aDONisSheep

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Ooft! Someone's jumped the shark here!

I understand the sentiment, and any individual is not going to break the bank, but cumulatively!... Back in 2012 it was estimated that the shadow economy (as opposed to the black economy) is worth about £150bn p.a. in the UK, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/jun/04/uk-shadow-economy no matter how you look at it, that is a big number. (I saw a similar figure for 2017 but can't find the source now). All I'm saying is that we shouldn't be excusing small scale tax evasion as some sort of victimless crime. Everyone likes to pick a convienient straw-man (waitress/waiter), but this avoids the fact that on a cumulative basis there is a real impact of everyone thinking 'it's just a bit of a fiddle, look over there'. I didn't expect people to agree with me. I understand the frustration that there is one rule for the rich and another for the poor (I agree with the sentiment). But... just because that cvnt Sir Philip Green robbed his workers pension pots, doesn't give you or me the right to shoplift at Primark. Yours, the ever saintly! aDONis

On the subject of 'yer maw', do you think she'd be shop steward for the new union?

Farkin 'ell you've got me started. I would decriminalise prostitution, BUT would expect sex workers to pay tax and use those taxes to pay for more health and social care as well as more sympathetic policing. Hell, I'd encourage them to unionise! I suppose that could also be seen as a relatively unpopular opinion as well (Christ I'm just a contrarian). Yours, up the (sex) workers (oo er missus) aDONis

Whilst not mutually exclusive if one of these companies paid their tax bill it would pay 10x more than all cash in hand jobs/tips combined, you're focusing on exactly what the Tories want you to focus on. I'm not focussing on that at all. The title of this thread is 'unpopular opinions'. I get absolutely incensed at big companies and wealthy individuals using the tax laws to do what I consider 'immoral' tax avoidance. I've been approached several times to 'invest' in schemes such as 'pay day loans', 'Film production companies', 'Employee benefits schemes' (a misnomer if ever there was one) etc. They are all morally repugnant and I've never invested. However I don't think complaining about big business tax avoidance would qualify as an 'unpopular opinion'. However pointing out the hypocrisy that many of us have to the 'it's only a bit of fiddling on my taxes, look at what big business does' is an unpopular opinion. Yours, pay your taxes. aDONis

I understand that, but that's an argument for raising personal allowances (and I'm very open to doing that), it's not an argument for people to just 'decide' whether they want to pay taxes or not. What if it's a waiter/waitress who works in a swanky restaurant and gets tips in the hundreds if not thousands from rich diners, is it still OK for them to not declare their incomes? My argument is not that our tax system is fair at the moment (I don't think it is), and believe you-me, I think the plethora of food banks in this country is an absolute scandal and don't get me started on how we deal with issues such as unemployment, mental health and addiction. But it still comes back to the principle that people don't get to choose, if they want to pay taxes or not. Cards on the table, we all need to pay more tax. I'm a dissafected Labour voter (live darn sarf), who rails against the current ambivelence that the current Labour leadership seem to have to creating a different/fairer society. I don't like paying my taxes (nobody does), but I do it because it's a genuine way for us to do 'big stuff'. That said, if I'm paying my fair share, then I expect others to do the same. Yours, bleeding heart liberal aDONis

I think you should really be looking at the massive companies avoiding billions in tax as opposed to waiters and waitresses on minimum wage not declaring tips.... I've never understood that argument. Believe it or not, I can walk and chew gum. I don't think the items are mutually exclusive (and nor should they be). I REALLY think we should tighten up our tax laws on big business and the rich (but that's a popular opinion). But that doesn't give a builder a right to avoid VAT on cash in hand jobs. Yours, aDONis

My unpopular opinion; People who dabble in the black economy, so they can save a bit of tax are absolute knvts. This includes those that pay a bit of cash in hand to avoid VAT and those that don't declare their full incomes. (I'm looking at everyone from Tradesmen doing a bit on the side to taxi drivers to waiters and waitresses not recording their tips). Don't get me started on those morally corrupt knvts that use tax loopholes (but those are more popular opinions). Yours, pay yer taxes! aDONis

I see the World Rugby is looking to trial the 20 min red card globally. I don't know the full details, but (even though I don't like the current laws) I'm not sure this is the correct answer either. I think I'd be happier with a yellow, orange and red approach. It will also come as no surprise to any of you, that I didn't think the Gibson-Park tackle warranted a red. I haven't seen the Nel incident to see if it merits three weeks, but yet again I'm fake-laughing at the idea that he gets a week off his ban by attending a course to teach him... what he already knows and what he's been shown about 1,000 times. Yours, aDONis

