Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments.
He says he wouldn’t want to come here anyway and nor should anyone else…
Elon Musk finds himself snubbed from the government’s forthcoming big tech International Investment Summit, purportedly because of his injudicious remarks about this summer’s riots in Southport and across the UK.
He responded by saying he wouldn’t want to come here anyway because Britain is ‘releasing paedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts’, in reference to the early release scheme to combat prison overcrowding.
Although Musk did not attend last year’s event in person, he got to steal the front pages with his face-to-face interview with the then prime minister, Rishi Sunak, in a discussion on AI.
So this year’s snub might hurt Musk’s pride. But there is a second possibility why Musk finds himself a pariah here, other than his X/Twitter posts.
After his ‘moral’ refusal to allow Ukraine to use his Starlink satellite system as a GPS for their missiles, it has been reported that Starlink has now been found being used by Russia in its Iranian-built Shahed drones.
Is Musk ploughing the field for Donald Trump, who has frequently signalled his admiration of Russia’s leader?
Or is he just a rich, morally confused hypocrite? Peter, London
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Send MPs on an army course and we’ll see about that pay rise
Sharon (MetroTalk, Thu) says MPs deserve a rise in their basic salary from around £90,000 to £250,000, otherwise the best candidates will continue to work for the more handsomely rewarded private sector.
That is debatable. Take a senior Army officer. A brigadier commands five battalions of more than 2,500 troops on an average salary of about £115,000.
Sharon talks about stress. The brigadier has to ensure his brigade is battle-ready at any given time. If deployed to active service, stress becomes a major part of his lifestyle. He deserves his salary.
The soldier under his command receives a starting salary of about £25,000 and is subjected to stress during training and in active service.
Most CEOs of successful businesses have worked from the ground up and, like military personnel, apply such attributes as communication, management, organisational and decision-making skills.
So, send all budding MPs on a military management course, and if they pass they can pay their £500 nomination deposit and we can pay them £250,000. Bart Spicer (Army Veteran), Sowerby Bridge
‘The backbenchers have very little responsibility…’
Can Sharon, or anyone else, think of a job paying more than £90,000 that requires no formal qualifications nor previous relevant experience? Plus, backbench MPs have little responsibility, as their whips tell them how to vote. Chris, Stockport
Is it time to stop taxing private pensions?
It is time to stop taking tax from people who paid for a small private pension. We should instead stop paying child benefit to those earning more than £50,000 and stop the winter fuel allowance for Brits living abroad.
And raise the tax allowance for retired people with less than £50,000 to £20,000, so if they do get a little job to help with their bills, they don’t pay tax. Patricia, Horsham
The perils of trickle down economics
Jack (MetroTalk, Thu) comes very close to defining the basic failing of an exploitative economy when he says Britain is ‘rolling in money but it has been unfairly distributed’.
Money is power, power corrupts and trickle-down economics does not work for most of us – it’s only trickle-up economics that works for few.
And this is worldwide – no wonder we do not live in peace and harmony with each other, or nature, for that matter. Nick, North London
Regulate e-bikes to let victims file claims
Dr John Chinn (MetroTalk, Fri) misses the point in his defence of e-bikes.
People are not against e-bikes, rather the way they are used by most riders and the way they are being altered to make them illegal moped-type bikes.
If John wants to increase the legal power of these vehicles from 250 watts to 500, he must also support laws to make them a registered motor vehicle and require some sort of licence to ride them.
These things need to be regulated so that even with low accident numbers, it would still be possible to initiate claims or even prosecute. Pedro, Hammersmith
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