Ahh yes 'Mr' Tom Hunter who took loan notes rather than cash when he sold his business because it was more tax efficient symapthising with working people struggling to keep schools open because of the lack of tax funds.

I do like to hear opinions from people who buy cheap, well high, rip everyone off, add price not value and then lecture us on contributing to communities.

It's not to lait though Mr Tom, retrain as a nurse, teacher, fireman, scientist, engineer etc and you may yet save your soul... camel eye of a needle and all that.

Sir Tom must be gutted at the senseless waste of money he had contributed, thinking it would make a difference to kids from some of the most deprived areas in Edinburgh.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/drummond/

http://epetitions.scottish.parliament.uk/view_petition.as...

1. Jalepeno
That's a wee bit harsh. I know the guy is loaded, but at least he's trying to do something positive in, what are after all, extremely poor areas of the city. I think he should be commended for doing something which other entrepreneurs wouldn't ream of.

#3 Nonsense, if he wanted to be a good citizen he would pay the tax he was due at the time he was due it.

The arrogant swine needs a song and dance for handing over a small portion of the hard earned money he stole from vietnam trainer factories and the western high street shoppers.

#3 Oh yeah, and as an afterthought, please congratulate me, you and society for the generous tax write off we give him.

The man is a charlatan, a poor man's bill gates, although gates actually invented something, added value and made a difference.

Rants ends, but I do dislike this cretin intensely.

That woman from Tesco's was the worst. She fled the country to Israel with Millions, eventually striking a deal with the teax man so she could come home.

There is no substitute for real jobs when it comes to dragging people out of poverty. I've never understood this philanthropy thing.. I'd have thought investing in some start-ups would achieve a heck of a lot more.

This is labour legacy. Let us hope that the present government will mangae to instill "joined up" thinking and planning.

Unless Tom Hunter's donation "!" for you Jalepeno was spent on buildings, if it was spent on the likes of computers or staff training it will not be lost

#1 and #4 Jalapeno. Ayrshire Scot was correct in his comment on you in the post about the elections.

What mental asylum do you currently gnaw the wallpaper in?

How I wish we had more wealthy benefactors like Tom, with a heart and a conscience for deprived kids.
Every big business tries to save on tax. We need to close the loopholes on corporations and land-owners. But I'd far rather the wealthy saved on tax and gave it to the poor, than to Westminster to spend on illegal wars, Trident, and nuclear waste.

But why is Edinburgh closing these schools ? Is this the first of many cuts to pay for the Lib-Dem, New Labour, and Tory trams ?

What the heck did Bill Gates invent? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Doesn't make him a bad guy, just the truth.
Here's an interesting thought, why should Sir Tom Hunter pay more tax than you or I? Does he benefit any more from it? Does his rubbish cost more to take away than ours does? Just a question.
Hopefully Sir Tom Hunter's donations are used in the schools for the three R's before it's too 'lait'!

I don't know much about Tom Hunter or the way he's worked in the past, but the fact he's giving money away to plough back into the community (tax dodge or not) says volumes about him, while your criticism #1 and #4 Jalapeno, says much about you! So you'll pardon me if I listen to what he says with his proven track record of trying to help in the community, rather than a wee nothing like you, with sod-all to back up what you say, which wasn't very nice in the first place!

Don't be "lait" in responding, wiil you ... chump?

Jalepeno #1

Before you get too carried away about Gates, he 'invented', well developed a Basic interpreter when a student, and since then his company has invented zilch. It buys companies/products or steals intellectual property and is monopolistic in its behaviour. Court cases bear all this out. However that does make Gate's support for charitable work any less worthy.

Is it not typical, and sad, that we have someone like Tom Hunter who is doing so much for the people and especially the children of Scotland, and you get some saddo like Jalepeno sticking his grumpy whinge in here? If Hunter is working within the tax laws as laid down then good luck to him.

What you can do Tom, is provide expertise for the community groups to organise their voices properly.

This needs web sites that are coordinated and consistent, including forums for open exchange of information, linking access to official documents (council minutes, legislation) and expert advice on how to manage and focus campaigns.

