Tag Archives: tax avoidance

Café Gandolfi

3 October 2016 billpaterson1@me.com 2 Comments

Believe it or not this restaurant, Café Gandolfi, derived it’s named from a camera. The famous plate camera made for 120 years by Louis Gandolfi and his family in London.

Gandolfi cameras

And believe or not, at the risk of appearing much much more ancient than I actually am, I did all of my training at Napier College in Edinburgh using these cameras. It wasn’t that long ago … honest!

Picture of a 5"x4" Gandolfi plate camera — Gandolfi 5″x4″ plate camera

At the time, PhotoShop had not even been thought of so all converging verticals and other distortions had to be corrected using camera movements. And heaven help you if you got it wrong by a few millimetres. You were sent back out again until you got it right!

When I see the ease with which photographs are taken nowadays, even I can hardly believe that this is what we used to use. Complete with a dark cloth over the head so that you could see the upside-down 5″x4″ image on the ground glass. Seems like another world. Recently we dropped in on a photographer friend at Wildgrass Studios near Lix Toll and imagine my surprise when he said “Bill, I have to let you see my new camera“. I expected the latest digital whizbang thingy but instead he dragged out a huge box from which he proudly produced an old 10″x12” plate camera. And he uses it to produce stunning images that he sells online … brilliant!

As a plooky youth I did not really appreciate the fabulous workmanship in these hand crafted items and usually lusted after the all-metal MPP or Sinar equivalents … oh, the foolishness of youth!

Photographers and scones

Picture of stained glass at Café Gandolfi — one of Gandolfi’s stained glass pieces

Picture of artwork at Café Gandolfi — not the angel of the north – part of a permanent exhibit

Another photographer, Iain Mackenzie, who hailed from the Isle of Lewis, did appreciate them however. In 1979 he decided to start up a restaurant in the old Merchant City, a very run down part of Glasgow at that time. He opted to call it Café Gandolfi. Presumably to reflect the fine craftmanship he hoped to reproduce with his uniquely Scottish food. With it he introduced the first cappuccino machine to Glasgow. It gave the city a taste of the flourishing café society it enjoys today.

We were slightly fearful that such a trendsetting place would find scones a wee bit mundane. Our fears were groundless. We were told that scones were available upstairs in Bar Gandolfi. So up we went! This is a relatively new addition but it is very much in the Gandolfi style. They normally have lots of art on display but unfortunately we visited in the few days between their monthly exhibitions.

Not to worry we were looking forward to our Gandolfi scones … and when they arrived we were not disappointed. They were just the way we like them, crunchy outside and soft in the middle. There was no cream but the jam and butter more than made up for that. After much deliberation, however, we decided that they just missed out on topscone. But only by a very fine whisker, pity! Louis Gandolfi was an Italian immigrant. Like lots of other immigrants, he decided to move here and establish businesses which would help and contribute to the overall well-being of both themselves and the UK. In other words, they expected, like most immigrants, to contribute to their host nation through taxes and such like.

Taxes and all that

It is ironic therefore, to say the least, that Trump is now being hailed by his supporters as a ‘business genius’ for having paid no tax whatsoever in the past 18 years. Abhorrent as this may appear to all right minded people, it seems strangely indicative of the times we live in. If readers spot anyone who isn’t avoiding tax at this week’s Tory party conference we urge you to get in touch with the BBC. We are sure it would make headline news … not! We also suspect that Louis Gandolfi was a much better business man than Donald Trump could ever hope to be. So it’s appropriate that his name is commemorated so fittingly here in Glasgow. Definitely worth a visit!

G1 1NY tel: 0141 552 6813 Café Gandolfi

Ordinary, Scones

The Ceilidh Place

12 April 2016 billpaterson1@me.com 1 Comment

We had stopped off in the township of Elphin, in the shadow of Stac Pollaidh, on our way to Ullapool because, after many miles of driving, there was a signpost for a tearoom .. but it was closed.

The local market was open however and the lovely people there recommended this place when we reached our destination. The Ceilidh Place bills itself as “at the end of the A835 and the centre of the universe”. It probably is for many people because it’s a hotel, bunkhouse, café/bar, music venue and bookshop. Someone once said “I often stay here because it’s the only bookshop I know with rooms”. Ullapool is a major destination for tourists and music lovers, with many festivals throughout the year.

Each September they have the Loopallu Festival (wonder how they came up with that name) which the Guardian said was “the only music event anywhere in the world to feature both Franz Ferdinand and the Ullapool Pipe Band.” As you might imagine there are not too many airs and graces here but everything is good quality, there is a big central log burning stove and they make you very welcome. What more could you want? You get the feeling that many good nights have been had in here. We had a good lunch then thought we would try the scones. When they arrived they did not look too promising. We have had scones that look like this before and they were decidedly underwhelming. However, looks can be deceptive. They were actually very good, nice light consistency and with plenty butter and jam. No cream unfortunately … pretty close to a topscone award, but not quite … pity.

