Two quotes from this blog:

More than a half – or 56pc – of all income tax is paid by people earning over £50,000 a year, who make up 10pc of taxpayers.

Suppose that once a month, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all of them comes to £100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this;
The first four men – the poorest – would pay nothing. The fifth would pay £1. The sixth would pay £3. The seventh would pay £7. The eighth would pay £12. The ninth would pay £18. And the tenth man – the richest – would pay £59.
So, that’s what they did until the bar owner gave them a loyalty discount, cutting the  cost of their drinks to £80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free but what about the other six men; the paying customers? How could they divide the £20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?
They realised that £20 divided by six is £3.33 but if they subtracted that from everybody’s share then not only would the first four men still be drinking for free but the fifth and sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.
So the bar owner suggested a different system. The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing. The sixth man paid £2 instead of £3. The seventh paid £5 instead of £7. The eighth paid £9 instead of £12. The ninth paid £14 instead of £18. And the tenth man now paid £49 instead of £59. Each of the last six was better off than before with the first four continuing to drink for free.
But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings. “I only got £1 out of the £20 saving,” said the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, “He got £10!”
“Yes, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a £1 too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!”
“That’s true!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get £10 back, when I only got £2? The rich get all the breaks!”
“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison, “we didn’t get anything at all. This new system exploits the poor!”
So, the nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. Funnily enough, the next month the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had their beers without him.
But when it came to pay for their drinks, they discovered something important – they didn’t have enough money between all of them to pay for even half the bill.

Prime Number

The news that a new largest prime has been discovered and its relevance are discussed here.

Swimming at the Olympics

You may not know this but yesterday, Friday 18 January, our Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) released the details of who they bought Olympic tickets for last year. That is, they published a list of all the people who received a free ticket to go to the Olympics. Now I didn't get to go to the Olympics because we were unsuccessful in our application, so there is a little bit of jealousy involved in this blog. We particular wanted to go to see some of the swimming as I and my wife have a lifetime of involvement with swimming at various levels and our daughter is a competitive club swimmer. So, as a taster I will reproduce here the list of people who were given a ticket to go to see the swimming. Take a look and see what you think about why these 160* people were allowed to go for free.

 

RECIPIENTS OF GOVERNMENT-PURCHASED TICKETS FOR SPORT SESSIONS OF THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC GAMES

 The information below is set out by the Department that issued the invitation and order by sporting event, value of the ticket, ticket recipient and the organisation that they were representing.

OLYMPIC GAMES

DEPARTMENT FOR CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Swimming	£95	Susan Bowen	Hewlett Packard
Swimming	£95	Victor Zhang	Huawei
Swimming	£95	Athena Wang	Huawei
Swimming	£95	Ed Vaizey	Department for Culture, Media and Sport Host
Swimming	£95	Jon McVeigh	Pact
Swimming	£95	Micheal Van de Bel	Microsoft
Swimming	£95	Vivek Dev	Telefonica Digital
Swimming	£95	Clare Thwaites	Apple
Swimming	£95	Andy Griffiths	Samsung
Swimming	£185	Jonathan Stephens	Department for Culture, Media and Sport Host
Swimming	£185	Tony Stephenson	Quintessientially Exhibitions
Swimming	£185	Colin Matthews	BAA Airport
Swimming	£185	Gary Morrison	Expedia
Swimming	£185	Carey Fletcher	China Holidays
Swimming	£185	Baroness Garden	Ambassadorial Host
Swimming	£185	James Coleman	Gatwick Airport
Swimming	£50	Steve Galpin	CHR Travel
Swimming	£50	Sandie Dawe	VisitBritain
Swimming	£50	Rachel Howes	Booking.com
Swimming	£50	Nigel Horne	Gullivers Travel Associates

 

DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION

Swimming	£185	Barbara Hearn	National Children's Bureau
Swimming	£185	Debbie Jones	Association of Directors of Children's Services
Swimming	£185	Norman Goodwin	Adoption Matters Northwest
Swimming	£185	Sue Clifford	Adopter
Swimming	£185	Jim Clifford	Adopter
Swimming	£185	Anne Longfield	4 Children
Swimming	£185	Sir Paul Ennals	Former Chief Executive National Children's Bureau
Swimming	£185	Robert Tapsfield	Fostering Network
Swimming	£185	Dr Amanda Gummer	Child Psychologist
Swimming	£185	Oona King	Labour Peer
Swimming	£50	David Holmes	British Association for Adoption and Fostering
Swimming	£50	Tim Loughton	Ambassadorial Host
Swimming	£50	Matt Dunkley	Director of Children's Services Sussex County Council

 

HOME OFFICE

Swimming	£185	Tobias Bergner	Diplomatic Adviser to German Sports Minister
Swimming	£185	Peter Storr	Home Office

 