Help bring democracy closer to the man in the street, and allow people have a voice, not just for school closures, but for any issue that any group in the community feel strongly about.

You can't knock Sir Tom, he's clothed several generations of Neds in their lovely, flammable, shiny shell suits.

Is his donation from his foundation a tax break?

Natural benefactor of Wee Jock too.

JALAPENO
Go away you bum.
Farmer has done nothing illegal. Indeed he's helped the scots more than most with the power to do so.
We'd be worse off if he weren't there doing his bit...............BTW...........what are YOU doing for the community, you being a self -confessed "hate"-filled paragon !!!

If we close another 40 schools, could we have two tram systems?

I would bet a small fortune that Sir Tom is not too happy with having disgraced ex-councillor Paul Nolan and self-confessed 'waster of millions' commenting on his generosity.

http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=626242006

Obviously someone else has noted the irony of Nolan quoted in this article:

http://www.realcraigmillar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1630

what would Tom do if 1 or 2 of his outlets was costing money rather than making it??????
Close them down, and hopefully move staff to other branches.
The council have to do the same, OR raise council tax......... WHO wants theirs increased by a HUGE ammount.

#4

"if he wanted to be a good citizen he would pay the tax he was due at the time he was due it"

Except he did. If you want to hand over all YOUR cash on which you are due no tax, out of some sense of nutty misguided chip-on-shoulder envy, then on you go.

Or perhaps you think that all we have is really the property of the state, and it is the state's largesse that allows us to keep even a smll proportion of it?

Remember Tom Hunter is the man who sold Make Poverty History wristbands that had logos of businesses that used sweatshops to produce their goods.

Tom Hunter is a leading supporter of PFI and PPP. As they stand current PFI projects has landed every person in Scotland with a tax bill of £4500. The irony here for Edinburgh parents is that it is the city's PFI school building programme that is the underling cause of the school closures.

Also Tom Hunter funded the previous Scottish Executive's Schools Enterprise Programme that taught children as young as five the value of entrepreneurialism, such as PFI.

Tom Hunter is one of those who believes socialism is only for the rich and captialism is for everyone else.

Edinburgh parents should ask Tom Hunter to plug the black hole in the council's finances. After all he is partly to blame for it.

Not just Tom Hunter who is on this band wagon, ailing, failing Edinburgh's Talk 107 radio station is too. Backing the campaign to try and woo listeners, just like it did with the failed Tesco lorry driver dispute.

An interesting point: if they took all the kids out of each school roll who were out with each schools catchment area would the schools still be as full as the parents claim? And maybe there is a case for closure for some of them.

#25

You are right. Until PFI came along, there was no prospect of anything other than patching up of dilapidated schools, and the occasional new one e.g. Leith Academy, once in a blue moon.

Tom Hunter is chancer and a rich one at that. He watches which way the wind blows and then goes along with flow - a populist who supports a populist party -the SNP. First signs of a small split though and there will be more to come.On another matter -what is "council property" -It is the property paid and owned by the community and is not anyones to own or sell or tell the community they cannot use it for democratic purposes, especially from the yellow bellied SNP/Lib Dem alliance. Why don't they take Brown on and refuse to implement the cuts? - cos they are scared -they can talk the talk but they cant ..............

Tom Hunter does nothing illegal? Okay

Is closing schools legal?

When was legality the hall mark of morality?

Not working is legal tax avoidance too and yet you are all too happy to judge that legal tax avoidance.

No, no, thank god our capitalist landlords eat a few crumbs off their plate from time time. You have all convinced me, I now worship his generousity too.

Charity needs no recognition and yet he needs a song and dance. Why should his foundation demand and get access to government where parents failed.

The man is a charlatan. If I want to shout out about that I will.

I've done nothing illegal - LOL - and yet you reserve the right to shout yourselfs. I see a lot of Tom in you all.

# 26 You are a moron.

You could have paid taxes to build public buildings. You refuse to pay high taxes.

