u3a

South East London

U3A Current affairs discussion group 23 September 2024

  1.  Taxation 

Number of UK income tax payers leaps by 4.4m in three years due to threshold freeze

https://www.theguardian.com/money/article/2024/jun/27/income-taxpayers-leaps-in-three-years-due-to-threshold-freeze

A wealth tax for the UK

https://www.lse.ac.uk/International-Inequalities/Assets/Documents/OLDWealthTaxCommission-Final-reportold.pdf

How much tax do the rich really pay?

https://www.lse.ac.uk/research/research-for-the-world/economics/how-much-tax-do-the-rich-really-pay

Global responsible tax – Will wealth taxes work?

https://responsibletax.kpmg.com/article/global-responsible-tax-will-wealth-taxes-work

National debt forecast to treble over next 50 years

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cewlwkg82ggo

Fiscal risks and sustainability. Office for Budget Responsibility

https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/Fiscal-risks-and-sustainability-report-September-2024.pdf

How much tax do the rich really pay?

https://www.lse.ac.uk/research/research-for-the-world/economics/how-much-tax-do-the-rich-really-pay

Global responsible tax – Will wealth taxes work?

https://responsibletax.kpmg.com/article/global-responsible-tax-will-wealth-taxes-work

Number of UK income tax payers leaps by 4.4m in three

years due to threshold freeze

https://www.theguardian.com/money/article/2024/jun/27/income-taxpayers-leaps-in-three-years-due-to-threshold-freeze

Billions lost from small retailers in tax evasion, says watchdog

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/sep/09/billions-lost-from-small-retailers-in-tax-evasion-says-watchdog

Government borrowing in August highest since Covid

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cje39jpk404o

2.  Working from Home

Amazon tells staff to get back to office five days a week

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czj99ln72k9o

Right to WFH boosts productivity, Labour says

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz04mr4l90do

Expert who coined presenteeism term says employers who force staff back are dinosaurs

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/sep/18/prof-coined-presenteeism-employers-force-staff-back-dinosaurs

The great divide: are office workers more productive than those at home?

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/sep/19/office-workers-working-from-home-amazon

3.   Buffer zones around abortion clinics

Buffer zones set to come in around abortion clinics

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62m4g2drgdo

4.  Elon Musk – hero or villain or both.

Brazil fines Musk's X for site's return after ban

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4dn4z02emo

Chechen warlord accuses Elon Musk of ‘remotely disabling’ his Cybertruck

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/20/business/chechnya-kadyrov-musk-tesla-cybertruck-disabled/index.html

Elon Musk

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/elon-musk

5. Use loyalty cards to prompt healthy alternatives.

Unhealthy item in the bagging area! Supermarket could use loyalty card data to warn shoppers when they are buying too much fatty food

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13861107/Tesco-Clubcard-data-shoppers-buying-fatty-food.html

6.   Children’s care homes profiteering.

Unlawful care homes ‘profiteer’ from at-risk kids

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crlrl0rkjr6o

7.  Last of the Evening Standard

Stop press: it is the very last Evening Standard in London today. And that tells us a lot about Britain in 2024

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/19/evening-standard-london-local-paper