We are absolutely fucking gash, proper no fucking use, gash! i liked Cormack back in 2,000 when he was a pretty straight shooter, but currently he’s lost in Footy Manager territory. We are in a much worse position now, than at any time under Deek. To pretend anything else is proper head in the sand stuff. I have seen nothing with Goodwin, that convinces me that he’s an improvement. Everyone at the club should be fucking ashamed. Third highest wage bill but mibbes 10th best team. We let the ‘racists mate’ captain our club and he was no more than a cunty Paul Hartley 2. We couldn’t even get motivated for todays game. I dislike this team more than McGhee’s shite, more than anything Uncle Ebbe or Calderwood produced, hell, more than Aitken produced. The best thing I can say is, it is slightly better than the alkie or Alex fucking Miller. Absolute fucking shite from top to bottom, with austerity and cost cutting to come. Yours, a bit disappointed aDONis

Not sure that he's a fan of the Tories?

Oor Tommeh is back.

I'd personally go for 'Scots wha hae', 'A mans a man for A that', or 'These are my mountains', but if I have to compromise, I'd settle for 'Movin on up', Happy When it rains' or 'Dirty dream number 2'.

That Japan game is the only Scotland defeat that I re-watch. I honesty think it was one of the best games of rugby ever. I also think it was Japan's high water mark. Everything they tried came off. (I know they beat SA, but I mean from a pure execution of great rugby). Ireland did the same, Gibson-Park absolutely buzzed around dishing out lightening-quick ball (when he wasn't out-thinking us with his tap and goes). In fairness to Ireland, it looks to me like Farrell has taken the exceptionally well oiled basics of Schmidt's forward based play and added more pace and variation. Scotland have never had that up front dominance (well not since I can ever remember). But we did used to have more pace and drive up front with good pick-and-go support. Given that we're not going to be a power pack, I'd like to see more offloading in the tackle by the forwards, then let Price/Finn run riot whilst defences are adjusting. Easier said than done though and certainly higher risk... But better to watch Yours aDONis

Does anyone know what is happening with the U20s. Some worrying batterings in this 6N and only one point (try bonus) in the entire comp. Have we got some good talent coming through, or do we have a real problem coming down the line? Yours aDONis

WTF is this nonsense! Yours aDONis

My take on this Six Nations campaign. The main one is that France and Ireland are well ahead of Scotland, England, Wales & Italy. They know how they are going to play and not only that they play it at pace, with power and with a lot of skill. They are two teams that I'd pay good money to watch (and I've not said that about either for a long time). For Scotland to beat either of them, Scotland would have to play very well and they would have to be off the boil. Onto Scotland and my half-ersed takes. The positives; Scotland are still creating chances; two butchered 3 on 1's and numerous visits to opposing 22s are testement to the fact, and who knows what a bit more scoreboard pressure might have done in both the France and Ireland games (I think we would still have got beaten, but woulda, coulda, shoulda). There is talent coming through (although I do worry about U20 results). Darge & White didn't look out of place at all. The scrum which for many-a-year was our achillies heal is still pretty good. Darcy Graham, he is not only good for Scotland, but he's a joy for rugby full stop. The negatives; We're not dynamic and ambitious enough, particularly the front 5. Scotland have some decent players, but they don't hit the line at full tilt like the Irish and French do. Not only that, we are more prone to look to go to ground and re-cycle that way than off-load (which both the French and Irish do much better than us). This is fine, if your clear out is there with you. I get as frustruated as hell with the wat the irish fly in off their feet, but they get away with it. We on the other hand are often late and too conservative. The line out, it's just not functioning properly. For a couple of years it was a proper weapon, with a very dangerous maul that went with it, now we're just delighted to retain ball. I don't think we've got a style of play, we don't seem to pod-up very well. Too often it is a one-up runner who gets isolated. Blair Kinghorn is not an international Fly-half (yet). This is not a critisism of him, the poor fvkker has only played about a dozen top flight games at 10, but yet he was expected to unlock one of the meanest teams in world rugby. He needs more time to develop domestically before he usurps Russell or Hastings. In a way you could look at the Wales loss as a good thing. Had we won it and finished third, we'd have papered over the cracks. I'd like to think that we can develop a slightly quicker game. But for that I think that we may need to ease back on a bit of the bulk in our second row. Gray and Cummings are good defensively, but they're not exactly explosive when carrying. In general though, I'm not wetting my knickers. Last year we were unlucky in the 6N and we did beat an in-form Australia in the autumn. The wheels haven't completely come off, it's more our hope that's killing us. Yours, keeping the faith. aDONis

