4 ms·

If these historians feel so strongly about this maybe they should pay the yearly £4.5m out of pocket?

by dfgfek 3y ago

febeling 3y ago
The numbers to support political decisions are usually made up
adaml_623 3y ago
Running a society costs money. The court system costs money. The alternative is very undesirable. That £4.5 million per year is a small price for social stability. In addition the digital option has a likelihood of costing a lot more
- jdsully 3y ago
  Paper records of wills are not going to have any impact on "social stability". The connection is so tenuous that using this line of argument there is almost no expense that the government shouldn't pay for.
arcticbull 3y ago
4.5m GBP rounds to zero in this context. The UK budget is 1.045T of which this represents 0.00043%.
asdajksah2123 3y ago
Over a 100 years the 4.5mm is 450mm pounds. Less than half a billion. What do you expect the liability to the state would be for all the wills getting wiped out, or modified, etc. Another way to think about it is, what would a private company charge the UK government to insure all liability costs of digitizing the wills? Especially since there are likely many individuals who are highly motivated to modify the wills database (many would benefit simply from destroying it). I don't know the answer to that question, and even though I suspect it will be far greater than 4.5mm, the point is that's the correct way to look at this cost, set against all the liabilities and risks digitization opens you up to. And most never seem to consider the costs and risks of moving to a new system when pointing out the cost of the existing system as a reason to move.
- IanCal 3y ago
  Virtually nothing? I can't think of anything you'd likely get out of destroying a 25+ year old will. There are time limits for most claims against the executors. They are also planning to keep some number of wills, if you kept say everything over a certain value you'd probably cover the cases you're imagining.
tivert 3y ago
> If these historians feel so strongly about this maybe they should pay the yearly £4.5m out of pocket? Abolish the police, which will result in far greater savings. Then if you feel strongly that your house shouldn't be broken into, maybe you should pay for costs for private security out of pocket?
- waihtis 3y ago
  Privatizing security? Now you're talking.

If these historians feel so strongly about this maybe they should pay the yearly £4.5m out of pocket?

by dfgfek 3y ago

If these historians feel so strongly about this maybe they should pay the yearly £4.5m out of pocket?

febeling 3y ago

The numbers to support political decisions are usually made up

adaml_623 3y ago

Running a society costs money. The court system costs money. The alternative is very undesirable. That £4.5 million per year is a small price for social stability. In addition the digital option has a likelihood of costing a lot more

jdsully 3y ago
Paper records of wills are not going to have any impact on "social stability". The connection is so tenuous that using this line of argument there is almost no expense that the government shouldn't pay for.

arcticbull 3y ago

4.5m GBP rounds to zero in this context. The UK budget is 1.045T of which this represents 0.00043%.

asdajksah2123 3y ago

Over a 100 years the 4.5mm is 450mm pounds. Less than half a billion. What do you expect the liability to the state would be for all the wills getting wiped out, or modified, etc. Another way to think about it is, what would a private company charge the UK government to insure all liability costs of digitizing the wills? Especially since there are likely many individuals who are highly motivated to modify the wills database (many would benefit simply from destroying it). I don't know the answer to that question, and even though I suspect it will be far greater than 4.5mm, the point is that's the correct way to look at this cost, set against all the liabilities and risks digitization opens you up to. And most never seem to consider the costs and risks of moving to a new system when pointing out the cost of the existing system as a reason to move.

IanCal 3y ago
Virtually nothing? I can't think of anything you'd likely get out of destroying a 25+ year old will. There are time limits for most claims against the executors. They are also planning to keep some number of wills, if you kept say everything over a certain value you'd probably cover the cases you're imagining.

tivert 3y ago

> If these historians feel so strongly about this maybe they should pay the yearly £4.5m out of pocket? Abolish the police, which will result in far greater savings. Then if you feel strongly that your house shouldn't be broken into, maybe you should pay for costs for private security out of pocket?

waihtis 3y ago
Privatizing security? Now you're talking.