Leonard Smalls

It's not just a question of not wanting our money! It's whether the extra barriers that the UK Government have put in place make it still worthwhile to trade with us! For Thomann, as the world's biggest (probably!) musical instrument retailer they already have the UK Vat registration and the means to deal with that. They do enough business in the UK and have the mechanisms in place to keep trading with UK consumers profitable. But for smaller sellers that's not necessarily the case; firstly they've got to register with HMRC for VAT. They've got to take VAT from UK customers, do a VAT return to HMRC quarterly and pay their UK VAT bill. That's all fine if you're a UK business (arguably!), but as, say, a German business they already have to do all that with the German BZst - doing the same thing for another country for a few grand is probably not worth their while! Not only that there's also a sense of rejection on the continent - our Government hasn't really made itself friendworthy with some of its actions - people think "why should we bother with them if they're not interested in us?" Then businesses like ours will miss out... Our little orchid supplier, who sell us all sorts of exciting varieties that you just can't get from UK growers, doesn't think it's worthwhile. Our lovely French homeware supplier, who sells us all those particularly Gallic trays and cups, isn't interested either. We'll briefly suffer in the short term - our customers will miss those bits'n'bobs you couldn't get elsewhere - and we'll find something hopefully new and interesting instead, but the real question is why? For what? Have we actually gained anything at all, or is it just about a small section of or society now having the illusion of Empire Rebirth?

There's a link to the actual rules in the policy document... https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-and-overseas-goods-sold-directly-to-customers-in-the-uk Yer actual rules appear to be: Consignments valued at £135 or less The seller must charge and account for VAT at the point of sale, unless the consignment is a business to business sale and the customer has given them their UK VAT registration number. To charge and account for VAT the seller will need to: know the precise nature of the goods to find out the correct rate of VAT to charge register for VAT - sellers that are already registered for VAT do not need to re-register keep records of the goods sold, and make sure they get accurate information to apply the correct VAT treatment to them For goods supplied into Northern Ireland from outside the UK and EU, low value consignment relief will no longer apply and the seller will be liable to account for the VAT on the VAT return instead of at the border.

Was it Boris who famously said "F*** business?" If so, he obviously meant it! 😀

It's not a link, just a quote from this: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-vat-treatment-of-overseas-goods-sold-to-customers-from-1-january-2021/changes-to-vat-treatment-of-overseas-goods-sold-to-customers-from-1-january-2021

Indeed! For goods sent from overseas and sold directly to UK consumers without OMP involvement, the overseas seller will be required to register and account for the VAT to HMRC. In other words, non-online marketplace sellers (eg Thomann, or Jerzy Droyd, or that little boutique guitar seller you used to use in Aachen) have to register for UK VAT and charge that VAT on any sales to UK buyers, In other words, if a shop wants to trade with Britain it needs to go through all the rigmarole of submitting a VAT return to HMRC every 3 months... That's why our garden centre no longer trades with 3 of our Lovely Little Things suppliers in Europe - they didn't want the extra grief!

You're not going to like this months special offering then! 😝 And so far I've laid off both the Uillean and Northumbrian pipes, but with all the insults I've been getting I may have to break them out, as well as getting my Galician neighbour Jose in to do a Gaita solo. And he can whistle and yodel!!!

Can I use the Uillean pipes I got for Christmas? They sound great through a Future Impact pedal!

3 of our suppliers from France and Germany have told us they won't be dealing with the UK any more due to having to collect tax on the UK's behalf! Funnily enough, they're small suppliers... Our large NL=based houseplant supplier is still selling in the UK as it's worth their while to set up the extra systems necessary. It just means that stuff that's available in every garden centre in Britain will still be available, but the interesting items that set us apart and our customers love won't, unless we go to the trouble of becoming an actual importer and we don't want the extra hassle either! Don't know why the UK didn't make it so that carriers collect any tax due - they're used to it! Though last time I bought from the US the VAT was £12.77 and the Royal Mail fee £5, so just a touch more than 25%! However, I'm sure it'll make Britain great again - what's a little inconvenience when it comes to taking back control of our borders? Though France seemed quite able to shut its borders to the UK the moment there was a new Covid variant despite being a member of the Evil EU!

And Derek Sherinian's The Phoenix is excellently played and groovy!

Enjoying Bootsy's Power of The One. Not much that's new and innovative, but that's not the point! It's funky as, and features George Benson, Buckethead, Kingfish.

Welcome to the new red-tape-less sunlit uplands,where the unicorns graze freely

It's not quite BB King, more Southern and keyboard driven. With kiddies smutty lyrics 😁

Strangely, mine's a funky blues!

Not quite sure if that's real or not! So I've made a start on something that's possibly very silly, and just a little bit puerile... I note the rules don't disallow a bit of gentle smut 😎😁🤪

Not unless they get the vaccination rate up! As of 29th December, they'd done 786000, just over 250000/week... That rate would mean I'd expect to be done by August 2024! https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/COVID-19-total-announced-vaccinations-31-December-2020.pdf I'm hoping that with GP surgeries starting on the programme it should get a lot faster.

I wanted to have a good time, all of the time...

I quite fancy one:

This is how Mononeon sorted his low ceiling/headstock/head interactions:

Pay attention at the back! I've posted this at least twice already... Still, it's as good an excuse as any to post it again!

5 minutes of anti-hunt sentiment from our recent Punk 4 The Homeless online benefit for Compass Children's Charity:

Just having a double bill of these 2, while looking for next years (possible!) holiday...

Some jazz, Daddy-o!

Some rockin' Bootsy:

Annoyingly, our Freeview doesn't have this (or many other!) channel... We're on one of those booster sub transmitters - they obviously think us yokels wouldn't be interested in any of that fancy Townie Telly!