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Listed below are comments made by SurfingSharka between Monday, 16th July 2012 and Monday, 23rd July 2012 (5 Hours Ago) .
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'Cowboy' tax scheme firms 'to disclose client lists'
1:30pm on 23 Jul 2012
"more complicated the rules become, the more loopholes open up"
That is what a GAAR is for. You don't need to close loopholes if you can attack pretty much any abusive behaviour using the GAAR and force the taxpayer to prove that tax avoidance wasn't their main purpose in doing what they did. -
'Cowboy' tax scheme firms 'to disclose client lists'
1:18pm on 23 Jul 2012
BluesBerry
If you think a GAAR is "wishy washy" you clearly don't understand the implications of it, or indeed tax law. A few lines in a single piece of legislation will have enormous consequences. - 'Cowboy' tax scheme firms 'to disclose client lists' 12:20pm on 23 Jul 2012 This sounds exactly like the DOTAS regime which already exists and already has a £1m fine for non-disclosure.
- Is Football Racist? My Dad's story 6:47pm on 16 Jul 2012 If only football could admit that there is a serious problem with hatred in the game. Hate hate hate... hate anyone different to you, hate the person in the other team's colours, hate anyone not of your race, hate women, hate anyone LGBT, hate anyone who doesn't dress like you, hate anyone who doesn't talk like you. Hatred is at the heart of so many chants and songs, hatred is at the heart of rivalries that are celebrated as "healthy" traditions, hate is at the heart of the way people behave. Hatred has become a normal state of being. Hate the ref for doing their job, hate the linesmen, hate the stewards, hate hate hate... and so it goes.
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Is Football Racist? My Dad's story
5:35pm on 16 Jul 2012
@255
The point is that vile abuse is at the heart of football, on the pitch and on the terraces, and until it is considered unacceptable, then it will continue, including racist abuse.
What's laughable is that anyone might believe that progress has been made just so long as people don't use any words on a specific list of insults. Because they are not only free to use any other insult they like, but actively encouraged to do so by the deeply negative atmosphere of football matches.
The idea that everything is fine and dandy as long as nobody makes any references to skin colour, when they are free to indulge in the worst levels of sexist and homophobic verbal abuse you can imagine, is nuts.
My own personal experience of being in crowds was so horrendous due to sick, sick references to my hair and my gender that I no longer attend. I have literally been driven away by the abuse - it was made very clear that I wasn't welcome there simply for being the person I am. It made me feel sick to my stomach and, at times, genuinely afraid. Telling someone that they deserve to be dead because they are ginger is not the same as just calling someone ginger and that should be bloomin' obvious. It is the former that happened to me!
The whole point is that until football tries to encourage a baseline level of respect for fellow human beings, you won't get rid of any of it, including racism. Racism would be better tackled by encouraging mutual respect between all people. It sends out totally the wrong message to say that's it's fine to treat people like dirt for any reason you can think of so long as it's not skin colour. The message should be that it's never fine to treat people like dirt and make them feel worthless, threatened, unwelcome. That could begin to tackle the racism, the sexism, the homophobia, all of it. -
Is Football Racist? My Dad's story
3:09pm on 16 Jul 2012
I'll believe we have achieved tolerance in football when there are openly gay footballers playing professional football in this country without receiving mountains of abuse from other players and fans.
The truth is, abuse is rooted into the heart of football, both on the pitch and in the terraces. "Banter" just means it's okay to treat someone as sub-human. Racist "banter" is rightly dealt with very harshly but all other forms are waived away as name-calling that people should get over. I recall a time when racist comments were waived away as name-calling that people should get over too...
As long as abuse is at the heart of football, not only tolerated but actively indulged in by the crowds, racism and other forms of prejudice won't go away because we will still be sending out the message that treating other people like dirt is fine, provided you avoid using any word on the criminal offence bingo card. Encouraging a basic level of respect to your fellow human beings would go much, much further to combating racism and other forms of prejudice all in one go. -
Is Football Racist? My Dad's story
2:36pm on 16 Jul 2012
@80
My least favourite moment in a sporting crowd was when a group of men sitting behind me helpfully informed me that I should have been "aborted before I was born" due to my hair colour. That was at an England match. I wouldn't expect that to be a criminal offence, that's absurd. But it's basically accepted as a perfectly fine comment, along with all manner of vile sexist and homophobic abuse at football matches.
My point is that as long as we pretend that such forms of abuse are all fine and dandy and just "banter" we will never get anywhere, not with racism or anything else. Nobody seemed to care that Terry's alleged comment included a misogynist slur along with a racial one. If you pretend that it's okay to have less than zero respect for other human beings, and that it's fine to vocalise your vile thoughts about them provided you avoid a few key words that would then make it a criminal offence, then we have learned nothing. -
Is Football Racist? My Dad's story
2:08pm on 16 Jul 2012
"If a black person says something about another black person's colour, isn't this just the same as a white person calling someone a ginger for having ginger hair? So your calling that self-racism?"
In the immortal words of Tim Minchin, only another ginger can call a ginger ginger.
I've been randomly abused on the street by men - both black and white - for having red hair. It's not racism but it is hideously unpleasent, especially for a women on her own. And the media allows those sorts of jokes to be broadcast on prime time conedy shows. -
Eight radical solutions to the childcare issue
1:16pm on 16 Jul 2012
"I'm doing that myself now by living within my means and putting aside something for when I retire"
And who exactly is going to grow the food you eat, sanitise your water supply, treat your illlnesses, pay for your medication? After all there'll be no next generation as nobody could afford children. You'll have worthless 1s and 0s in a bank that's gone bust because nobody makes money anymore. -
Eight radical solutions to the childcare issue
1:08pm on 16 Jul 2012
clairepagan
By that logic, nobody should ever have kids, because a financial crisis could leave absolutely anyone destitute in unlucky circumstances. Then we'd wake up to quite a population crisis in a few decades!
I don't have kids myself, but I recognise that somebody's going to be paying the taxes that pay for my healthcare in old age. I wouldn't object to contributing towards childcare.
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