The "public" buildings will now be built at a profit, costing more and with cheaper materials. We will pay them off over 30 years, again having to pay profit to the rich.

It's their biggest con, hate paying taxes to society, love paying profit to individuals. People generally are idiots, the reality doesn't change, you just get what you pay for and you have been hypnotised into thinking if yo uneed anything you need a rich man. You made him rich, he stole from you.

You used to be able to pay money to absolve yourself from sins and go directly to heaven. Many in the church made large sums of money from this. I think it Pope Alexander VI (Borge) was one of them - you know the one whose daughter bore him a son.

These days you salve your conscience through publicly giving to charity. Hey, you get some neat publicity and it's good for networking opportunities. Have you noticed that at big charity events you always get the rich? Bit of backslapping makes you feel better and sets you up for another week of profiteering at the poor's expense. You can't be criticised because hey - it's a charidee.

As for Sir Tom, I don't know about his business tactics but his money is going into good places and if he backs the independence cause then he really has starting redeeming himself for any wrong-doings. He couldn't do any more for the people of Scotland than back the SNP. Maybe he could invest in bonds instead of PFI now? Or maybe he could buy The Scotsman and kick out all the pro-Union flunkies? That would send him directly to heaven.

# 23 "Its not just Sir Tom's tax contribution that is the issue but with out Sir Tom there would be no tax contributions from all those who work for him. That being the case I bet that the total tax contribution from Sir Tom's businesses would make most of Scotland's eyes water if we had to pay it."

Thank god for Tony Blair and George Bush eh? All those bomb makers kept in business. Just you keep chanting back parrot fashion what they tell you mate.

The man is rich because of modern day slavery and by not passing the savings of using sweatshops onto us. If he were what you say he would have sacrificed profit and opened up Scottish factories to manufacture his goods.

The truth hurts thicko, Mr Tom Hunter used sweatshops same as everyone else and onyl employed the minimum level of staff in Scotland.

It hurts I have to share the same country as you and the majority that worship these charlatans. It hurts my pocket I mean, they control our resources and make us pay through the nose to get them back.

If Sir Tom paid his workers more, instead of just above the legel limit, there would be more tax paid.

Some interesting reading for you labour, and unionsts orc's
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article236...
Go on AM2 tell us what you think, please.

#28

What exactly is "legal tax avoidance"?

Tax avoidance in whatever shape or form, is legal. Tax avoidance is playing by the rules, according to the law, what you are due to pay.

Tax evasion, on the other hand is breaking the law and is illegal. Hunter has carried out the former (good for him), but not the latter.

You clearly don't understand the difference.

#32

"The man is rich because of modern day slavery and by not passing the savings of using sweatshops onto us"

Case study from Vietnam. Pressure from middle class concerned w**nkers in the West, forced the closure of a trainer factory, where the workers were largely kids, according to UK definition, and young adults according to Vietnamese definition. Getting paid much less than Western workers, sez the western trade unions, concerned about their members protected jobs - slave labour, the cry went up.

Several months after the closure of said factory, a study was done of where the victimised child workers had got to. Most were working as child prostitutes, to support their family.

Places like Communist Vietnam, welcome the jobs that people like Hunter and Nike brought to their country.

People like you just promote encourage child abuse.

#29

So I'm a moron?

You are one doing your best to illustrate how economically illiterate you are.

Raising tax rates to high levels to pay for your new schools etc, actually REDUCES the total amout of tax raised. No serious economist now disputes that. So with your golden plan, we would all have paid higher taxes, and the school closures would have come years ago. Genius.

#37

You really are a parrot repeating back everything they tell ya.

The cost of a building, a school building, as you say remains the same.

You can build it at cost, or you can build it at cost plus a profit margin.

Your orignal post sais you are glad we build all these things paying profit to private individuals, because nothing got built in the bad old before profit was paid to the rich.

You are mad, not me.

We are closing state schools paid for and paid up to finance rent on the new PFI lot.

http://www.save-bonnington-primary.co.uk

I seems a shame that Toms investment in our kids education will be squandered.

