Search results

I can't match your reply for length, but two points: 1 - under Margaret Thatcher, wages rose 35% in real terms (after allowing for inflation). 2 - in the USA, inflation has averaged 3.8% per year since 1960, wages rises have averaged 6.2%. That's up by a factor of 4...

I don't disagree that pure capitalism doesn't work. It needs a leavening of charity for those left behind. But an absence of capitalism leads to poverty all round.

Interestingly, only 17 Premier League teams are listed, and they include Leicester, Leeds and Southampton. I'm not sure they're updating it quite as often as they should!

To be fair, capitalism keeps the "good times rolling" for the 99% as well. At least, most people in capitalist countries seem to be a lot wealthier than their equivalents in non-capitalist countries. Are there any examples of countries that can prove me wrong?

Yes, I realise that the 100 CEOs aren't the only people earning £3.9m per year. But there aren't any other figures to quote. I was replying to a specific figure about specific people. I suspect the 300,000 people on over £200,000 salary for PAYE is quite a high proportion of the people...

Agreed the first paragraph. At the very least, directors shouldn't get share option bonuses unless the company's share price rise exceeds the FTSE. As for the shareholders, they provide capital. If there were no shareholders, the capital would have to come from a bank which would charge...

I agree that CEOs and other directors of plcs get paid too much. They aren't accountable and they just dip their fingers (legally) into the till and take out what they want. However, a pay rise of £500,000 for 100 CEOs is equivalent to a pay rise of £50 each for a million ordinary employees...

I hired one in Majorca through the hotel. Expensive (but not extortionate), but the benefit of this hire was that all damage was covered by the hire company and so any new damage, real or imaginary, cost me nothing. (The car had scuffs and scratches on all four corners, but it was a very nice...

I'm happy that you can learn as well in old age as you did in your youth. It's a great blessing. Not all old people are so fortunate. When people say that older people struggle with new technology, they aren't saying that all old people are reactionary and unable to accept change. They are...

My brother was a bus driver in the dim and distant past. One passenger regularly would get on the first bus of the day and offer a £10 note for a 3p fare. The driver couldn't change it, he'd have no change left, so the man was allowed to ride for free each day. Revenge? The drivers all...

Chip butty. No such thing as a "chip sandwich" round here. But how can the presence of cash hold anyone back? several people on here say they never use it. How would their lives be progressed by the abolition of a system that they never use?

Small charities typically get free banking. Do the school fetes get free banking on these machines? NatWest went down for a week a few years ago. What happens then if there is no cash? Do we have an absolute guarantee that nether the internet nor the banking system can ever fail? My problem...

Exactly. Money. That's why (if the club is limited to 6) Spurs aren't in. I think it ultimately boils down to the clubs that couldn't get relegated however hard they tried, because they have players so good that no manager could be so incompetent as to get them into the bottom 6 or so.

Some old people (not all) lose the ability to learn new things as a result of old age. It's not disrespectful to say so IMO. This may be less of a problem in 20 or 30 years time when daily life has changed so much that a smartphone is essential and the then-old folk have already learned...

It's not politic to write off 5 million people as an ignorable minority.

If my pal is going to the butty shop and I ask him to get me a butty while he;s there, is it easier to pay him with a £5 note or with a UPI123 or logging in on my computer?

No. But credit card or even debit card contactless payments are no use if someone wants to give me any money - you would need a smartphone for that. And smartphones cost money.

Where's the logic in that? The assumption seems to be that if you support motorists, you must by definition be opposed to cyclists and disabled non-drivers and the rest. And by the same argument, presumably, anyone who supports users of public transport must automatically hate disabled drivers...

I certainly hope not. Not unless they provide a free electronic alternative. More to the point, unlikely. There will still be a lot of people who really don't want to have to pay their 6 year old's spending money by transfer to a smartphone. There may even be people who don't want their 6...

Shorter games and lighter balls are possible. Smaller pitches and goals are not, because as it stands a football pitch can be used for men and women; if they need separate pitches, then suddenly there aren't enough pitches to go round.