Thursday 16 July 2015

LET'S FEEL GOOD...IF YOU'VE GOT ENGLISH NOTES

Seen in Boots in Guildford this morning.

Alliance Boots, the owner of Boots the chemist, has avoided £1.1bn in taxes by routing its cash through a series of subsidiaries in well-known tax havens including Luxembourg, Cayman Islands and Gibraltar, according to a new report, says this article in the Independent.

So, we don't know if this is in anyway connected, but it seemed like everyone should know that in OUR United Kingdom, Boots, for "unseen" (sic) reasons will not "except" (sic) Scottish currency notes.

(Maybe the banks in Luxembourg, Cayman Islands and our own dear Gibraltar won't accept them for tax avoidance purposes.)

Anyway, as a consequence, unless they have a very good "unseen" reason for this (and we await their answer on that with eager anticipation) we'll not buy anything from them again, because as a rule, not being in the business of tax avoidance ourselves, all we ever have is Scottish notes.

We'll let you know if we hear from them.

(THANKS TO LAURA FOR THE PIC)

31 comments:

  1. Ah, isn't it great being BetterTogether. I feel so loved.

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    1. Gives you that warm wanted feeling... in OUR united kingdom...or something.

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  2. Written in England by someone English? Unseen? Except?

    Due to obvious circumstances I will be shopping somewhere else.

    Signed,

    Scotland.

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    1. LOL yes. The English education service doesn't appear to be all it is cracked up to be ...then again after 5 years of wee Govey, what would you expect?

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  3. These boots are made for shopping. By walking in the opposite direction from any Boots.

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    1. LOL Good one. I was trying to think of a Nancy Sinatra line... and failed dismally

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  4. Boots is now owned by a hedge fund headed up by a guy called, I think, somebody Pisani, a well known crook and parasite. Goes without saying never spend anything there or even set foot in the place ever again.

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    1. You sometimes wonder if any company is owned by anyone who actually gives a stuff about its customers. Well, when I say sometimes, I mean always.

      No no more custom from me.

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  5. They can, using their medical expertise, turn the sign into a suppository; and shove it where the sun don't shine.

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    1. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha....

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  6. Another one on 'the list'.
    I had to give up my favourite dram because the bastards were a No. :-(

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    1. Oh that was a real blow. Grants?

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    2. Balvenie Double Wood. :-(

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    3. Ohhhhhh.... posh!

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  7. tris

    I fear we are entering into a crueler, harsher neo-liberal world

    " And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short."

    But then I will always admit New Labour led us to this door and
    now Cameron and Co will attempt to walk us through it.
    You wonder or I do how Harman believes you should accept the Tory
    agenda just because they won a flawed undemocratic election .
    Does FPTP really reflect the broad will of the peoples of the UK
    a bare majority and the Torys attempt to impose massive neo-liberal
    changes on the UK . How truly conservative is that one nation Cameron
    says. And none of us know who actually is a citisen of that one nation other than
    you are very wealthy who are the ones benefiting the most.

    And you have a significant minority of Labour MPs etc who would happily
    take the Tory road as long as THEY gained power wealth and influence.

    Be out of power for a generation they claim better that and then a fairer
    more equal nation even if it takes many years I dont mind dying under Tory
    Hegemony as long as my childrens future is in a Tory less world .

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    1. You voted for this, Niko.
      Stop complaining.

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    2. Nope. We've said here before, Niko, FPTP brings silly results totally at odds with what the voters voted for.

      The English, the biggest nationality in the islands, voted for the Tories, based on that system that, to be fair, both Labour and the Tories favour, and therefore the one that will continue.

      Of course we had a referendum on that, but the choices were between a rock and a hard place.

      That was Clegg's fault. If he had just had the nerve to do it, he could have held out for PR, but the red box and the title was too much temptation for him, and he sold his party's only possible chance of real power, for 5 years at the deputy top. Much good it did him as Tim Farron takes over today, a tiny group of MPs, no longer a major party.

      So Cameron was elected on 37% of the vote but he intends to demand a higher level of support for industrial action when unions have grievances. I suspect the unions will tell him to stuff it, and I will be behind them. But they Tories won’t be thwarted, especially if they know that can count on Labour’s support.

      In the meantime with his tiny majority he is trying to dismantle the welfare state that Attlee and Bevan and real politicians with real vision built, and return us to a time when you prospered if you were born to money and position, and struggled all your life if you didn't.

