What European TV am I legally permitted to watch in the UK without buying a UK TV licence? I want to watch European TV in various languages online, without breaking UK TV Licence regulations.

The TV licencing laws are changed regularly, becoming increasingly egregious. Not content with robbing the elderly, the cheeky cunts at the BBC are now demanding payment for foreign TV channels that they have nothing to do with!

Now, the only exception appears to be for non-live TV. You can’t record live TV, or watch live TV through streaming or a service like Sky or NOW, or watch live foreign channels.

Incidentally, you’re under no obligation to let the fuckers into your home to search for TV sets or other illicit entertainment-watching equipment. They can “suspect” all they want, but they can’t get access and therefore cannot prove you have any.

Why did Queen Elizabeth II allow Prince William to marry Catherine Middleton a “commoner”?

Aren’t they only allowed to marry nobles? Or was this a case of true love? 😀

While many British Royals have contracted dynastic marriages with other royals, there is no reason why a commoner may not marry into the British Royal Family. Technically, Prince William’s mother, the former Lady Diana Spencer, was herself a commoner.

She was born The Honourable Diana Spencer, daughter of John Spencer, who, as the heir to the Earl Spencer, was permitted to style himself as Viscount Althorp. When John Spencer became Earl Spencer, his children were permitted to style themselves as Viscount Althorp (his son James) and ‘Lady’ (Diana and her sisters, Sarah and Jane). These titles (Honourable, Viscount (as heir), Lady) are a courtesy extended by the monarch (although permission is rarely denied), not a right or entitlement.

Prior to this, James II, Henry VIII, and Edward IV all married commoners.

Why is a £65K salary in the UK seen as a high income, but the equivalent of it in the US ($83K) is not?

I think one factor is that, in the UK, we pay only 11–12% of our income towards healthcare, after which all treatment is free at the point of delivery (excluding a small prescription fee in some cases).

In the US, people pay significantly more for private health insurance – I’ve heard of people paying $1,000 or more per month in health premiums. Then, their health insurance covers only a proportion of some health costs up to a limit, and did not cover pre-existing conditions (diabetes, heart disease, etc.) until the ACA required it. In addition, health insurance companies try to wriggle out of paying for anything if they can, and drop coverage at any time. Some heathcare costs aren’t covered at all by some insurers – things like birth control, maternity costs, etc.

Americans need to have a float to pay for these out-of-pocket costs, and to cover the whims of their health insurers: the result is income inflation.

Do you think the English or the Irish are more racist?

I’d say the proportion of racists is about the same.

The English racists are probably more loud and proud of it, though, whereas the Irish racist will be as nice as pie to a black person’s face, and then joke behind their back about melting them down for wellies (actual quote from an Irish racist).

I do think the English racists have the edge in nastiness and violence, though. The Irish racist will twinkle their eyes at you – sure it was only a joke…

Which nation is more friendly Scottish, English or Irish?

Ireland.

Even if we hate your guts and would cheerfully slaughter you where you stand, we won’t until you’ve at least had a wee sup of tea and a wee bun in your hand.

Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON GO ON !

Is there a tax on tampons in the U.K.?

Yes. Tampons and other menstrual products were taxed as luxury items before the UK entered the EEC, at which point the came under EEC VAT rules. The only reason there is VAT on these products is because the UK chose to tax them in the first place. By comparison, there is no VAT on these items in the Irish Republic, because they did not have a tax levied on them when Ireland joined the EEC.

The VAT rate was lowered to 5%, the lowest permissible rate, in 2000, following a campaign. There are plans to remove this tax completely in 2018.

In the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement 2015, a Tampon Tax Fund was announced, which would re-distribute the taxes raised to women’s charities until such time as the EU’s rules allowed VAT zero-rating (equivalent to removing the tax altogether). This has been superseded by Brexit.

The current round of recipients of Tampon Tax Fund grants has attracted outrage when it was revealed that £250,000 – one of the largest amounts distributed – had been awarded to a controversial, unregulated anti-abortion charity, Life. There is currently a petition addressed to Rob Wilson, the Minister for Civil Society, who administers the fund, to reconsider the award to Life. There is also an emailing campaign.

Should I leave the UK to pay my hard earned taxes to a better government or royal family?

