miga

Loz, by "current crisis" I largely meant the immediately preceding negotiation impasse - to the extent that you can separate the negotiation from the context of the previous 5 years. I disagree that the fact the negotiation failed so badly (from the Greek perspective) can be attributed mainly or only to Varoufakis, however annoying/narcissistic/bald/"bookreading" his presence some find. He attempted to renegotiate terms, which seems quite reasonable to me given the circumstances. He was second in charge in a country where the economy is shrinking (ability to repay debts decreasing), and debts are increasing so that they need to borrow just to repay interest. It seems like a reasonable thing to aim for from his perspective to attempt to get some of the debt forgiven/restructured and attempt something other than what hadn't been working for the previous 5 years. If the facts (rather than opinion) of what he stated in the New Statesman interview today aren't outright lies (a possibility) it would appear Schauble was inflexible in position, but also uninterested in rounding off the talks constructively. I guess he'll have his reply soon enough. Related, there's a narrative about Varoufakis as this psycho academic narcissist who tested out his loopy academic theories on the long suffering Greeks, pushed from various corners of the media. Aside from this being slightly corny, I think it misses the point that there are two sides to the negotiation, and that whatever you think of him, he and Tsipras had a clear mandate from the Greek population to renegotiate the deal.

Which BTW is what you were wondering earlier in the thread re: referendum - what was the point when the deal is worse than what was on the table some weeks back.

Loz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The question the Greeks may now ask is: how many > billions will Varofakis' silly games cost them in > the end? I think they're more likely to ask themselves what the point of clearly voicing their opinion in that referendum was, given that the conditions attached to the latest tranche of debt are worse than before, and that Greece won't be in charge of that money anyway. Assuming Tsipras gets the deal through parliament. It's second rate thinking to pin the current crisis on one guy, who's been second in charge for less than 6 months.

Booooooooooooooring....

It's written by the winners, so you're probably right.

MrBen, could you explain, using hypothetical numbers?

Loz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > miga Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Yeah, I don't get that either, how can tax on > > profits make you lose money if it's less than > 100%? > > It's not a tax on profit, though. At the moment, > if you charge ?1000 a month rent and have interest > on your mortgage of ?800, then you can deduct that > mortgage interest (plus any other expenses like > insurance, repairs, etc). Basically, like any > business. Rent - costs = profit. Profit is then > taxed at the going rate. > > So I can't work out how this is going to work. > I'm not sure where your tax rate comes into it - > can anyone explain? > OK, I've just spent a few minutes reading about this, and I think that how much relief you get depends not only on your rental income but on your total income. So in that example if your day job + rental income puts you in the 40% bracket, the interest after relief is ?480. In 4 years' time it will be ?640. Which all makes the current system seem very suitable for highly leveraged speculation.

Yeah, I don't get that either, how can tax on profits make you lose money if it's less than 100%?

One of those recent articles featured a 40-something media-something-or-other moving to... Brighton..... What an earth shatteringly different existence that will be!

*Bob* Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > who've grown tired of trying to grow their own > courgettes Our first batch if courgettes was delicious, no need to move beyond zone 3. Though I guess that zone 3 is tantamount to social death for Guardian's Dalston elite...

Loz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > But rabbiting on about democracy and then putting > pretty much the same proposal forward is downright > hypocrisy. Having a vote is not a bad thing in > itself, but what exactly were the Greeks voting > against? How are they going to sell it to the > Greek people and - more importantly - to the Greek > parliament? "It's not the same document at all - > this one has a different date on it and we've also > changed the font." Sure, they've flip flopped under external pressure, and changed the team to suit the opposing side. All I'm saying is that this isn't "a parallel universe" but a very pedestrian reality of small/weak nations, standing up like this invariably leads to a shaming reversal of direction down the line. The referendum can be seen as either a part of the posturing for domestic consumption, or an inconvenient act of resistance that they were too late to stop. > And the Varoufakis 'resignation' speech was spin > as well. He was elbowed out of the negotiation > team for a least a fortnight ago. Even Tsipras saw > him as the loose cannon he was, sidelined him and > then dumped him as soon as the referendum was > over. He was a useful idiot who had ceased to be > useful. Agree there is spin - it's politics - but I think the resignation is him now washing his hands of anything Tsipras agrees to. As for him being an idiot (useful or otherwise) - academic and polyglot credentials aside, I recommend you check out some of his writing or speeches on YouTube - you might dislike what he's saying, but and idiot he is not.

Au contraire, it's very much normal for leaders of small nations to flip flop on decisions under external pressure. It's what Varoufakis might have even suggested in his resignation post: "Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted 'partners', for my ? 'absence' from its meetings; an idea that the Prime Minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement". C'est la vie.

Crucial question Otta - the service in my neck of the woods is ?3 a week. "Oooooohhh...big spenders!".

The first place I saw this service offered was SE6. Not sure it's an indication of anything much other than the general trend of outsourcing house/garden work.

lolz :-)

Well, I find it obvious, and so do you, but it appears that the lesson of what happens when a power vacuum is left in the wake of an autocrat's removal wasn't learnt after Iraq. So maybe not so obvious?

I find his shtick deeply annoying, but he does make a valid point that Western intervention in the Middle East since 9/11 has on the whole destabilized the region.

I think <100 miles is a pretty standard definition of local for farmers' markets.

There's a fine line between vibrant and stabby.....

red devil Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > For someone who's bored of the subject, you don't > half comment a lot miga.... There you go, fixed. Thanks EDF, it's been mildly amusing.

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