#39

No. But they are paid, as someone else pointed out, over something like 40 years. Whereas, if the same level of building was carried out by public funding, the payments would be spread over fewer years (some payments would have to be paid in the year of the project), and have larger payments. PFI consortia are carrying out the projects cheaper (usually) than if they had been done in the public sector.

If it was all so simple as is being suggested, why has it taken until PFI for it to happen? Why has no government or serious political party never proposed it?

Going back in time for historical lessons. The then UK Secretary of State for Health in the early 1960s proposed a grand building and modernisation plan, so that every hospital in the country within 10 years would be operating out of brand spanking new premises. Detailed plans, costings etc were drawn up. Guess what, over the next few years, other political priorities on public expenditure meant that this was scaled down to very little, and the person concerned left the government.

Anyone who believes a politician promising to build a brand new building out of public funds, is being naive.

I kind of turn off as soon as the reporter says "including" - it's so local newspaper stuff.

Hootsman tackiness which makes a joke of its claim to be a National newspaper:
One of the largest
Scotland's biggest
Including (Any of the aforementioned)
Glasgow born.
The Scot(who is not Glasgow born)

I could go on but apathy has set in. Wow what a story that was. Could that story have not been confined to the Evening News?

Time to kick ass, I reckon, and get this paper back on track.

I don’t think anyone could forget or fail to notice that we are fast approaching the anniversary of September 11th 2001. It’s indelibly burned into minds, hearts and souls the world over and shook us to the core. As I listened to the horror unfolding on my radio, my immediate thoughts were for the safety of my children and I quickly phoned my wife to get her to switch on the TV. When the second plane hit, I was sure this had to have been an act of war and began wondering how Bush would react. Suddenly that nice secure feeling that I had been accustomed to, knowing that I had a good job and was on target with most of the plans I had made for my family’s future, went completely out of the window. The attack had apparently come without warning and now thousands of people were dying many of them choosing to jump rather than face the horror of being burned alive. The families, colleagues and friends who believed that their loved ones might be in danger, must have gone through hell on that day, and for those who’s loved ones died, well their nightmare had just begun.
I remember 9/11 as if it were yesterday and with profound sadness and anger. I remember each panicked word I spoke to my wife on the phone and prayed that I would never have to do that again.
Whilst watching the Documentary 9/11 on the TV last night, it occurred to me that I already have made that panicked phone call and once more my thoughts are for the wellbeing of my children and once more the unthinkable appears to be happening. No one has died, blood has not been shed and I can not draw any direct comparison between 9/11 and current events, ONLY that I felt compelled to make that phone call once more and that my panic was just as real.
This time though, my children’s future is under threat from a council which I helped to elect!
Again the attack apparently came without warning, once more thousands of young lives WILL be ruined and whole communities torn apart! Who do we turn to th

#45

To equate proposals to close schools with terrorism, shows a clear lack of judgment, and a massive lack of respect for those who have been victims of actual terrorism.

#46

To compare occupants of the twin towers and primary school children shows a real lack of judgement.

One group raped and pillaged and got it between the eyes, the other lot is innocent and deserves respect.

#46

I had hoped that my abhorrence for the events of 9/11 and my empathy for those involved might have come across in my last post. I also attempted to make it clear that I was not trying to draw a direct comparison; there of course can be none. What I was trying to say was that nothing since 9/11 had such a profound impact on my family, and the family’s of many others, as these idiotic proposals by the council to close down these schools. Everyone in the community is affected from the young to the old who might now find that they are completely cut off socially as there is no where else for them to meet with there friends. As for my liking this to terrorism, have you seen the faces of the kids who are going to be affected by this?
I will end by saying this; If anyone has been offended by either of my posts, please accept my sincere apologies as that was never my intention. Perhaps my lack of skills in the art of translating my thoughts and feelings into the written word let me down badly on this occasion. I only attempt to do so now because I am a parent who feels that his children are suffering so badly that to take no action and not to speak out, would be terribly wrong.

You are of course free to report my comments as unsuitable.