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE

Swimming	£185	Senator David Coltart	Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Zimbabwe
Swimming	£185	Henry Bellingham	Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister
Swimming	£185	Barbara Woodward	Foreign and Commonwealth Office host
Swimming	£95	Simon Fraser	Foreign and Commonwealth Office host
Swimming	£95	Bernard Emié	French Ambassador
Swimming	£95	Rebecca Davies	Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Swimming	£185	Tom Shreve	US Embassy
Swimming	£185	Tracy Hill	US Embassy

 

UK TRADE AND INVESTMENT

Swimming	£185	S Ramadorai	Tata Consultancy Services
Swimming	£185	Mr Mehta	Essar Global Limited
Swimming	£185	S Ramadorai	Tata Consultancy Services
Swimming	£185	Mr Angel Gurria	OECD
Swimming	£185	Mrs Gurria	OECD
Swimming	£185	Patrice de Vivies	TOTAL SA
Swimming	£185	Mohammed Sharaf	DP World
Swimming	£185	Aurflio Montinolr	Bank of the Philippine Islands
Swimming	£185	Vahya Setiatmaja	Bank of Central Asia, Indonesia
Swimming	£185	Vahya Setiatmaja	Bank of Central Asia, Indonesia
Swimming	£185	Kanit Sukonthaman	Export-Import Bank of Thailand
Swimming	£185	Robert Tan	IGN Corporation Berhad
Swimming	£185	Scott Freidham	Investcorp International
Swimming	£95	Xin Zhang	SOHO China
Swimming	£95	Shiyi Pan	SOHO China
Swimming	£95	Changlin Ouyang	Hunan Broadcasting and Television Station
Swimming	£95	Mei Nie	Hunan Broadcasting and Television Station
Swimming	£95	Danlu Zhu	Sinopec (UK)
Swimming	£185	Ms Patricia Bruscato	Alle Design
Swimming	£185	Caroline Rowland	UKTI Host
Swimming	£185	Mr Trevor Winckworth	In hand Guides Ltd
Swimming	£185	Mr Yi Zhou	s.point design
Swimming	£185	Mr Robert Votiky	Lewis and Hickey Praha
Swimming	£185	Mr Jaymeen Patel	Apple
Swimming	£185	Ms Claire Thwaites	Apple
Swimming	£185	Yo Shitara	BEAMS Co.Ltd.
Swimming	£185	Andrea Casalini	Buongiorno
Swimming	£185	Mrs Casalini	Buongiorno
Swimming	£185	Eddy Sariaatmadja	PT Elang Mahkota Teknologi Tbk (EMTEK)
Swimming	£185	Ken Ohtake	Sony Music Publishing
Swimming	£185	Ken Ohtake	Sony Music Publishing
Swimming	£185	Andrew Summers	Design Partners – UKTI Host
Swimming	£185	Andrew Summers	Design Partners
Swimming	£185	Mrs Robinson	Electronic Art Ltd.
Swimming	£185	Colin Robinson	Electronic Art Ltd.
Swimming	£185	Peter Hepburn	Activision Blizzard
Swimming	£185	Paul Dainty	Dainty Group
Swimming	£185	Paul Dainty	Dainty Group
Swimming	£185	Bruno Casella	Bernardelli
Swimming	£185	Gilberto Nova	Lunave Multimedios
Swimming	£185	Plum Sykes	American Vogue
Swimming	£185	Roberta Valentini	Penelope
Swimming	£185	Dr Colin Gyles	University of Technology, Jamaica
Swimming	£185	Dr Colin Gyles	University of Technology, Jamaica
Swimming	£185	Amanda Selvaratnam	The Training Gateway
Swimming	£185	Maureen Caruk	Guest of UKTI
Swimming	£185	Rosemary Johnston	University of Technology Sydney
Swimming	£185	Aditya Malkani	H.R. College of Commerce & Economics
Swimming	£185	Indu Shahani	H.R. College of Commerce & Economics
Swimming	£185	Haif Bannayan	Jordan Education Initiative
Swimming	£185	Djoko Wintoro Poetnumo	Prasetiya mulya Business School
Swimming	£185	Professor Victor Lee	The Hong Kong Management Association
Swimming	£185	Fariz Ismailzade	Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy
Swimming	£185	Mrs V Lee	The Hong Kong Management Association
Swimming	£185	Professor V Lee	The Hong Kong Management Association
Swimming	£185	SriKrishna Nidigallu	Birla Shloka Edutech Ltd
Swimming	£185	SriKrishna Nidigallu	Birla Shloka Edutech Ltd
Swimming	£185	Kannan Natanajon	Wipro Ltd
Swimming	£185	Professor Seharaj Oyyan	Open University Malaysia
Swimming	£185	Rahul Puri	Whistling Woods International
Swimming	£185	Meghna Ghai Puri	Whistling Woods International
Swimming	£185	Sonia Saleem	SE Trading International LLC
Swimming	£185	Malik Aslam	SE Group

 

