Guess Who's Furloughed Himself?

[lindapalmara]

Lib dem peer, Lord Fox has furloughed himself but still takes £162 daily allowance for turning up. Also Steve Coogan has furloughed his staff at his £4m regency property in 75 acres of Sussex country. He is also worth £10m

[Zacs-Master]

That’s not quite the full Lord Fox story though, is it.....
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-lord-fox-promises-to-repay-taxpayers-money-after-furloughing-himself-11992475

I’m not sure what point your trying to make re Steve Coogan.

[MartinMillar]

The Coogan comment is probably because he is a millionaire he should not furlough his staff and should not take advantage of a scheme is is legally entitled to take advantage of.

[AuntPollyGrey]

So what? How much Tax do you think these companies/private individuals pay every year, probably much more than the money they are receiving towards their staff's wages. They are perfectly entitled to it. Would you refuse a tax refund because you are 'ok for money at the moment' - ???

[AuntPollyGrey]

^^^ before anyone kicks off that was for the OP ;-)

[lindapalmara]

I wouldn't take out of principle. This bloke is a left wing Corbynista who is loved by the BBC. He once said the Tories made education so poor, they would be too thick to vote

[lindapalmara]

Yes I just heard that Lord Fox has apologised. He shouldn't have done it in the first place. Just another Eason to abolish the House of Lords

[cassa333]

It’s one thing to furlough your staff but did he really furlough himself but still claim his lords a leaping fees?

[Bazile]

//This bloke is a left wing Corbynista who is loved by the BBC. He once said the Tories made education so poor, they would be too thick to vote//


I wonder how many right wing millionaire tory supporters , have furloughed their staff

[youngmafbog]

Bad form for Lord Fox but for other 'rich' people I really dont see the problem.

True some have paid the wages themselves and they should be lauded for that, but where someone has taken advantage legally of a Government scheme I really dont thing we can critizise.

It's like the tax loopholes, the Government should fix them if there is a problem not just rely on morality.

As another point, many of these 'rich' people are not cash rich.

[MartinMillar]

//This bloke is a left wing Corbynista who is loved by the BBC//
Does he pay his taxes?

[Deskdiary]

There is nothing immoral in legitimately avoiding tax.

[AuntPollyGrey]

OP are you trying to say that because someone is against the present Government, then they have no right to take advantage of a legal furlough scheme? Does that mean everyone that voted Labour at the last elections can't get furloughed? I don't care if someone is a millionaire or not -if they work and pay their taxes then they should get the same allowances at every other working person. Lord Fox probably pays more in taxes per year than most folk make in wages.

[Togo]

Of course Coogan has laid the gardener and maid off. Why not? The grass has stopped growing and the dust has stopped accumulating because of the virus. Plus you know how difficult it is to "self isolate" in a huge Regency property to do a bit of hoovering or to safely mow the grass on a 75acre estate without it being crowded and therefor unsafe. Odious creep wasn't acting when he played Partridge you know. He really is that man. The yanks got him right when he tried to con them into thinking he had something worth listening to. They described him as smug and vulgar(takes some doing to get called that over there) and said he was a "Sanctimonious, Pedantic, Incessantly outraged man of privilege".

[bednobs]

In all fairness though Linda although the furough scheme was brought in by the conservatives it's a left wing policy at heart?

[allenlondon]

Why single out (or even bother to mention) Steve Coogan?

There are plenty (repeat PLENTY) of ultra-rich company owners who’ve furloughed their staff (and quite a few who’ve tried to take unfair advantage of the scheme). Write about them!

Allen

[andy-hughes]

This issue points less to the perceived 'unfairness' of anyone taking advantage, perfectly legally, of a scheme available to them, than to personal animosity towards the individual.

Some commentators, and I assume the OP, think that Steve Coogan is wrong because he is rich and has used the system to his advantage.

My point of view on this is always the same, when wealthy people are pilloried in this way -

At what point are you 'too rich' to have the same entitlements as people who are less rich than you?

Is it one million pounds? Two million?

The answer is, there is no cut-off point at which level a wealthy individual should not take advantage of a financial system that is available to them. They are entitled to do so, and their wealth does not exclude them, and nor should it.

For a system to be fair, it needs to include everyone to whom it is available.

If you don't like it, lobby the government to exclude anyone over a certain level of income from the system.

Until that happens, it is their right - as well as ours.

That's how democracy operates.

[Fitzer]

Hmm, the only references to the quote by Togo and used in the mail are in reference to the character played by Coogan in the series Happyish https://www.metacritic.com/tv/happyish/season-1/critic-reviews

[Deskdiary]

The problem is, Andy Hughes, it’s only ever people who have more money than others that deserve ire.

It’s the same with tax - it’s always other people who don’t pay enough.

Strange.

[Zacs-Master]

Well said, AH. I see the OP didn’t have much to say after I pointed out that their criticism was out of date.

[Spicerack]

I suppose you can't get good servants today, as the saying goes.
So if the government have a scheme to recompense workers who they have caused to cease work, why not take full advantage of it.