      On 37% of the vote.

      Only in the UK.

      (I hasten to add, lest you should think me ignorant of it, that on this occasion the SNP profited massively from the FPTP system [where they have been hit in the past], and with 50% of the vote took over 90% of the seats, but you might note it is still SNP policy to abolish FPTP and replace it with a system that reflects the people’s choice.)

      The Labour MPs like Harman who are happy to use this miserable excuse for giving up on all that their predecessors fought for with a ... oh that's what the people voted for...should remember that the people's in NI, Scotland and Wales did not vote for this, and a damned large number of the English didn't either.

      I wish Mr Corbyn every success, even though it may well be bad for Scottish Independence if he takes Scottish Labour back from the Murphy catastrophe.

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  8. Boots are also notorious for pushing fake "medicines" such as homoeopathic sugar pills, giving them equal shelf space and prominence to effective medications. Having said that, I shopped there today, but only because the big Boots at Straiton is the only known stockist of a cosmetic preparation I like.

    But yeah, they have no scruples, stay away.

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    1. I've said of all these places that I used to use, but no longer do, that I won't cut off my nose to spite my face, Rolfe.

      If you can;t get something elsewhere, then you have to go to ASDA or B&Q or Boots... and for all Amazon are tax fiddlers, they are still the most convenient way to get books and DVDs. Have you tried them for your favoured product?

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    2. I'd rather go to Boots than to Amazon! I get my books from a small independent bookshop in the village. No discounts, but personal service, and I get to support a business run by an SNP and independence supporter (as well as a fellow Wagner freak).

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    3. Great to support local business, which I try to, and most definitely would if I lived in a village. (It's often use it or lose it in that situation.)

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  9. “I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities and a thousand unremembered moments produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people. There was no particular day on which I said, Henceforth I will devote myself to the liberation of my people; instead, I simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise.”
    ― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedo

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    1. I guess that is how real commitment is born. A steady daily realisation that something is horribly horribly wrong when, for example, the colour of your skin defines you in law, and in custom and practice.

      Whatever, the man was an example to each of us.

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    2. That's a beautiful quote, Niko, and telling. Are you doubting your beloved Labour party and their socialist credentials?

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    3. Niko has been doubting them for some time Jim. He's rejoined the party to try to elect Mr Corbyn as leader. I wish him well with it. I don't think it will be allowed. I'm not sure how, but someday or another they will get one of the right wingers, probably Burnham. God help them.

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  10. I have written (emailed) Boots to complain (with a link to this website). Everybody should. Probably won't do any good , but it might. And it made me feel better.

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    1. Well good on you, Brian.

      I tweeted them, but have as yet had no response.

      It might be that in the area there has been a rash of forged notes. But we have three banks, all of which issue notes in £5, £10, £20, £50, and £100 denominations and one of them still issues £1 notes. That 16 designs in all. Surely an English forger is unlikely to have managed to forge that many notes.

      If it is the case perhaps they could have managed a: "We regret that we are currently unable to accept Clydesdale Bank £5 notes, due to a high level of forgeries in circulation." or words to that effect.

      Does Boots know that Northern Ireland banks also issue their own currency?

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    2. good guess Tris, ignoring the spelling and grammar in the notice, this is the reply I recvd this morning. Very quick, I must say:-

      "Thank you for your email about Guildford Boots refusing to accept Scottish Tender. I appreciate your feedback on this matter.

      "We do accept Scottish currency. This store was aware of a counterfeit note issue so temporarily took the decision not to accept these notes”
      I have also included our statement in full provided to the Huffington Post for your background information.
      “We became aware of an issue with counterfeit Scottish bank notes in this particular location, so our Store Manager took a temporary decision not to accept these notes. All of our stores across the UK normally accept Scottish currency and will continue to do so.”
      I do hope this information helps but if I can assist you further, please quote your customer reference number 00814063 on any further correspondence. Alternatively, please call on 0345 070 80 90. Thank you for contacting Boots.
      Kind regards

      Helen Chadder
      Boots Customer Care"

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  11. Jimminy

    Well I dont doubt my socialist credentials............my sanity thats a different matter.

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    1. Munguin has doubted that for a long time....

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  12. So, If they don't "Except" Scottish notes, that must mean that they "Accept" them without question. That truly is unforseen! :p

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