I think you're on to something. I can only imagine it's an up the guts up front or through the hands out wide, with the threat of a loooong boot or in all honesty, Kinghorn taking the ball in himself (or try to make the break). Maybe Kinghorn is the Joost van der Westhuizen of fly halves and we've just not noticed. Also I think I'm becoming a contrarian, but I haven't seen too much wrong with how Russell has played! His kicking hasn't been outstanding but I thought the one that France scored off was acually pretty good (Dupont was just amazing though), add to that he's still creating gaps for others, I'm not sure why he's on the bench other than to make Ireland adjust their game plan. I'm also not going to call for Townsend to go, because I think Scotland are better than I've seen them for many a year (and a quick shout out of thanks to Stern Vern). Yours, 'MON SCOTLAND aDONis

As if by magic, Ewel's gets a week off his ban if he goes to 'Tackle School' You couldn't make this shyt up! Yours aDONis

I haven't seen Kinghorn play 10 very often, is it a new thing for him, or did he play 10 at junior levels, he's always been a 15 in my head (even when he played on the wing). Blair obviously rates him as a 10, and Townsend must see something in him as well. Weird thing is, 10 is not my problem position for Scotland, it's 12 (a position where we've constantly chopped and changed). Also, has Hastings really been performing that badly for Gloucester? Yours aDONis

For some reason, my biggest if ailing memory is of Willie (but could have been someone else) tying his laces when Porto were on the attack. Also, I remember a strange, resigned feeling of that-is-that, after Porto scored, (and I remember Porto's goal as a breakaway tap-in). It felt like we could have played for a hundred years and not scored, we seemed listless and they were too well organised. Of course none of the above could be true, but it's always been how I've felt about that game. It was also the game when I first realised that the mighty-mighty dandies, might be on the wane! (I was still only 15 at the time). Yours aDONis

The most amazing stat in there is that Belichick is only 69!

It's another facet of the mess we've gotten into. I actually think rugby has done a lot of things right, particularly around the concussion protocols (although how Sinckler can fail an HIA and then be considered for the next game is puzzling me). At junior levels, this wouldn't be allowed. However, as everyone knows I'm not a fan of some of the the tackle law sanctions and how they are being officiated/administered. That said, there are massive improvements around safety in the air and I really like the dump tackle laws. I just think that we're over-officiating at times, with far too much interference by the TMO for 'run of the mill incidents' in the name of player safety, and that the decision tree is too binary (although hopefully the trial in the SH of a 20 min red works). Pat Lam took issue with the Bristol v Quins game. The referees and TMO took over 4 mins to replay a possible incident (I tried to time the incident itself but it happened so quick I couldn't press the button quickly enough). So lets be generous and say that the player had circa 0.4 of a second to make the tackle decision and to try to execute the tackle, which he got slightly wrong. It took the officials more than 500x the tacklers decision time, with more than a dozen replays to try and establish sanction (we're supposed to be speading the game up). [It ended up as yellow]. That is over officiating and it's becoming more prevelent as TMOs start to intervene for all sorts of stuff from the video-room. If it's not serious misconduct, shut the fvk up and let the referee, referee and the players play! I MIGHT AS WELL GET IT OFF MY CHEST RANT INCOMING I actually have a general gripe and that is that there seems to be an ever increasing group-think among many fans and pundits, that mistakes and accidents can simply be coached out of the game. (The Brian Moore-isation effect). In the Wales v France game, Warberton pointed out that when Tomos Williams got absolutely sparked, that his tackle technique wasn't right... WELL FVKKIN DUH! WHO WOULD HAVE FUKKIN GUESSED! But it's not because of poor coaching, nobody will have shown him how to tackle with his head on the wrong side. In fact nobody in the history of rugby at any age group level or standard over the past say 100 years has gone into a training session and had coaches telling them to put their head across the front. Yet if you listened to Warberton, he gave the imperssion that what Tomos really needed to do was practice a bit more... I repeat Tomos Williams will have litereally done hundreds of tackle sessions, and not a single session would have a coach teaching him to tackle with his head on the wrong side. It's not lack of coaching it's the heat of competition and being human that causes mistakes (and believe it or not, we all make them, despite what the likes of Jiffy would have you believe). Yours, rant over for now, but I do have more in the locker. aDONis

Ireland outplayed for much of today. I will continue to say it but an accidental clash of heads is not a red card offence. Imagine in football, if a defender accidentally clashed heads at a corner with a striker. Would we really be calling for a sending off. Nobody (and I repeat nobody) targets a ball carrier with their own face. The current laws aren’t up to scratch. I’m not saying that their intent is completely wrong, just that they are out of balance. It’s spoiling the game.