Politics

What does everyone think/feel about yesterday's big news (Donald Trump convicted). I am neutral and just looking to see how others think/feel about this historical event. ~Angelina

Hi. I don't understand why Russia is being solely blamed for the war in Ukraine, surely Ukraine joining NATO is the same as the Cuban missile crisis in the 1970. The U.S. president (I think Kennedy) threatened to invade Cuba if it allowed Russia to station missiles on its territory, Cuba being to close to the U.S. Ukraine borders Russia so allowing it to join NATO would put western missiles very close to Moscow. Had Ukraine undertaken not to join NATO I doubt the Russians would have invaded. So I am really not sure who’s fault this awful war is, did NATO not provoke the Russians?

All of Rachel Reeves' tax experts have repeatedly called for higher taxes Sir Edward has also called for higher capital gains tax (CGT) rates, and fewer reliefs. Although to be fair, that is one policy Conservative Party Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has pursued himself, slashing the annual CGT exemption from £12,300 to £3,000 over the last two years. After competing to cut taxes over the last few decades, the UK's two main political parties are battling each other to see who can be most punitive. We saw that with Hunt's new non-doms tax. Or the income tax raid on pensioners. Sir Edward even told the pro-Labour Resolution Foundation think tank that it was a “complete disgrace” pensioners weren’t paying National Insurance. Chillingly, he added: “We are going to have to look at the more senior members of society” to pay more tax. It looks like pensioners could be singled out for a targeted tax raid. Labour will hope this plays well with younger voters, who tend to favour the party. Another Reeves appointee, Dame Margaret Hodge MP, has also called to extend National Insurance to pensioner incomes, but that wasn't enough. She was wants everyone to pay NI on their savings income, too. That would be a huge change and punish people who have done the right thing by putting money aside for their future. Another Labour panel member, Bill Dodwell, issued a report during his time as head of the Office of Tax Simplification calling for CGT rates to be hiked in line with income tax. Other members of Reeves' team seem to be equally tax happy. READ MORE: Starmer 'will have to raise taxes' None of these proposals are official Labour Party policy yet. We don't know what its tax policy will look like, because Reeves would rather not say. But these tweets and public pronouncements give us a terrifying insight into her thinking. All of these people were appointed by her. Tax cutters need not apply. We won't know for sure which taxes Labour will hike until after the election, if the win. But Labour will need to be aggressive to fund its spending programme at a time when the country is low on cash. If they set out their plans in full, they would scare the voters. Many are only considering switching their vote to Labour because they despise the Tories. They may change their minds when they see what Labour has in store for them.

I do not know how many of you are that we now have to pay income tax on our state pension! This is because the state pension is now higher than the level of the personal tax allowance. So there was little point in giving us the 10% increase as with council tax and cost of living living rises are no better off.

Votes in US elections begin to be counted from tomorrow, are the polls correct, will Republicans take over the house and the senate, or is Michael Moore correct in his assessment that there is a blue wave coming? Should we be bothered?

Does anyone actually care if Boris had a glass of wine or Keir Starmer had a beer during lock down. The press as usual trying to whip up anger over nothing, slogans like one law for the rich and one for the poor, has it ever been any other way the laws are made by the rich for the rich. This sums it up nicely. There is one law for rich and poor alike, which prevents them equally from stealing bread and sleeping under bridges.

Completely agree in an ideal world Ukraine should be allowed to do as it wishes and so should Cuba, is it likely the US would stand for the Russians to base nukes on Cuba? This isn't about blame its about manipulation, it's not about Ukraine it's about the big players jockeying for position. The only winner in all this will be China, Russian oil and gas will soon be banned in the EU so it will be sold to China instead because nobody else wants it prices will drop, happy days for China. The big worry at the moment is China will invade Taiwan while everyone is watching Russia this maybe the whole reason behind this war, win win situation for China. The Chinese have been cosying up to Russia lately so it's not hard to see them manipulating Putin and visa versa who will win the game we will have to wait and see. I personally think that if the Chinese refuse to condemn the actions of Russia says it all, the only way to end this is to force the Chinese to condemn Russian aggression by banning Chinese goods from Europe if they don't.

As we approach the end of the Queen's reign the country needs an honest, grown-up debate about the monarchy. We need to stop and ask ourselves: Can't we just choose our next head of state? With polls showing young people wanting an elected head of state, the succession of King Charles will be a major turning point in the monarchy's history and in the growth of Britain's republican movement. There is going to be Billboards about this up and down the country. Interested?

Feel free to sign this petition - https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/560253

Did you know there will be a Census in March (Sunday 21/03/2021)? It will be primarily digital (you can get paper copies of forms on request) If you did/did not know does it bother you and why?