Tuesday 16 February 2016

too many angels - by jackson browne

There's an angel on a ribbon
Hanging from the armoire door
There's a Cupid with his feet crossed
On the bird cage by the door
There's a baby angel drummer
His eyes are open wide
And two more tiny cherubs
On the mantle side by side
Too many angels
Have seen me crying
Too many angels
Have heard you lying
There are photographs of children
All in their silver frames
On the window sills and tabletops
Lit by candle flames
And upon their angel faces
Life's expectations climb
Where the moment has preserved them
From the ravages of time
Too many angels
Have seen me crying
Too many angels
Have heard you lying
Bring the morning on
Voices sing of day
I want to step out in the morning sun
Through the flood of tears
I want this darkness gone
Your sweet face appears
These apparitions coming one by one
But there's no end in sight
Only the dead of night
And too many angels
Too many angels
Have seen me crying
Too many angels
Have heard you lying
Too many angels
Bring the morning on
Voices sing of day
I want to step out in the morning sun
Through the flood of tears
I want to greet the dawn
Cast away these fears
Forget about the things we could have done
Bring the morning on
Voices sing of day
I want to watch the children as they run
Through the broken years
I want this darkness gone
Your sweet face appears
These apparitions coming one by one
But there's no end in sight
Only the dead of night
And too many angels

Tuesday 9 February 2016

taxing question

Facebook: The social media titan paid just £4,327 in corporation tax in 2014, despite reporting UK revenues of £105million.
 
Apple: The US-based technology firm behind the iPad and the iPhone made £34billion in profit during the year to September 2014.
 
Experts estimate that the UK accounted for £1.9billion of that profit, but the firm only paid £11.8million in British corporation tax.
 
Amazon: The online shopping giant took £5.3billion in sales from British shoppers in 2014 but paid just £11.9million in tax after announcing profits of £34.4million.
 
Starbucks: The coffee chain paid just £8.6million of tax over 14 years between 1998 and 2012 when sales totalled £3billion.
But latest company filings show it paid £8.1million in corporation tax for last year on profits of £34.2million.


Google paid its chief executive more than the £130million it handed to the UK taxman for 10 years of tax bills, it has emerged. 

Sundar Pichai was given shares in the company worth nearly £140million, making him one of the highest-paid directors of any public company in the world
 
Funny, if google doesn't actually make enough money to pay corporation tax, why is it paying it's chief executive so much money ?


Monday 8 February 2016

Dad's Army - the new movie

The problem with remaking Dads Army for Cinema is the same one that faced all adaptations of TV sitcom from half an hour to an Hour and a half.

The cast of the new dads army film do a good job, they are not doing impression of the original cast but putting their own interpretations on the roles.

The production value are high and the plot fine.  

As the reviews have made clear, what is lacking is enough jokes. This I think is essentially the problem of having just one person writing the script.

Mark Kermode has a very perceptive review here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E29BJR2rTgY