WALES OFFICE

Swimming	£185	Richard Kenworthy	Toyota Motor Manufactuing UK Ltd
Swimming	£185	Mark Douglas	General Dynamics
Swimming	£185	Cheryl Gillan	Wales Office Host
Swimming	£185	Stephen Dalzeil	Russo British Chamber of Commerce
Swimming	£185	Shinichi Kiriyama	Japan External Trade Organisation
Swimming	£50	David Jones	Ambassadorial host
Swimming	£50	Vahid Tabatabai	Tomorrow's Energy
Swimming	£50	Edward Tomp	Valero Pembrook Oil Refinery

 

AMBASSADOR PROGRAMME

Swimming	£65	Gregory Barker	Department of Energy and Climate Change
Swimming	£65	Lord McNally	Ministry of Justice
Swimming	£185	Baroness Northover	Department for International Development

 

PARALYMPIC GAMES

DEPARTMENT FOR CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Swimming	£30	Laura  Gander-Howe	Arts Council England
Swimming	£30	Althea Efunshile	Arts Council England
Swimming	£30	Susanna Eastburn	Sound and Music

 

HOME OFFICE

Swimming	£30	Damian Green	Home Office host
Swimming	£30	Clarissa Azkoul	International Organisation for Migration
Swimming	£30	Geoff Williams	Gatwick Airport

 

SCOTLAND OFFICE

Swimming	£30	Roslyn Neeley	Children's Hospice Association Scotland
Swimming	£30	Sarah Thompson	Children's Hospice Association Scotland
Swimming	£30	James MacFarlane	Children's Hospice Association Scotland
Swimming	£30	Alexander McCormick	Children's Hospice Association Scotland

 

UK TRADE AND INVESTMENT

Swimming	£30	Millios Savvahs	Cyprus Paralympic Association
Swimming	£30	Giulo Alteri	Studio Atherispa
Swimming	£30	Ratko Kovacic	Croatian Paralympic Association
Swimming	£30	Rajendra Jadleon	In-Abh
Swimming	£30	Tannpe Chelu	Thailand Paralympic Committee
Swimming	£30	Attarit Srinkapairllaya	Thailand Paralympic Committee
Swimming	£30	K Chawasarirn	ZNPC
Swimming	£30	Michael Muzah	ZNPC
Swimming	£30	K Chawasarirn	ZNPC
Swimming	£30	Michael Phillips	Renfrew Group
Swimming	£30	Michael Phillips	Renfrew Group
Swimming	£30	Janne Avela	University of Jyvaskyli Finland
Swimming	£30	Cosmas Okoli	Maardec
Swimming	£30	Okoli Chukwura	Maardec
Swimming	£30	Carlos Bezerra de Alberquerque	University of Sao Paulo
Swimming	£30	Bill Barrable	University of Sao Paulo
Swimming	£30	Anton Sabo	Fif - Technikun – Wien
Swimming	£30	Rajendra Jadleon	In-Abh
Swimming	£45	Javier Solomire	4 Global
Swimming	£45	Elki Grimsby	Oslo 2022

 

VISIT BRITAIN

Swimming	£45	Emma Wilkinson	Visit Britain
Swimming	£45	Jo Leslie	Visit Britain
Swimming	£45	Evgenia Voskoboynikova	Rain TV online channel, LLC
Swimming	£45	Cathy Stapells	Toronto Sun and Sun Media
Swimming	£45	Barbara Twardowski	AAA Home & Away, QUEST, Global Traveler
Swimming	£0	Jim Twardowski	Photographer (Wheelchair Companion Seat)
Swimming	£20	Wojciech Karpeiszuk	Gazeta Wyborcza
Swimming	£20	Bruna Tiussu	O Estado de S. Paulo
Swimming	£20	Anastasia Dulenkova	Izvestia
Swimming	£20	Jessica Hung	East Week
Swimming	£20	Khulekani Madlela	Gulf News 'Friday' magazine
Swimming	£20	Annette Kogel	Tagesspeigel/Paralympic Post
Swimming	£20	Lorenz Marold	Visit Britain
Swimming	£20	Sarah Miller	Sister PR/Regent St Media Centre
Swimming	£20	Rufus Stone	Sister PR/Regent St Media Centre
Swimming	£20	Phillip Hunt	Sister PR/Regent St Media Centre
Swimming	£20	Rachel Woollen	Royal Collection
Swimming	£20	Tim King	Shropshire Tourism
Swimming	£20	Kerry Francois	Royal Collection
Swimming	£20	Cathy Thompson	Hostelworld

 

WALES OFFICE

Swimming	£30	Phil Jones	Airbus	Wales Office Programme
Swimming	£30	Clive Thomas	Watkins & Gunn Solicitors	Wales Office Programme

 

AMBASSADOR PROGRAMME

Swimming

£30

Edward Garnier

Solicitor General

* There are 170 listings here but a few of them, e.g. Paul Dainty and Dr Colin Gyles, are listed twice.