God Save The King

[OttoVonBismarck]

I agree. And also there are Swedes who would tell you that Sweden is very unequal when it comes to opportunity and not at all as rosy as I paint it. I disagree with them, for two reasons:

The problem here is things aren't just "not as rosy as you paint it", you have essentially given a false statement about Sweden "not having much of an inequality" problem. I took that at face value, but now that I have fact checked it, it looks like Sweden is one of the most inequal countries on earth. That is probably good evidence that not having an estate tax is not a good thing.

I'll note under the Wealth GINI measure, Sweden comes in as the 3th most inequal country on earth, 1st is the Netherlands, 2nd is Russia, and 4th is the United States. Sweden is actually a poster boy for this being a problem, not an example of a society that doesn't have a problem with inequality in spite of not having an estate tax.

[Jacob]

Where are you seeing this - about Sweden being 3rd most unequal? My quick google puts Sweden relatively low (and indeed below both the US and Canada). But maybe you're looking at more recent data?

[OttoVonBismarck]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_inequality

I went by the 2019 numbers which were the most recent on the chart on that page.

[The Brain]

I agree. And also there are Swedes who would tell you that Sweden is very unequal when it comes to opportunity and not at all as rosy as I paint it. I disagree with them, for two reasons:

The problem here is things aren't just "not as rosy as you paint it", you have essentially given a false statement about Sweden "not having much of an inequality" problem. I took that at face value, but now that I have fact checked it, it looks like Sweden is one of the most inequal countries on earth. That is probably good evidence that not having an estate tax is not a good thing.

I'll note under the Wealth GINI measure, Sweden comes in as the 3th most inequal country on earth, 1st is the Netherlands, 2nd is Russia, and 4th is the United States. Sweden is actually a poster boy for this being a problem, not an example of a society that doesn't have a problem with inequality in spite of not having an estate tax.

I'm not getting into those exact numbers. I observe however that equality of opportunity doesn't mean equality of outcome. I know that your political views are unconventional, but to me equality is about equality of opportunity. If people all get opportunity then some will succeed much, much better than others. This is a good thing.

Which specific problems do you observe in Sweden caused by this inequality?

[Josquius]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_inequality

I went by the 2019 numbers which were the most recent on the chart on that page.

Interesting. I've never really looked at wealth inequality numbers. Odd to see some places that do so well on income inequality scoring poorly on wealth.

[crazy canuck]

Its actually not going to affect federally regulated industries.  That would be a huge blow - it would affect all the ports and airports, airlines etc.  Instead it is only going to be federal employees.

Here is the proclamation - there is an interesting legal question here that we will be working through this afternoon... It is permissive, ie and invitation to obverse rather than a mandatory day to observe.

But ports, airports, airlines already all operate on stat holidays anyways.  I think the only effect would be to give people working that day to be paid at holiday rates.

Interesting.  I suppose the real question is whether the federal government closes it's own offices that day.

Quite right, but the costs go up by about three fold and as a result service on stats is normally curtailed and that is built into scheduling.  This is being sprung on everyone and so the costs would have been extremely high.

fyi, Ontario and Quebec have officially said they will not create a provincial holiday.

[crazy canuck]

Its actually not going to affect federally regulated industries.  That would be a huge blow - it would affect all the ports and airports, airlines etc.  Instead it is only going to be federal employees.

Here is the proclamation - there is an interesting legal question here that we will be working through this afternoon... It is permissive, ie and invitation to obverse rather than a mandatory day to observe.

But ports, airports, airlines already all operate on stat holidays anyways.  I think the only effect would be to give people working that day to be paid at holiday rates.

Interesting.  I suppose the real question is whether the federal government closes it's own offices that day.

Quite right, but the costs go up by about three fold and as a result service on stats is normally curtailed and that is built into scheduling.  This is being sprung on everyone and so the costs would have been extremely high.

fyi, Ontario and Quebec have officially said they will not create a provincial holiday.

And it just got worse - turns out BC has decided it has been forced into giving its public sector workers the day off because the wording in many collective agreements gives workers the holidays declared by either the feds or the province.  There is an argument to be made that the Feds never really declared a holiday - but the province decided not to take on that fight.  Here is part of what the Premier had to say.

We have advised provincial public-sector employers to honour this day in recognition of the obligations around federal holidays in the vast majority of provincial collective agreements.

"K-12 public schools and public post-secondary institutions, and most Crown corporations will be closed. We encourage private-sector employers to find a way to recognize or reflect on the day in a way that is appropriate for their employees.

