Really just popping this up so that I remember the location of this SUPERB bit of JavaScript.

Here’s the code

Well, I’m in the process of finding out…

As it happens, I’m off to a great start – Thanks to this – an utterly superb intro to gadget writing.

If you’re at all gadget curious, I’d recommend the seoish tutorial… it rocks.

Redmonk is a small firm that has a huge influence with the OSS and developer communities – They’re way more influential than many much much larger firms…..

Heralded (by the government) as a poke in the eye for the fat-cat corporate raiders and private-equity millionaires it was, in fact, a great big bung for people who make their money out of short term speculation.

The chancellor has “revised” the CGT plans – and while they are slightly improved – under the revised scheme small business-owners selling their businesses will pay only 10 per cent CGT, as long as their lifetime gains do not exceed £1m. But to qualify you have to own at least 5% of the company – so most employees will be excluded.

This revised scheme still benefits the raiders, and still penalises small business owners – and (more importantly in my view) employees who invest in their employers.

I’m with Mr Holway on this – I think it is silly.

It’s a tax that benefits the rich, at the expense of the less wealthy.

Taper Relief

Under taper relief, share owners would have paid plain old income tax (40% for the higher earners) on the gains they made in assets they’d held for less than a year. The taper relief rules dramtatically reduced the tax liability on assets that were held for longer (after one year they only paid tax on half the gain, and after two they paid tax on one quarter of the gain).

But now, even if you’re fabulously wealthy, you get to pay 18% tax on your capital gains – While a hard working ordinary soul, who just so happens not to have had the advantages (and luck!) of the armani suited city slickers gets to pay standard tax on all of the money they make.

But capital gains aren’t income are they? Well, for the majority of people that is true – A company employee who owns shares in her employer doesn’t count any gain as income, a small business owner who over the course of 5 or 10 (or 20!) years builds a business from scratch doesn’t equate the gain as income (in many cases the value vested in a business is looked at as their “Pension”) – But in many cases the “big guys” view capital gains in exactly the same way that they view income – their contracts include specific terms about releasing capital gains – they budget on the basis of their expected capital gains.

The revision is a sop to small business owners (who were among the most vociferous complainers about the proposed change) – But the guy in the warehouse, who over the years has bought shares in the company he works for doesn’t get any benefit from the changes.

What was wrong with taper relief anyway?

I don’t think that there was much wrong with taper relief. It’s a little complicated but… god knows, if you’re going to make a chunk of change, you can afford to pay an accountant to work it out for you!

Taper relief was seen as benefitting “fat cats” – but even here I think there’s a distinction to be made. If an entrepreneur builds a company over 5 or ten years, and that company grows in value then it almost always follows that he or she has created jobs, promoted entrepreneurship and supported the economy. Whether the gain is £10,000 or £10,000,000 they’ve made a contribution, I understand the natural desire to add a “cap” to any relief – but why create a situation where it makes sense to work hard and be successful… up to a point, after which the incentive is lower? On the other hand the financial engineer who picks up some shares and then by some “vehicle” is able to double their value in six months can’t be said to have made the same overal contribution.

If I were reforming CGT I’d do the following -

First, I’d deal with the “my business is my pension” case – I’d provide some means to enable capital gains in a business you own to be treated as if they were pension contributions. Let’s say – if you pay your gains into a pension fund, then you pay no CGT at all.

Next, I’d change the taper rules, to give them a much longer tail – There could be a lot of debate over the tail, but I’d do something simple – Let’s say 10% at one year, 20% at two, 30 at three and so on up to 90%.

Would my system reward people who make long term investments whether they are investors or employees, while not allowing wealthy speculators to take advantage of a relief that isn’t intended for them?

What do you think?

The key benefit is that it makes it possible to deploy broadband with comparatively little disruption (fewer roads being dug up for starters). The company estimates that it woult cost a maximum of £24 million to connect a small city compared with £80 million in cost via traditional routes.

