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The only party in the UK advocating taking the evil and irrational Trump on is the Liberal Democrats. They are the country’s only hope. Unfortunately, Starmer thinks a softly softly approach will be effective, whereas Trump reads this a weakness.
Farage is a firm supporter of Trump and with this idiot getting more aggressive and irrational by the day it says it all. Farage is a firm believer like Trump in ignoring international law, but it seems even he draws the line at attacking and conquering other NATO members.
Trump is systematically isolating himself and the USA from the rest of the world, so with a bit of luck his demise is near. When this happens Farage will have nowhere to go. In the meantime it is hoped that the electorate work it out that Farage becoming Prine Minister would be the worst thing that could happen to the UK Let us all hope this disaster can be avoided.
I wonder when people will realise that we have NEVER had a special relationship with the USA. They did not help us with machinery when we were in trouble. Instead we had a lease lend agreement that we were still paying off in the mid 2000’s. They only joined WW2 when Japan attacked Honolulu.
In my lifetime the USA have never supported us (Suez crisis) and at best been neutral (the Falklands). But they expect us to join their wars, including Iraq based on imaginary weapons of mass destruction. Only one of our Prime Ministers, Harold Wilson, had the sense to stop our soldiers being slaughtered. He refused to join the war in Vietnam.
Now the USA is threatening to take another country by force. Even the UK is about to have tariffs increased to 35$ (10% + 25%) if we don’t agree to the USA taking Greenland. Some special relationship, ha ha! There are clearly some who have fallen for USA propaganda hook line and sinker. The only way to deal with Trump is the Mark Carney way – take him on head on.
By contrast China has never seriously attacked any other country in my lifetime. They are deemed ‘bad guys’ by the USA for no reason whatsoever. We should embrace China for the sake of the free world and certainly allowing them an embassy is a step in the right direction. Anyone who has visited China will know they are more advanced than the USA.
As an accountant I can assure readers that these schemes are very complex. Tax accountants spend hours pouring through legislation to find what they think are loopholes. They then persuade the unaware to part with their cash to partake in their scheme. Usually, of course, the legislation is watertight. Of course HMRC can only investigate when it has happened. There is no way HMRC can guess in advance what these tax accountants are up to
As an investor, I have studied genuine tax incentives to reduce tax. I have discovered that in the vast majority of these cases, the investment will lose more money than the tax saved.
The reality is that owning horses for the majority of people is a disaster. You pay a fortune to be able to say your horse had won a nondescript race. Over the years, the percentage of prize money to cost has got steadily lower.
Other trainers will be struggling. It really is frightening!
As an accountant, I feel sorry for Dettori. He is expert at riding horses but his finance knowledge is clearly limited. People like Dettori are pursued by rogue accountants who tell them that for a small fee (often running to thousands of pounds) they will save them millions in tax. Such accountants collect thrir fee and do a runner. These are the people who should be in jail. It is the victim who is left to pick up the pieces.
This is completely different from people like Lester Piggott who hide their income by having numerous accounts and not declaring them all.
The reality that very few businesses have unlimited funds. Those companies who expand too quickly and borrow too much usually end up in administration. Sensible directors who watch cash flow realise that it often comes down to choices. Unfortunately for Kempton Park this was the one course that was deemed not to be worth saving. Digging up their exceptional turf course and replacing interesting and valuable racing with a load of rubbish probably sealed their fate.
A sensible policy is to design your offering to appeal to racegoers and punters. If the racing you put on is solely designed to fill bookmakers’ satchels this is what you get. At least Lingfield retained their turf course, so when AW finally goes pear shaped they are still in business.
Everyone makes good points here. This horae has been great and has won a lot of prize money. By all means try him on the flat, but otherwise he should be retired.
No, with all bets on the 1993 Grand National being refunded was NOT a PR stunt. As I have said before if there is no winner (this race was not run) there cannot be losers. So all bets are void and have to be refunded.
No we are not. Several years ago I worked in a betting shop. I had to learn the rules of betting. As stated, a rule relative to all betting is: If at the time a bet is struck is is impossible to win, then it must be void. This isn’t philosophy, it is basic conmon sense. You will find it difficult to find a licenced bookmaker who will not refund on bets on a abandoned races.
I do NOT agree with ‘hams’ interpretation because there is one basic rule in betting which is: If you could never have won, you cannot lose.
So imagine betting early ante-post in the Derby. Your horse has been entered in the Derby but does not appear in the first declaration stage. AT THE TIME you placed your bet it could have won, so your ante-post bet loses. Howver, if a particular horse was NEVER entered in the Derby then you could never have won and therefore the bet is void and you will be refunded.
If a particular race is delayed and/or run at a different track, then the bet stands. Some bookmakers’ rules will void bets in these circumstances, but the punter will have his stake refunded in such circumstances.
Now, if a race is abandonded and never run again, then there CANNOT be a winner. If its not possible to have a winner, you cannot have losers. Under such circumstances then all bets have to be refunded.
The racing fixture list has been designed to appease bookmakers, with racegoers’ views completely ignored.
When racing was run properly there were gaps between both codes of racing. This worked well with punters researching and making plans in the off season, while looking forward to the resumption of racing. Then we got year round racing on the flat with boring all-weather and summer jumping for NH.
My view is that there should be a 2 month break under both codes. No NH racing in July and August and no Flat racing in December and January. That way the anticipation would return.
I am a retired qualified umpire (in league cricket) and the only thing that annoys me is when the commentators clearly do not know the laws of cricket. Sadly the same applies to many Lords’ members
The one I remember is when the Australian wicketkeeper stumped the Englsh batter ‘who had gone for a walk’ The law states that when a wicketkeeper has caught the ball and holds on to it the ball is dead and the batter cannot be out. However, if he doesn’t hold on to the ball and immediately throws it at the wicket it is still alive. The law in addition states that whether a ball is dead or not is the umpire’s decision. In this case, the umpire correctly lifted a finger. The commentators in challenging this decision only added fuel to the spectators’ ignorance.
Whether it be racing, cricket, or any other sport commentators should know what they are talking about!
Several years ago I was in a pub with 2 lads from the Ian Balding stable. They said they had a horse called ‘Barclay Springs they were very happy about. It had had a bad back but was better now and was flying. I was told it would definitely win a big race within a week. So I watched for this horse for several days, but could not find it. I was driving hone one day listening to the car radio when it was announced ‘Barclay Springs’ the winner.
How could I have missed it? Well the answer is that the horse was called Berkeley Springs.
But I always seem to get in wrong: I was a fan of Brigadier Gerard, rather than Mill Reef so missed out on several winners.
A great trainer with an accomplished daughter. Which brings me to: who is the only female who has ridden a Derby winner? It was, of course, Clare Balding who rode Mill Reef, but not on the racecourse!
Ian, RIP.
I live in the South East, exactly two miles from Epsom Racecourse. The best bit is that the downs are covered by statute and cannot be built on. So there is no chance of Epsom racecourse being sold. That said, it saddens me that like Kempton Park the overall racing fare is appalling. Take out the Spring meeting and the Derby meeting and you are left with a mountain of dross.Attendance for the July meetings only gathers pace after the last race.
Now taking about Kempton Park. If they dug up the all-weather track, relaid the turf and went back to varied racing I would support it to the hilt.
