An Undertaker’s Tea Party
The headline in The Times today compares Prudence’s launch of his campaign to an undertaker’s tea party.
It was a no-frills launch, positively Presbyterian in its austerity. Some said that Gordon Brown and his Cabinet looked just plain grim, like undertakers on a tea break. And it must be said, as they trooped out of the gleaming black door of No 10 at 10.48am, they did look as solemn as a sermon. The only thing sunny was above us, in the sky, on this lovely spring day that was troubled only by a soft breeze.
The launch cost nothing, a price Gordon can afford. The PM spoke through a mike hidden in the lapel of his Sunday best suit. His hair was (suitably) grey and newly cut, as perfect as a bowling lawn. The look of pure concentration on his face as he stood before us, the Cabinet fanned out on each side, looking like the Politburo but not as much fun, was that of a little boy desperately trying to remember his lines.
Certainly, he and his cabinet all look grim in the photo. But then the threat of redundancy affects people like that.
I do think though this article is rather a slur on undertakers. I met a quite few lately and I would never call them grim. Professional and serious, maybe, but then you would expect that.
Let’s Abolish All Taxes Except One
This article in The Times by Kit Malthouse will get massive hoots of derision. But I think the principle behind it is right.
These are two early paragraphs.
So if all taxes, including VAT, form part of the price of the stuff we buy, why do we bother to charge and collect them separately? What would happen if we were to lump everything together, phase out all taxes and just charge higher VAT? Well, several things.
First, everyone would receive their income gross. No more PAYE or self-assessment and, of course, no further need for the Inland Revenue. All that money and all those people currently wasted on arguing about the dozens of different taxes would be redeployed. Billions of pounds and thousands of people, tax collectors (£5 billion) and accountants (at least another £5 billion) liberated for investment and production. Tax would be collected painlessly in small increments if and when you buy stuff.
Years ago, my accountant at the time was a Labour supporter. But he applauded Mrs. Thatcher in the way she stopped tax loopholes on the one hand and reduced rates on the other. The result was more tax collected and lots of out-of-work accountants, who then went on to develop more productive skills in areas like budgeting and planning, which created jobs.
The trouble too with our current taxation system, is that it creates anomalies. The honest get penalised by those who cheat, so good companies and individuals cease trading. They also give up because of the fact they spend too much time on working out tax.
I have a personal interest in tax anomalies. They ruined my father’s business. In the 1950s the purchase tax on print and stationery was about 40%, whereas that on plain paper was zero. Brochures and other things you didn’t write on were also zero-rated. So as this was at a time when the new offset litho technology was being introduced, companies who needed printing done setup departments to do their own. A lot of printers went bust, but if VAT had been in operation then, it would have been a level playing field and the best would have survived.
This would apply with the proposals in the article.
So I’d give a couple of cheers for Kit Malthouse.
In addition, I would of course raise the taxes on energy, so that we reduced our carbon footprint.
After a dinner of some very nice pasta, I’ve had more thoughts about this.
Supposing that it was linked to a system similar to I proposed in Cutting Unemployment. All you’d need to do was deduct the VAT on your services and that was it. It gets simpler and simpler.
But there is the problem about how you would account for those who didn’t charge VAT on their services. I’m sure that one of the accountants made redundant by abolishing all of those taxes would know the solution.
Mandelson Told Off for Eating Crisps on the Radio
Colin Murray and Peter Allen were hosting a political discussion about the election on BBC Radio 5 this lunchtime.
Colin Murray had to tell Lord Mandelson off for eating crisps, as they were creating noise on the radio.
Unions, Strikes and Courts
Last week unions flexed their muscles in both the UK and France.
In the UK, the rail unions wanted to go on strike and were stopped by the courts, but in France the port workers and seaman at Calais just walked out.
We have laws about ballots, unofficial strikes and conciliation, but I’m not sure about French law. So perhaps if they have laws against unofficial strikes, the French just ignore them.
I would have no idea, which set of rules are best. But lets put it this way, lots of strikes might well sway votes against parties connected to the unions. Or they could get other workers in solidarity with them and move the vote the other way.
But to me strikes are wrong, as if they need to be called, then they indicate a failure of proper communication and negotiation.
The Curious Case of Heather Mill’s Nanny
I say curious case because the two parties in this unfair dismissal case seem to have views that are poles apart.
These are the first two paragraphs in the report in the BBC.
Heather Mills has told an employment tribunal she fell out with her nanny after refusing to pay for her breast enlargement surgery.
Sara Trumble, 26, from West Sussex, is seeking compensation from Sir Paul McCartney’s ex-wife, alleging unfair dismissal and sex discrimination.
They can’t be further apart than that!
Incidentally, Miss Trumble did have the breast enlargement surgery and bless them, the Sun has got pictures in their article. The second picture in the article shows her £4000 breasts in all their glory/horror. (Delete as appropriate!)
My only comment on Miss Trumble’s body would be to say that her breasts look like she’s added a couple of large tea-cups or something equally unreal.
Fair Comment?
I have been following the progress of the action against Simon Singh by the British Chiropractic Association with interest. As a scientist, I believe strongly that in science we get progress by research, experiment, peer review and open debate, and not by resorting to the law. I’ve also always had a deep regard for Simon ever since he wrote Fermat’s Last Theorem: The story of a riddle that confounded the world’s greatest minds for 358 years
So perhaps I’m biased.
But I am rather pleased that he has obtained a judgement in the Court of Appeal, that allows fair comment as a defence in certain libel actions.
Space Research – Yorkshire Style
This news story about Robert Harrison from Yorkshire who wanted to photograph his house, shows what you can do with small amounts of good technology.
His pictures are stunning.
Even abcNews in the States is impressed.
A Tax on Coeliacs – 2
It’s funny, but all the budget forums I’ve read so far have got coeliacs in them moaning about the tax on cider. There are three in this article in the Guardian for a start.
If nothing else, Darling has at least got coeliacs talking about their condition on the Internet.
As they make up one percent of the population, could they have an effect on the election? Probably not, but it does show how stupid Darling is. Surely, he needed to bring in a flat tax rate for drinks like cider, so that cheap crap was taxed heavily and the good expensive stuff wasn’t.
But then in most cases you have to be stupid to be a politician!
Nuclear Waste
I have been over several nuclear power stations and on the whole they weren’t a chilling experience, where you felt that any minute, you’d be engulfed in some radiation-related explosion. At only one did I feel a bit uneasy and that was because the site was untidy and cramped. It just didn’t have the aura of being well-run that I got from say Sizewell A or AEP Cook. But I visited this plant twenty years ago and it has operated safely since.
But when I saw an article entitled, Areva plans new reactors that make nuclear waste disappear, in The Times on Monday, I was initially sceptical.
But it does look that it may be the solution to the problem of nuclear waste. I hope so!
What puzzles me about the story is that the technology was first proposed in the 1950s. If it is that good, why hasn’t it been developed earlier.
The Anonymous Widower 