Tax havens

Ullapool and Panama have much in common .. they are both many miles from anywhere and both have infestations of blood sucking parasites, but in Ullapool’s case it’s only midges. The brouhaha about Cameron’s tax affairs is largely irrelevant. The fact that they all knew that tax havens (usually British ones) were being used on an industrial scale, is what matters. From that point of view the Labour party, in the shape of Gordon Brown should also have much to answer for. He devised a tax systems so complex that he was almost the only one who could understand them. Tax havens must have been very familiar. Anyway, besides all that, we notice that ‘Scotland The Best‘ author, Pete Irvine, notes amongst the 2,500 places listed, The Ceilidh Place as one of his favourites .. can’t be bad!IV26 2TY tel: 01854 612103 The Ceilidh Place Ullapool

self-service

Caffé Nero

11 November 2015 billpaterson1@me.com 1 Comment

Now you might be a bit surprised by this post because we are reviewing a multinational coffee house. Caffé Nero to be exact. One of these dastardly companies that pays no tax. Prepare yourself for a bit of a rant. Of course we never thought we would have to review such places because we didn’t think any of them did scones .. but we were mistaken, Caffé Nero does, maybe because it is British, so we felt duty bound to give them a try.

Tax

The whole tax thingy is a bit of a mess. Starbucks takes the brunt of the criticism because they are the biggest and the most famous. Caffé Nero has not paid any UK tax since 2008 because it exploits the same loopholes that Starbucks and all the others use. Boots has avoided £1.2b by simply not being registered in the UK. There is nothing illegal about this practice so our sympathies lie with the companies which, like all companies, are duty bound to maximise profits for their share holders. Otherwise they are deemed to be negligent. The problem lies with the loopholes themselves and that’s a governmental issue.

Loopholes

The UK government gets a lot of stick for not closing them but, if you are expecting them to take decisive action any time soon, don’t hold your breath. Most of the government exploits the exact same loopholes for their own personal benefit. Luckily, the European Commission is not so queasy about tackling the problem. They recently decreed that Starbuck’s tax exemption in the Netherlands amounted to a state subsidy and was therefore illegal. As a consequence they were ordered them to repay £22m to the Dutch government. They did the same for Fiat which is registered in Luxembourg and presumably this principle will apply to all multinationals in due course. If it does we should all benefit .. hurrah!

Going offshore

As far as the UK is concerned there may also be light at the end of the tunnel. Not because of government action, heaven forbid, but because, Crickhowell, a small town in Powys, has elected to move ‘offshore’. It has registered all it’s businesses in the Isle of Man … the same as Caffé Nero. Now they will no longer have to pay tax either .. brilliant! No skullduggery .. all done in discussion with HMRC. If all towns were to follow suit, and we cannot see why they wouldn’t, perhaps then the UK government might eventually waken up to the concerns of ordinary people who have to pay every last penny in tax .. or go to jail. Enough of all that frippery we hear you cry .. the scones!

Black magic

Penegra is frequently a type of Simple generic levitra, that is detailed including sildenafil citrate, the best medication that really works effectively in treating feebleness challenges. Vitamin A, C and E especially are needed for curing this levitra sample problem. You can maintain higher levitra price http://appalachianmagazine.com/2017/06/20/berkeley-house-staunton-virginias-secret-gem/ levels of testosterone naturally by combining exercises along with intake of balanced diet. It can be taken when generic sildenafil from india you intent to make love. Reviewing this particular Caffé Nero is a little unusual because it means that the result applies across all of it’s 600 outlets. They are all the same. It is their main selling point. When you go into a Caffé Nero, or a Starbucks for that matter, you know exactly what environment and quality to expect .. fantastico! Not sure how they do it, presumably there is some sort of black magic involved, but the scone we have here in Falkirk will be exactly the same as the one we would have in Canterbury or Belfast or wherever. Is that just clever, or is it slightly spooky?

Our scone came complete with butter and jam and, if we had wanted, a sealed tub of clotted cream. All in all it was quite good. Doesn’t fit the criterion, so it never had a hope of getting a topscone award. However, we can see how folk coming into Caffé Nero could ask for this and enjoy it, so hats off to them for being able to produce this level of standardised product across its empire.

Scotland Bill

The bad news today is that 10 Tory MPs sat through the debate on the Scotland Bill then 400 came in to vote down all the Scottish amendments. It will now fester for months in the unelected Lords. The good news is that a wee firm in Crieff is to start exporting oil to the Middle East. Okay it’s rapeseed oil … but still. Maybe they would like scones as well?

FK1 1NR tel: 01324 623906 Nero

Scones, history and a dollop of politics