Well, at last they've given up with the lies...

Ok - I won't.

This time.

 

Central, surely? Funded from national insurance contributions.

 

Curses, I couldn't let some of the other posts go...

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Hog

The man who lives next door to me is an idle **** who hasn't done a
stroke of work in over fifteen years, despite being of "working age". We
both get our bins emptied, the same street lighting, the same roads not
repaired, the same lack of policing.

Please explain why I should pay any more than he does for these items.

 

I think he needs to read some of the histories of the conflict to see
how far off the mark he is. Ignoring the Argie sabre-rattling wasn't
the act of a government hoping to start a war - it was a good old-
fashioned cock-up.

It is certainly arguable, however, that at least part of the reason
for launching the Task Force was because it was the only way to save
her political neck, but that's not the same thing as starting it.

The Argies invaded sovereign British territory. End of.

 

But one of the accusations he resigned over was that he and the FCO had not
passed information on the situation back to Thatcher as they were embroiled
with her over other matters?

I'm not saying the situation could have been avoided or dealt with far
better once it had occured. Just that I never thought Thatcher engineered it
to shore her position.

I don't think either that she handled it subsequently in a way designed to
maximise her personal benefit. Much more and stronger direct action could
have been taken which would have sent her credibility stats soaring. It was
a rather miserable military showing which didn't do her quite as much good
as some might suggest.

 

You probably are currently, of course, since he's likely to be on Council
Tax Benefit - which means you're paying his as well as yours.

 

Umm you probably earn more so in fact you should subsidise him? Isn't that
what Champ just said.
Even I accept that a working society needs to levy tax on an ability to pay
basis, though individual cases might irk us.
I think however it should be a flat tax, very simple and easy to collect.
The amount of waste of funds wasted in collection of our complex system is
incredible.

 

There were signs of them playing silly buggers quite some months
before, but they were just discounted as nobody believed they were
serious. This was a failure of intelligence and a classic cock-up.

The landing on South Georgia a couple of weeks before the invasion
proper changed things somewhat, but there was no way the UK
government could do anything to stop the invasion in April. Not from
the other side of the world.

 

There was also the issue of some left-wing boroughs putting in *huge*
increases and blaming it on the Tories (as Maggie was warned some
might). Generally, though, it was an inequitable system, and why she
didn't heed the warnings about the last time it was tried, in the 18th
century, God only knows.

I mean, when a political experiment goes so badly wrong that nobody
else dares touch it for over 200 years, you ought to pay heed.

 

Ding.

 

There I believe you are wrong. We had the capability to destroy the
invasion fleet as it headed towards the islands.

 

Yes but the debate then was "did anybody inform Thatcher"

 

From what I can gather, he resigned because of the FO's mismanagement
of the situation, that is they simply did not foresee the invasion (due
to lack of, or incorrect, intelligence). I can't actually find
anything obvious & concrete that makes me think he should have seen it
coming. Hindsight is always 20-20. I suspect if the govt. had gone in
heavy handed before any invasion, there would have been other
ramifications for them.

Me neither, although is there a "not" missing up there?

Did wonders for sales of the The Sun, though.

 

Do they?

According to the blurb with my council tax it covers Fire Service,
Police, Refuse, and some other council bits and bobs. Surely we all
use those things?

 

No, we didn't. It was a very short sailing distance, and we had no
forces worth a light there at the time. They set sail and a few hours
later, they landed. Conqueror wasn't sent until after the invasion had
happened, and took about three weeks (IIRC) to get there.

We had no warships, no aircraft, no nothing except a few squaddies on
the islands themselves.

 

That wasn't quite what I meant, but I see that Ace's email has changed
from his usual one so it's not as obvious now.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Champ

Read what I wrote again. He should pay the same as I do, and the same as
the slacker next door given that he uses the same services.

Should he pay more for a pound of mince at Sainsbury's? Of course not.
Should the idler pay less? Of course not.

What is fundamentally different about the bins getting collected?

 

The Argies had been dropping hints in the UN for years. Their previous
adventure in 1977 was dealt with smartly:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Journeyman

Then the UK downgraded the Islanders' nationality, and indicated that HMS
Endurance would be decommissioned. The Argies gained the impression that an
invasion would be treated as a fait accompli by the UK. I don't recall any
great pre-invasion interest in keeping the Falklands in the UK. Obviously,
the Islanders vocally pro-British, and distinctly unenamoured of the idea of
being handed over to the junta. There are vague indications that Thatcher
was planning to twitch the rug from under them.

Then the Argies landed on South Georgia, and the UK didn't react. Game on.

There was a sort of echo of this, eight years later, in the ambiguous
American response to Iraq's military build-up on the border with Kuwait.

It's a fine blend of dropping hints and not paying attention, for which
Carington rightly carried the can.

 

Granted, but I thought you might consider that a fairer system.

All local government funded totally by central government grant then. An
interesting concept. Probably best to do a with local government
altogether then and appoint district commissioners and a 'local' civil
service. No need to answer that, as I am guessing a large section of
UKRM would shout YES.

Local income tax is an attractive idea, but raises problems in deprived
areas with low levels of income. For the same reason we have a rate
support grant system. Awaits chorus of "move to a less pikey area".

Accountability for spending of central funds locally might become more
disconnected if those paying didn't see some kind of direct link between
what they contribute, and those they elect to spend it (assuming they
bother to vote in the first place).


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