I am a hard working English man aged 30, worked hard and within the law since 15. Government has played tricks on us over and over. The media is a joke. Our taxes get handed out by the £billions to every Tom, Dick and Harry except the English. Our NHS has gone to shit. Help me see the light people!!

Your hero, Nigel Farage, has his nose firmly planted in Emperor Trump’s rectum looking for a job, and is already planning to leave the UK for fear he’ll get the blame for the shitshow that is Brexit. Why not move there, and experience the low-tax, expensive-healthcare, racist utopia you want. At least until it’s nuked by Russia, China, and maybe North Korea if they can get their act together.

In the words of your lot, if you don’t like it here, you can leave very quickly indeed (since, apparently, I’m not allowed to use a quote from your lot).

Do the Irish feel British?

Yes I know most of them live in another country, but do they relate to British people?

Irish from the Irish Republic? definitely not.

Irish from Northern Ireland? if they’re nationalist/republican, definitely not. If they’re unionist/loyalist, then you’re into some interesting issues. Some definitely do feel British, but I’m not convinced they are in the majority.

Those who do feel British tend, IME, to be more fixated on the monarchy as a symbol of Protestantism and less on the nation, and many actually despise the British secretly for their ‘irreligious’ and ‘immoral’ behaviour – all that low church attendance, gay marriage and abortion, etc. Of the remainder, there’s more of an identification as Northern Irish or ‘Ulstermen/women’*, which, if anything, makes them more Irish than the Irish, as the people of Ulster have always considered themselves a race apart from the cattle-thieves and silk-wearing namby-pambies of the more southerly kingdoms. O’Donnell Abú, Faugh a ballagh, and all that.

* Yes, I know Northern Ireland is only six of the original 9 counties of Ulster. However, if Americans who couldn’t even find Ireland on a map can claim to be Irish, then I think there’s a strong case for Nordy bucks to call themselves Ulsterfolk.

In the UK, if I am involved in stopping a terror attack but I use violence to subdue to attacker/attackers, will I be arrested?

So say I’m inside a large hall with plenty of other people, a man with a gun charges through the doors and starts shooting. I am nearby so I punch and accidentally kill him. Will I be charged for it?

I need an answer for UK law please.

(Don’t question the scenario)

Thanks for all the replies.

IANAL.

As has already been mentioned, your actions would likely be reviewed under Section 3 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 to determine if you used reasonable force. There may be a determination regarding your intent, as well.

As the assailant was armed and intent on killing as many people as possible, including himself either by suicide or being shot by armed response units, AND would probably have continued shooting if you only managed to knock him over without disarming him, AND (assuming you’re not a boxer, martial artist, etc.) you had no expectation of causing death, it might be considered that the level of force was reasonable. If autopsy results back you up (the assailant had an unusually weak skull/jaw/etc.) this will clearly mitigate your actions.

As, presumably, you did not intend to kill, merely to disrupt the act or disarm the assailant, and, presumably, you didn’t continue to attack the assailant once he hit the floor and stopped moving, the worst charge would be manslaughter, with any number of mitigating circumstances and supporting witness statements.

I would be very surprised if the CPS considered the case worth prosecuting.

How many people in the Republic of Ireland want to join the United Kingdom?

Realistically, none.

Rhetorically, it gets bandied about occasionally. Some decades ago, during a period of economic implosion, the top chat show host in Ireland, Gay Byrne, used his weekly monologue to say that if Ireland and its people had any manners, they would hand the country back to the Queen of England, and apologise for its condition. In no way was Byrne serious – it was a device to express the disgust of the country with our leadership which had put us in such a disastrous economic position.

It’s that sense in which rejoining the UK is mentioned – an expression of the utterly unthinkable, the last resort of the already damned.

Rejoining the Commonwealth is a separate issue. The Commonwealth centres around the monarch, not the United Kingdom as a political entity, and many Irish people are quite fond of the Royals, as, for example, many Americans are, so the Commonwealth is perhaps more palatable to the Irish than the UK. We left at a pretty low point in British-Irish relations, but we might rejoin as relations improve. On the other hand, why fix something that isn’t broken? There isn’t the will now to make the change. Perhaps, if Ireland were re-united, rejoining the Commonwealth might be used as a sop to tender unionist feelings.

Brexit makes either option virtually impossible, however. Ireland likes being in the EU, despite some whinges here and there. Rejoining the UK or the Commonwealth doesn’t really improve on Ireland’s EU membership, and could damage it.