Shantrum by David Gregory Roberts - One of the most gripping novels I’ve ever read - a real picarasque adventure of a Australian armed robber who escapes from prison, flees to Bombay and becomes a doctor in a slum then gets thrown into an Indian jail then joins the Bombay mafia and ends up fighting the Soviets in Afganistan. At over 900 pages its a real epic but peopled with so many memorable characters its pace dosn’t flag once - remarkable.

I’m glad that those who have watched Up enjoyed it. I think it is a fantastic and very poignant film.

A much more challenging film is Antichrist
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0870984/

An incredibly dark and and at times disturbing film, which i think of as a cross between Stephen King’s “Misery” and the arty “The Cook, the thief, his wife, her lover”. The film has beautiful cinematography and brilliant acting by the only two actors in the film Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg (She won best actress at Cannes for her role in this film).

I can’t say it is an enjoyable film to watch, it isn’t, but it is thought-provoking and not a waste of 2hrs

but don’t blame me if you don’t like it….i had to look away at a few of the overtly graphic moments!

Rgds,

Pyramid

I watched the remake of the Taking of Pelham 123 the other night I thought it was excellent

OK ... and hands up all those that think Formula 1 has shot itself in the foot with the new regulations and found Sundays race Boooooooooooooooring!!!

I must admit I avoided the Pelham remake as I love the 1974 original so much - Walter Matthow’s New York accent and performance is just fanatastic and Robert Shaw is equally good as the mad hijacker - a key 1970’s heist movie - but I can see where Travolta and Denzil would work - its on my Blockbuster list…..

Now here’s a thing - I’m a self employed IT contractor and have been told by the HMRC that because my turnover will exceed a certain figure I have to charge my client VAT and then send that to HMRC on a quarterly basis - fine I say - but then get told that my client can claim back said VAT from HMRC…..

So I charge my client, I pay the same amount to HMRC and my client claims the same amount back from HMRC - I’m sure there is something fiendishly clever about it all but no matter how I try and figure it out…..at the end of the day no-one is better off that they were when the whole cycle started….

Can anyone else shed light on why I just don’t bill my customer and a lot of paperwork doesn’t need to get generated….or is that the point?

When VAT was introduced to replace purchase tax it was seen as yet another stealth tax introduced by the government who already have their hands firmly in our pockets.

VAT is designed to take money from the buying public but as you say buisnesses are allowed to reclaim the VAT they spend in running their buisnesses.

A tax designed to keep armies of government accountants (sorry bean counters) employed for millenia to come.

Good - so it is robbing Peter to pay Paul- I thought it was just me…..

Steve… you should know better than to quetion the HMRC and VAT… like that scottish play for actors… us IT contractors cannot mention them and not even utter IR35!

Expect a knock on your door at 3am…

IR35 - the way to dusty death - out out brief candle ect ect - bet Will had as many issues with the taxman as I have….it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Robin Hood? Robin’ B*stards…...

Thanks - fairly new to all this contracting thing - and the funny thing about it is my current assingemnt is for HSBC - but come June got a 12 month contact with…..you guessed it….HMRC - ohh the irony…..

So I go from working for a bank to working for the tax man - how to make yourself really popular….

Although I reckon I will be locked in the kitchen between rounds for my own personal safety….

and it means I shall be living in Boosingsteak in the county of Humpshire - as LQ would have it…..

stevieb - 18 March 2010 01:07 AM

Thanks - fairly new to all this contracting thing - and the funny thing about it is my current assingemnt is for HSBC - but come June got a 12 month contact with…..you guessed it….HMRC - ohh the irony…..

So I go from working for a bank to working for the tax man - how to make yourself really popular….

LOL! I used to work for HRMC in Telford… as a contractor… when they brought in IR35… scary times… but I guess better the devil you know!