The Protest Thread.

[Rich B]

They’re doing a well organised circuit basically around parliament square. If they climb up an M25 gantry or glue themselves in the middle of the A3, then yes - they will be the same treatment as the other muppets.

[Simon]

^^ with the full cooperation of the MET, with even the names of farmers supplied so they knew the numbers.

As Rich says, it's a bit different to climbing a gantry and closing the busiest road in the country for hours on end.

[ZedLeg]

I was more comparing to the way people reacted to the slow walks in London tbh.

[Gavster]

Famously, the last time farmers protested it was all very well behaved and peaceful

Ironically the protesters with easiest access to pitchforks are the least likely to bring them

I was at the protest and caught Jezza on stage. Couldn’t hear a word he was saying though. Also got the impression that a lot of farmers are somewhat out of touch with the modern world. Placards conflating Covid with the end of the world, protesting against digitisation and railing against climate action.

[ZedLeg]

Conspiracy theorists at a protest are to be expected tbh.

I saw Clarkson interviewed by the beeb. He tried to grandstand and bluster past the very obvious truth that he specifically bought his farm to avoid tax.

Didn’t really work.

I laughed when he was like “typical bbc” when they asked about it though.

Didn’t seem that leery of them when they were paying him millions

[ZedLeg]

They aren’t missing the opportunity

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[Gavster]

Why the hell would they stand in solidarity with an industry that is utterly dependent on fossil fuels?!?

[Mito Man]

Just free media coverage.

[ZedLeg]

That

Tufton St put out a good showing too. Farage, Katy Hopkins, James Melville and Liz Truss have all been talking about it.

A cynical person may think that working farmers are being played by arseholes.

[Simon]

Lib Dem leader was there too.

[Mito Man]

Can’t see the current government giving a toss about the farmers. Wonder if any of the other parties will actually reverse the decision once they get in power but can’t see it happening.

[GG.]

Conservatives have said they would.

[Simon]

This feels like a class war. Regardless of whether it's 'just' or not, it feels like Labour just don't like 'wealth'. Same reason I've never voted for them - I earn more than average, therefore they hate me.

[Mito Man]

Honestly seems like the current lot don’t like anyone

[Rich B]

Conservatives have said they would.

They can say whatever they like at this stage - 4 years away from any GE (with a leader who’ll probably not make it that long) and barely enough seats to fill a shadow cabinet!

[GG.]

The good thing about vindictive ideological taxes that barely make any money is that its very easy to reverse them on a costed basis...

[Rich B]

i don’t consider it vindictive to close loop holes, but in the interest of keeping our farms locally owned, i do think this rule could easily have a qualifier for farms genuinely passing down the generations. Either a French style licence or a simple “you have to prove you’re carrying on farming the land for 5/10 years after” to remove the IHT burden.

[dinny_g]

If Daddy buys a farm somewhere, leaves it to their child in a will and then child sells the farm, do they pay Capital gains on the sale?

[Rich B]

If Daddy buys a farm somewhere, leaves it to their child in a will and then child sells the farm, do they pay Capital gains on the sale?

thats the loop hole.

[ZedLeg]

i don’t consider it vindictive to close loop holes, but in the interest of keeping our farms locally owned, i do think this rule could easily have a qualifier for farms genuinely passing down the generations. Either a French style licence or a simple “you have to prove you’re carrying on farming the land for 5/10 years after” to remove the IHT burden.

Aye, as I said in the Starmer thread, it’s good to close loopholes in tax law.

Something like less than 5% of farms are liable under the new rules according to the gov. It’s an optics issue more than anything.

Folk have been whipped up by the likes of Clarkson pretending that they’re all in it together.

They aren’t, he’s making a human shield.