Le Stu

Christ... if they must, why can't they americanize it properly?

Dr Chronic, in the driveway, with the AK.

Dwayne Average, on the freeway, with the sniper rifle.

Trent Lovechild, in ur school, with 10 handguns, 30 pipebombs, a sawn off shotgun, dark glasses and a trenchcoat.

My personal favorite was the newsnicht one where Labour MSP Ian Gray was asked what exactly Wendy Alexander meant by 'bring it on' and whether The Prime Minister supported her.

Watching a statesman's mind implode live on television is amazing entertainment.

COLDLAY LINK TO UNBEARABLE ARSEHOLES - The Daily Mash

It's great that we've got our own f*cking Onion, isn't it???

I nearly choked on my mini cheddars, reading that!

I must admit, the daily monotony kills me, but it's also what I find reasurring about life.

Go figure. I think I'd be a lazier fucker if I wasn't workign fulltime though. i can cite historic evidence to that effect

I wanted to wait until you had at least one decent reply to point out that you asking this with avatar of hawt asian = hilarial.

Dude, you just can't win at the internets. It's a bit like nuclear war.

Because Friday Night with Johnathon Ross is on?

Yes! I love to watch him sucking off celebs while I pump my big hairy...

o_O

NO!

It's Friday tomorrow and that's good enough for me!

I spent a week in Elgin a few months ago, it was really nice actually.

Elgin is a beautiful place. Growing up there made me want to burn it to the ground, however...

My other rant is based on a certain employment agency who are trying to get 20 out of me to do a background check for a job I started 6 months ago.

Since the office has nothing to do with the payroll, I think I'm just going to ignore their calls

I can't help noticing that most people that complain about banks are the same people that go over their overdrafts and account limits.

I'm with Llloyds TSB and have never had a single problem with them.

I'd have a problem with LLoyds TSB and that's because I'm financially illiterate! yeah, i only have myself to blame for cutting things too fine. But I still can't figure out why banks can't post debits the same day you make them. They offer us incredibly poor visibility on the actual account balance, even with online banking.

Halifax Bank of Scotland are just merely dicks. They refunded me 70 (2x35) since both were debits less than a fiver. However, then I got stung for 35 again for a 15 debit overdraw and a 28 'monthly charge' on top of that.

I will be sifting through my account one Sunday in the future to itemise everything they're going to give me back!

they don't. students aren't exempt from council tax, the household merely gets a discount which many assume means the student doesn't pay. in a home full of students then there is no council tax but where more than half the household or more are non-students then it's a discount and it can be quite a paltry one at that.

There are other reasons a working person wouldn't want to live with students, but that's an overriding one! Still, if it is rolled into their tax allowance, it won't effect them in the slightest.

As for the self-employed and their wily accountants, yeah that is a big question mark.

I've never really understood why students get a tax free ride anyway.

I admit I don't have a complete understanding of what's being proposed, but is the jist of it going to be that council tax will be replaced by an increase in income tax? If so, then doesn't this hit families with two working parents quite hard?

At least with council tax you are paying that tax for your property, with a small discount if you are living on your own. If you're living as a family then will both parents not be taxed extra and end up paying more than they were in council tax previously?

It's proposed to be an additional income tax to come out through the PAYE tax system. So, whatever you pay now, plus an additional 3% deduction from your gross earnings.

Whether or not it will hurt dual income families depends on what band their property tax is currently based on. I suppose that, given local government funds state schools, it might not be considered unfair that families should pay more per household than single people.

Nah, try wandering around wearing yer grey hoodie up.

And they think we're bizarre for that!

Why not just use a coffee table or something? Or is the idea so you can lie back on the couch and play?

Maybe one of those little tables for eating in bed would do the job.

Yeah, I'm thinking that. Looking at the gaming gizmos I have found, they seem to lack space for the mouse. Some sort of lap table, tray or something might do the job. I found some strange circular keyboards that cut down on space, also.

I don't really have the option of not lying back in my sofa, unfortunately. Not unless I want to kill my back.

I'm currently scrimping and saving for a new PC rig, which I intend to plug into my HDTV and use from my sofa. I then intend to sit there and play Warcrack, or whatever other vile second life I can obtain, to get me through the winter.

I'll be getting a wireless mouse and keyboard, but I need something to put them on. Is there any relatively inexpensive lap-desk type accessory I can purchase, or should I really just get a piece of wood, as I will no doubt be hilarially advised!

Chrome users, try copying this into the address bar:

"about:internets"

Labour still won't vote for it I'm afraid. If they did it would put enormous pressure on the Labour Government as Westminster for one thing.

I'm not suggesting they'll vote for it, I'm suggesting they'll whip their membership to abstain from voting for fear that the SNP will seek a fresh mandate from the electorate, should their minority administration not gain the cross party consensus needed to pass this bill.

Can't see Labour or the Tories voting for it under any circumstances.

Tories will, I agree. They have nothing to lose by sticking to their guns, either. Labour and the Lib Dems are in an incredibly weak position though, and I doubt they'll have the nuts to vote it down. Labour abstained in last year's budget vote, after 'opposing' it, which was as good as handing it to the SNP.

Don't be so sure, Tories, Labour and Greens are against it while SNP and Lib Dems take a different view on how it should be administered (same rate for whole country vs locally set rate) so I don't think it's quite home and dry yet. And that's before the problems you refer to.

True, but they know they're fucked if Salmond calls an election. I doubt they'll really oppose it in the end.

I don't think they'll have any problem getting this through Holyrood OR ELSE. Worked for last year's budget!

Bit of a problem in that setting it up through PAYE is out with the remit of the Scottish Government. And the cash that was set aside for council tax benefit being gifted for subsidising LIT. And 3% LIT maybe not exactly funding everything council tax did, despite savings in collections. It does seem that a hell of a lot of people are gonna do better out of this...

Yeah, just thought it was strange terminology, perhaps "low paid people across Scotland" rather than "Aberdeen residents" would be better.

Yeah... yeah, all right. I think Aberdeen gets less subsidy than other cities from central government, though I have no evidence to back this up, mind!

Sounds like we're in the same boat mate.

Could be, but I do earn embarrassingly little, and that is my prerogative as a slacker! If you earn around 930 per month, pre-tax, lowest band council tax will take 8.5% of your income. Roughly. I'd have to go home and look at some bills, and then relearn elementary math to figure out where it starts to suck for your earnings. Basically, if 3% LIT goes through, depending on rates for water, you're looking at around half council tax.