 40 million.



I read a little while ago that the figure is around 20 million. Not sure
you need to spend 20 million on the house unless you really want to live
in London though. Under a couple of million will buy you a 7 bedroom
house in 6 acres near Cheltenham or a modernised medieval chateau with 8
bedrooms in over 40 acres in Lot et Garonne.

Colin Bignell

Huge gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

Under a couple of million will buy you a 7 bedroom house in 6 acres
near Cheltenham or a modernised medieval chateau with 8 bedrooms in
over 40 acres in Lot et Garonne.

Yes, but that means living in France. Why would I want to do that?

Apart from the subtle detail that Cheltenham isn't in France, why
_wouldn't_ you?