This idea isn’t without precedent. In the 1980’s Mercury Communications (a subsidiary of Cable and Wireless) acquired the defunct London Hydraulic Power Company which was originally founded by act of Parliament in 1883 to provide high pressure water to buildings in central london to power elevators, machinery etc. Mercury used the old water pipes to deploy their network in central london – offering the first “alternative” to the monopoly of British Telecom.

I imagine that you’re already thinking about the jokes that will be coined by this one, indeed posters to the Times site have already been hard at work..

This could cause one hell of a stink if it fails to produce the desired increase in speed.PG, Ammanford, UK

My immediate thought – given the stuff that ends up in my spam-filter – is that it’s a very appropriate pairing, since the pipes and the fibre will both be transporting more or less the same thing, by and large.

The reason I’m blogging this is that this is a great example of ingenuity – a way to deliver technology with a minimal environmental impact. It rocks.

On the 6th January I sent an email to their “customer support” email address asking for an update. I received no response. On the 19th I used their “contact form” to tell them that I was cancelling the order, and requesting a refund. I received the following automated reply -

This is an automated response confirming receipt of your email.

A member of our Sales Team will deal with your query as quickly as possible.

Usually you should receive a reply within 48hrs although this may increase during busy periods such as Christmas.

In the meantime please DO NOT send the same email more than once or to other departments this will only slow down our response times.

Computerwebstore Sales.

 Not a particular promising response…. and it goes without saying that they didn’t respond within 48 hours, or 72… or even 96.

So I did a web search.

Now I feel really stupid – This company has been blogged about, commented on, and complained of many many times…

Complaints about computerwebstore.co.uk - 

“Blagger .com” a website that acts as a forum for feedback on business services

http://www.blagger.com/db4/company_id/7995/companyname/Computerwebstore.co.uk.html

An individual’s web site

http://garry-blog.blogspot.com/2007/08/wwwcomputerwebstorecouk.html

The DVD Forums;

http://www.thedvdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=453641

A site with numerous complaints about Computer web store

http://computerwebstore.blogspot.com/2007/06/john-martland-review-from.html

PC Advisor – Consumer Watch

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/forums/index.cfm?action=showthread&threadid=285725&forumid=2

Price Runner Customer reviews

http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/retailer/5075/reviews

Another unhappy client

http://computerwebstoreliverpool.blogspot.com/

Zimbio Scam watchdog

http://www.zimbio.com/Scam+Watchdog/forum/1/Computerwebstore+co+uk

Yahoo Answers on computerwebstore

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071123104929AAau3Wy

therning.org – a blog, extensive reviews

http://therning.org/magnus/archives/66

Complaints from as long ago as 2005…

http://www.shopfinder.co.uk/Detailed/Computerwebstore_1325.html

So what am I going to do?

I’m complaining to the trading standards office.

I’m willing to pursue this at some length, as I believe that the owner of this company is dishonest. I believe he is deliberately running this business in this way, and I believe that there should be consequenses.

Orlando has many of the same attributes – A charming falseness… my hotel has a “beach” for example, and you can take a ride on a motorboat around the faux lake..

.

I’ve come to the conclusion that Orlando is just like Vegas… but a “healthier” version. And, honestly, I’m not sure which I prefer…

And here I am – blogging from it already

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That’s 11.12 imperial gallons of petrol.

Or 13.35 of those slightly inferior “American Gallons”.

The cost… £53 pounds – or at today’s rate $104.64 dollars.

So petrol/gas costs $7.84 a gallon.

And I’m reminded of when I lived in Boston and gas was less than two bucks a gallon… it was more or less free. So I enjoyed driving my 14 miles per gallon Jeep Grand Cherokee at top speed.

Now.. if you’re doing 1000 miles/month, in a relatively economical car – your monthly fuel bill could be as much as you’re paying to finance the car….

Eeek