What Martin Amis thinks of Jeremy Corbyn

So Tories are Cameronites thatbags ?

Corbynites = Corbyn supporters, ab

Well, not everyone finds the same people charismatic.

It was so easy to be charmed by JFK in the sixties , there was so much hope that he would bring change to the world,

Tony Benn had what I see as charisma as did Mandela and Dr King, I found Gordon Brown to be charismatic when in a room but it never came across on tv.

Cameron is a leader without a scrape of charisma and George Osbourn! I cannot think of one leader who I think has it.

Charisma - 'compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others.'

Not necessarily an indicator of a good leader, why should it be? And think it can be lost, or at least diluted, when the public become disillusioned about certain aspects of the leadership in question.

What is a Corbynite?

Corbynites will like this: twitter.com/johnprescott/status/661919839536209920

How would you describe charisma and, considering the examples given, do you think it is a reliable indicator of a good leader?

I'm not sure how you can lose charisma - surely you've either got it or you haven't - otherwise aren't we just speaking about self-confidence or the ability to convince people of your rightness? If leaders - such as Blair or Thatcher - lose their popularity - are they still charismatic?

Yes Clinton, perhaps charisma like beauty is in the eye of the beholder , I think Putin wooden, Obama has a sunny smile , his eyes smile but no charisma,

Bill Clinton?

I agree with JFK, not the others

That's just this country, of course - Putin's probably got it. And Obama, although he's losing his. JFK had it.

I think we've been here before!

Margaret Thatcher had it, Tony Blair had it, no one else has had it since.

Which leaders have Charsima ?

J Corbyn has no charisma, which is needed by a leader.

www.claruswealth.co.uk/2014/11/tony-benn-his-strategy-for-inheritance-tax-reduction/

An article about Tony Benn. I have read two other articles, one saying that his children would inherit £1.2 million each before tax, and the other saying they inherited £800, 000 each after tax. So it does not sound as if they did avoid tax.

If you put it like that JessM it does sound a bit better

And, of course, pensioners don't pay NI contributions but probably use more of the facilities of the NHS.
Although DH is going to have to pay for an operation that he would have to wait months (or years) for under the NHS.

Look at it as a final contribution to the NHS rosequartz - most of us incur the bulk of our total lifetime NHS cost in the last few months of life. And paying for that amount of private health cover for all those decades would have been incredibly expensive.

But imo it was THEIRS! (or at least their father's to leave as he wished, presumably tax paid and all legitimately earned - or inherited) - so at 40% IHT is is unfair and legalised theft.

If people wish to leave money to the Government coffers in their will, they are at perfect liberty to do so.

I would rather leave it to charities of my choice than to the Government.

Tony Benn's tax arrangements seem to largely centre around his wife leaving her part of the house they owned to the children, rather than to him. It would seem to me that although they might have discussed things, given his views on women, the ultimate decision would have been hers. But it is still termed his tax dodge!

Huh! He didn't leave any to me...

Cameron inherited from his fathers legal tax avoidance in jersey me he left several million

Thinking around the people I know in my extended family who are more than usually well off - they have all benefitted from inheriting from parents or grandparents.
Others are less well off got help to buy their initial houses - and if they happened to be living in or near London their estates are going to be well over £million.
I think it is completely fair that some of this good luck should be subject to tax when they go.

I realise the way that the Benn family organised their affairs was perfectly legitimate and probably acceptable to most people. The headline in the Telegraph referring to it as a "dodge" was I think inflammator.

However, I have to say I felt rather disappointed that things were done in that way. Of course, he - like most people - wanted to leave something to his family. However, I think all of them are relatively comfortable and did not need to inherit the full amount - I may be wrong but I imagine they would still have obtained a more than reasonable share of the estate even if 50% tax had been paid on the proportion liable for tax.

On the other hand, I don't know what the position was with regard to the other property. Perhaps the full amount of IT was paid on that.

To my mind, being able to inherit even two or three hundred thousand pounds without paying tax seems pretty fair to me and the remaining liability for Inheritance Tax will go into the pot to help everybody - not just one family.

I think it would be fairer to pay 1p or 2p more on income tax and to stop tax-dodging schemes - imo that would be a better way to bring more money into the Exchequer.
It seems more honest to me to take it off the living rather than the dead.