Unbelievably Helen Whately is right.
I repeat HELEN WHATELY IS RIGHT 😮
We have a stupid disincentivising personal allowance taper at £100,000 so HMT thought ‘why not try that again for pensioners at £12,570’ 🤷♂️
What you won’t find in the Chancellor’s speech… Around 210,000 pensioners just above state pension income will face a 53% marginal tax rate.
What’s going on here?
He announced the new Pension Tax Allowance so people just on the state pension won’t have to pay income tax.
Sounds sensible. But the devil is in the detail…
👉 For every £3 of income above the full State Pension, you’ll lose £1 of the allowance.
That means for every extra £3 of income:
•60p goes in normal income tax (20%)
•£1 of allowance is lost
£1.60 out of £3 = a 53% marginal tax rate
This hits people with modest private pensions or savings and robs them of the benefit of doing the right thing.
Those of us who love both sports despair of the binary crowd on both sides…e.g the ‘rounders’ crowd. Jomboy does a great job here trying to use measured reason and rhetoric (obviously doomed to fail 😂)
Rob Smith retweeted
The Cricket vs Baseball debate is HOT right now. As someone who loves and understands both sports here are my thoughts.
Rob Smith retweeted
“What happens when the world decides you are too different?”
Powerful speech from Agnes Krhissoula Peters, migrant healthcare worker and campaigner on why solidarity is essential in the fight for equality and justice.
Rob Smith retweeted
NEW BBC pushes again for a date for President Trump to give his deposition in defamation suit. It was originally Oct 16 - but Trump said "matters of national importance" meant he would be unavailable.
BBC lawyers rather dryly say they now know what those "matters of national importance" were ...
Rob Smith retweeted
Extraordinary letter in @ft from former UK defence attaché at Moscow embassy - we warned you about Putin but you listened to the City instead
Rob Smith retweeted
Zelensky: If President Trump really wants to have elections, tell Putin to give us two months, 60 days of a total ceasefire, and we will organize elections. Of course, we will be ready for any choice of our people
Rob Smith retweeted
The BBC published more than 100 articles, broadcasts and videos across online, TV and radio containing serious and false defamatory allegations about my husband and me, yet it has published or broadcast ZERO coverage of its High Court apology or the damages paid to our chosen charities. (1/)
Rob Smith retweeted
As everyone's been saying, the problem with Britain is that not enough wealth is concentrated in property, the housing market is too fluid, the Treasury has too much revenue, and we need to shift more wealth to London and the south east
Maybe the Jays dodged a bullet 😂 @BlueJaysFansUK @HLTCO
Did not expect a complete mutiny in the #RedSox clubhouse after the loss but that's exactly what happened. Wow.
Rob Smith retweeted
My fellow American patriots, we need to make Jack Smith the next Attorney General of the United States of America.
Testifying to the Senate Judiciary Commitee, Jack Smith is conducting a masterclass on the rule of law — highlighting the overwhelming evidence of Trump's criminal behavior and treasonous attempt to overthrow American democracy.
"Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation ... rather than accept his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results and prevent the lawful transfer of power"
"History teaches that the rule of law is rarely destroyed all at once. It's often weakened by attacks on the institutions and the public servants sworn to uphold it. Since January 2025, we have witnessed precisely such an effort."
Rob Smith retweeted
There are only two historically acceptable send-offs for legendary pitchers.
One is having his wife and kid run out to the mound.
The other is letting him shout his coach off the mound.
We have had the distinct privilege of witnessing both.
Rob Smith retweeted
#BlueJays announce they had 61 sellouts this season at the dome.
Total attendance of ~3.3 million.
