Paul Brownjohn @Paulos_the_fog@qoto.org
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
Yes, I think the thing that scares the extreme right wing in the USA, which is a large percentage of the US population (by European standards), is the possibility that Mamdami might be a roaring success as mayor of New York and thus give the reputations of both Muslims and democratic socialists a huge boost in US public opinion!
I'm absolutely incandescent with rage - the DWP and other ministries have paid out countless £ millions mistakenly in benefit and I haven't received a bloody penny of it!
https://www.express.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/2205894/new-dwp-benefit-fraud-overpayment-billions
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Yes, I have had a similar experience with the HMRC scum!
I was pursued for around £50,000 when in fact I owed them no more than £5,000. The latter I offered to pay by instalments but they refused to accept them.
In the end I bankrupted myself and HMRC never saw one single solitary penny from me!
They really went to town on me - by the time they started pursuing me, I had moved to Belgium so they transferred my debt to the Belgian tax collector who then put the bailiffs in who broke into my home to list all the things they were to be taken to pay the debt.
However, as they've given me several weeks warning, I had made quite sure that there was nothing whatever of any significant value in the house!
When I phoned my accountant in England and told him what was happening, he said that I only owed a maximum of around £5,000 but that the inland revenue were well known for massively inflating tax bills to scare people into paying. The problem, he said, is that it will cost you around £10,000 worth of my time to prove to the inland revenue that you only owe them £5,000 not £50,000 so, the question is do you have £15,000 kicking around in your bank account to pay for that. If you don't, probably the best answer in your situation is simply to bankrupt yourself then you won't have to pay them a penny piece; Not even even the tax you really do owe them!
The bankruptcy had to be enacted at the High Court in London as I was an overseas resident but it was painless and took only a day including the visit to the Official Receiver.
The woman at the Overseas Tax Collection office in Bootle who was looking after my case, went absolutely spare saying that she refused accept my bankruptcy and would continue to pursue the debt. I did suggest she think again about that, as she would then be in contempt of court but she persisted.
I then contacted the Official Receiver who said that he wished they would teach civil servants at least the fundaments of English law. Let her stew for a bit and if she insists on continuing to try to collect the debt, get back in touch and I will take action. He continued that the original debt was extinguished by the bankruptcy and therefore no continued attempt to collect it either in the UK or overseas was legitimate. He went on to say that he was quite happy to go before a judge and request the imprisonment for contempt of court of an uppity civil servant who refuses to obey the law
Of course the complicating bit was that that they had passed the debt to the Belgians who had in turn passed it to local bailiffs for collection. The latter declined to stop collection action even when I informed them that the debt was extinguished as they said they would only accept that instruction from the people who instructed them namely the Belgian tax authorities and the latter said they would only accept it from HMRC. They finally relented when I informed them that if they continued collection action over a debt that was subject to a bankruptcy order, should they ever go to the UK they could be liable for arrest and imprisonment for contempt of court. That put a stop to the bailiffs.
In the end I threatened the civil servant in Bootle with the Official Receiver and suggested she might end up be imprisoned for contempt over Christmas and the New Year (highly unlikely but she was too stupid to realize that). I received a phone call from her on Christmas Eve to say that they had "accepted" my bankruptcy and that they would inform the Belgians and ask them to stop collection action.
Trying to collect the £50,000 I never owed them must have cost them 10s of £1000s all for nothing!
The rampant incompetence of the HMRC and other UK civil service departments is truly unbelievable.
As a career contractor/consultant, yes, all my interactions without exception with HR departments have been utterly dismal to say the least.
After having worked for the EU for 12 months as a senior Oracle consultant, my boss asked me if I would consider going permanent. I said yes, I would and he said he would send my CV down to HR to see what they could put together as an offer.
When their offer came back, HR made it clear that I was absolutely expected to accept their overwhelmingly generous proposal as they had taken the trouble to send it to me. I responded by asking them why they were quoting a weekly wage when monthly is the usual format in that country. Needless to say I did NOT accept!
The offer was at the level of the statutory minimum salary for the country I was working in and not even a living wage in that country. It was substantially less than half what I was already earning and didn't include a company car which the company I was working for, did!
Another amusing happening was when I was offered a contract by a US bank with branches in Europe. They insisted on the most MASSIVE vetting even of contract employees. I received a panicky phone call from my brother whose wife was the personal assistant to the officer responsible for security in the British military, so the moment some US detective agency started making enquiries into my family, alarm bells started going off all over Whitehall. It reached the stage that Whitehall officials were talking to the FBI and CIA about it!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Should Loops create a policy against generative-ai contributions across our server and expo app projects?
Context: https://snug.moe/notes/ali11jr8swwc8w8d
Please boost if you can, the majority vote will decide this important policy.
Calopteryx virgo
The Beautiful Demoiselle
Lives only where there are biologically clean "chalk" streams.
Britain already has the most miserable, most miserly pension in the entire civilized world so any idea of curtailing it is an absolute disgrace!
WOWSER!!!
I just received this message in Facebook Messenger
"Congratulations!
This is ELON MUSK and I'm excited to inform you that your name was randomly selected based on your recent activity on Facebook!
As part of our 2026 Humanitarian Giveaway, you’ve been chosen to receive:
• $50,000 in cash
• A brand-new Tesla car
To claim your reward, simply type "ACCEPT" below, and I’ll personally guide you through the next steps."
My car is on its last legs so...
I swore I would NEVER drive a car made by that künt Musk - damn!
WOWSER!!!
I just received this message in Facebook Messenger
"Congratulations!
This is ELON MUSK and I'm excited to inform you that your name was randomly selected based on your recent activity on Facebook!
As part of our 2026 Humanitarian Giveaway, you’ve been chosen to receive:
• $50,000 in cash
• A brand-new Tesla car
To claim your reward, simply type "ACCEPT" below, and I’ll personally guide you through the next steps."
My car is on its last legs so...
I swore I would NEVER drive a car made by that künt Musk - damn!
A quote from the internet today
"Trump one of that rarest of breeds who claim to have written more books than they've read"
A quote from the internet today
"Trump one of that rarest of breeds who claim to have written more books than they've read"
The look on his face says to me "I wonder what it's like in Wormwood Scrubs?"
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Y'all, not only was Orange Man Diaper Daddy so utterly and absolutely classless that he wore a baseball cap for the transfer of US soldier's remains, he has the unbelievable audacity to include a photograph of his shame in his latest fund raiser. In which he promises, for a large enough donation, to include the donor in "private national security briefings, unfiltered updates on the threats facing America".
The #EpsteinClass has no shame. Like #Epstein, they do not care if your children die, they'll just masturbate on the corpses.
How any veteran can support this regime, I will never understand.
https://www.ms.now/news/trump-fundraising-pitch-features-u-s-soldiers-killed-in-iran-war
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
