BBC Blog Network

User Profile

andyjenk

Listed below are comments made by andyjenk between Wednesday, 16th July 2008 and Friday, 25th September 2009.

«Newer
Older»

Did Baroness Scotland break the law? 2:02pm on 25 Sep 2009 If I was an illegal immigrant and the Attorney General had asked to see my passport I would have forgotten about the job and moved to another part of the country.
Is it more reasonable to believe that someone went to the trouble to obtain forged papers just to get a job as a cleaner or to believe that the Attorney General did not see them? The possibility that we have a liar as Attorney General is far worse than having a careless one.
BBC and the Gaza appeal 1:39pm on 28 Jan 2009 I sent a complaint to the BBC asking how the BBC worked out that discriminating against the people of Gaza (not the terrorists or their Government) was not Racial Discrimination. I got back a standard response which didn't at all address my complaint.
The role of the BBC's News blogs 10:32pm on 27 Oct 2008 Why do the House Rules ban from the blogs all the things that Ross and Brand do on radio and TV? Why is the BBC inflicting foul language and obscenities on-the public but objecting to receiving the same from the public?
Why are we not even allowed to comment on Ross and Brand?
Small print 8:50pm on 18 Jul 2008 MPs, on average, have no greater qualifications than the rest of us. In general they are no more intelligent, have no more business experience, are no more trained, have no more knowledge of economics etc. than anyone else. They are, however, gifted in the art of persuasion which got them elected in the first place.

A substantial number of MPs are more wrong than the other side unless all are equally right or equally wrong, in which case why should we care which of them makes the decision?

Why should we pay substantial sums to people with such a record?

We need a basic competence test for would-be MPs. This should not be political, but with such questions as to what continent a particular country is on, which are our major trading partners, what the average UK worker earns etc.

Just don't pay a US company to do the marking.
Where is the money coming from? 5:31pm on 17 Jul 2008 #107

My understanding is that VAT is applied to the total - so in this case VAT is a tax on a tax (Duty). I am open to being proved wrong - in fact I hope I am, but it seems very likely that politicians would consider Duty to be "Added Value".
Where is the money coming from? 5:26pm on 17 Jul 2008 #104 Thanks, badgercourage.

So how should I interpret a League Table of Net Annual Income which has the Net Annual Income for Spain is £16,789 while for the UK it is £35,730 - given that it appeared in the Daily Mail?

How does one tell if they have used a "mean" or a "median" (or even something else)?
Where is the money coming from? 3:39pm on 17 Jul 2008 #90:

Not reading anything sinister into it. Just illustrating how wrong impressions can be generated.

On the subject of statistics, perhaps someone can enlighten me as to how Average Annual Earnings are calculated, though.

Using simple averaging, if 90% earn £14,000 pa. and 10% earn £230,000 then the average Annual Income is £35,600 whereas if 99% earn £14,000 and 1% earn £230,000 then the average Annual Income is £16,160.

Is this the system used? If not, what is? Surely it is how much the average person earns that is important (in the above example, the same amount).
Where is the money coming from? 2:13pm on 17 Jul 2008 In #71 badgercourage said "Facts are independent of belief".

While true, he quotes statistics, and statistics are in the "Lies and damned lies" category.

A quick search of the internet reveals that "The CPI levels have also been rebased to 2005=100 from 14 February 2006. The rebased series replaced the previous series, based on 1996=100".

Take something out of context and it is no longer necessarily a fact.
Where is the money coming from? 1:56pm on 17 Jul 2008 #67

I'm one of the many over 60s who is also overweight and has a "free" bus pass. What a brilliant incentive to exercise more! I'm now wondering if I'll live long enough to be offered the new one-on-one free councilling sessions which will be introduced to help me cut down on bus travel.
It should not be beyond the abilities of our government to use a bit of joined up thinking and either target the elderly who NEED help with paying for travel or make sure that the elderly have enough money to decide for themselves how to spend it.
Where is the money coming from? 7:47pm on 16 Jul 2008 Briantist: Yes, but everything which goes up in price and carries VAT means extra money to the Government. That's the difference between their win-win and our lose-lose situation.

«Newer
Older»

^ Back to top

BBC MMVI

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

BBC.co.uk

BBC Blog Network

Find and talk to the BBC's bloggers.

User Profile

andyjenk