"This will be a national day to reflect on the incredible life of Canada's Queen and the longest-serving monarch in British history."

[viper37]

Canada just declared a Federal Holiday as a day of mourning.  It will be interesting to see if the provinces follow suit.  I bet Quebec will not for sure - and likely not BC.  Also willing to bet that Nova Scotia does declare the holiday.

Here is your response about Ontario:


Poor, poor Ontarians. 

[The Larch]

Sheffield football teams branded "despicable" by league after arranging 'friendly' following Queen's death
A Sheffield football league has promised to deal with two of its clubs "in the strongest possible terms" after what it called the "disrespectful and despicable" decision to organise a friendly game on the weekend after Queen Elizabeth's passing.

All professional football was postponed over the weekend following the Queen's death late last week, with the decision also extending to amateur and junior football under the FA's umbrella.

Sheffield International FC's Sheffield and District Fair Play League game against Byron House was subsequently postponed – with the club then announcing publicly on Twitter that they were aiming to play a friendly against Byron House instead on Saturday morning.

The original tweet went viral, with over 40,000 likes, and further tweets included plans to change the friendly to a training session after someone "snitched", and photographs showing players turning up in their match kit and appearing to suggest Byron House had also arrived.

Although there was no confirmation that a friendly match was played – the club's account later referencing a 'training session' which saw a fight and a trial goalkeeper playing as their main striker – the whole episode was condemned in a strong statement issued by the Sheffield and District Fair Play League.

"It has been brought to our attention that, despite our clearly informing all clubs that football matches this weekend should be cancelled as a mark of respect for the passing of Her Majesty the Queen, two teams within our League have chosen to play a friendly match anyway," the statement, issued on Saturday, read.

"This is after we specifically and separately confirmed friendly matches could not be played.

"The SDFPL Management Team would like to put on record that we absolutely do not condone this disrespectful and despicable behaviour.

"There will be an investigation into this matter, in conjunction with the Sheffield & Hallamshire County FA, and these two teams will be dealt with in the strongest possible terms.

"Our league has honesty, integrity and fair play as cornerstones, and we will not accept such behaviour from within our ranks."

"We would like to thank our 37 other clubs that followed the instructions and showed their respects with honour," the statement added.

League chairman Danny Taylor added: "Queen Elizabeth II ruled, served and led with integrity and humility for more than seven decades. It is a terrible shame that these two teams could not emulate this even for a single Saturday, despite our clear instructions.

"We may or may not agree with the mass cancellation of football, but this was decided as a mark of respect and should therefore have been adhered to. This sort of behaviour is disrespectful, unacceptable and flies in the face of the core values of our League. It will not be tolerated."

The plan to play a friendly divided opinion on social media, with some suggesting it was in bad taste and disrespectful to the Queen's memory and others insisting that the games should not have been postponed in the first place.

Sheffield International FC have been approached for comment.

[Syt]

At least no one got arrested this time.

[The Larch]

At least no one got arrested this time.

Just wait until both teams and their boards are rounded up and deported to Australia. 

[Tamas]

What about cricket and rugby then? Or is it only the lower class sport of football that must show respect to its betters?

[Richard Hakluyt]

What about cricket and rugby then? Or is it only the lower class sport of football that must show respect to its betters?

Quite right too; England on cracking form against South Africa btw 

[The Larch]

What about cricket and rugby then? Or is it only the lower class sport of football that must show respect to its betters?

Depends on which football teams are involved, apparently. 

Eton accused of breaking no grassroots football rule following Queen's death

A game between Eton and Rossall - two fee-paying institutions - took place on Saturday afternoon when no grassroots football fixtures were allowed to be fulfilled

[Sheilbh]

The grassroots stuff is insane - same with British cycling who've u-turned.

I have a bit of sympathy for the FA on this though because I think they were the first to announce. I think they were terrified of getting it wrong and went for the biggest, broadest pause. And I suspect as the biggest sport they were being hounded by the press for an update. The general consensus since then has been that they got it wrong.

Slight caveat is the Premier League because I'm not sure what they were told by the police. It seems striking that with the Premier League back this weekend there's only two games in London: Spurs and Brentford. The Chelsea game and the Brighton-Palace have been postponed which suggests to me there might limits on the number/size of events in London.

Edit: I suspect if they waited an hour or two and saw the public and press response to the cricket and rugby announcement, they would have taken a different decision.