Ken Livingstone Won’t Like It
The second leader in The Times today, asks about Ken Livingstone’s attitude to London’s Jews.
It also questions his puzzling comments about homosexuality, claiming that the Tory party is riddled with it.
It finishes with this paragraph.
This turns what would otherwise be a nasty squabble into an issue of importance to all London citizens and, indeed, beyond. A divisive politics that seeks to exploit tensions between religious groups for electoral gain would be a disaster, not just for the city but for the country. And it is to be hoped that Mr Livingstone will find it a disaster for him as well. Muslims value a united London, too.
Until now, I hadn’t really been too bothered about who was Mayor of London. Now, I’m certainly on an ABK ticket.
A Government Income and Expenditure Statement
I proposed one of these years ago. It has been reported that they might bring in an Expenditure statement for taxpayers.
You’d be surprised about how much and how little some taxes raise.
An Expenditure statement is useless without an Income one.
Council Employees Tax Avoidance Schemes
I have been amazed for some years at the enormous salaries trousered by some top council employees. After all, you can’t say that they do a creative job that adds value. Now it appears that many of these employees are paid through companies to avoid tax, according to a report by the Public Accounts Committee. The chair of this committee Margaret Hodge is quoted on the BBC as saying.
This is a tax avoidance scheme which is totally wrong. Where you are a public servant it’s not right you should be paid in a way that avoids tax
I agree! If George Osborne is looking for a place to raise money in the budget, he could declare these contracts illegal and raise perhaps a billion or two.
It would appear that my council, Hackney, is one of the worst offenders, with 39 employees being paid this way.
Dinosaurs Can Bite
It was reported yesterday that Liverpool University has found out that dinosaurs such as T-Rex bit with the force of a medium-sized elephant sitting on you.
I had thought that dinosaurs were extinct, until I heard Len McCluskey’s call for disruption during the Olympics. Even his friends in the Labour party didn’t feel they could support him.
So perhaps they aren’t extinct and they can still bite.
Merkel Gets A Soaking
A waiter has found his fame for fifteen minutes, by pouring five glasses of beer down Angela Merkel’s back. It’s reported here in the Telegraph.
Was the waiter Greek? At least he didn’t pour it down John Prescott, who I don’t think would not have reacted as quietly as the German Chancellor.
Presumed Dead Law
The Justice Committee of the House of Commons is calling for a new ‘presumed dead’ law. There is an article here on the BBC.
This law could go further in that we also need an Interim Death Certificate, for where someone has died, but the cause of death needs to be determined by a formal inquest.
The mother of a friend of mine died a few years ago and until the full Death Certificate, it created a lot of heartache, grief and administrative pain. Especially, as his father had delegated everything financial to his mother. He couldn’t even find out how much was in the bank account and what standing orders were set up. But an Interim Death Certificate would have remedied that situation, although perhaps to avoid fraud, it would not have the full rights of a full Death Certificate.
I heard from my legal friends at the time, that this is quite a common situation and so today I wrote to the Justice Committee. I just found the page for the Committee on the web. There is an e-mail address there. So if you have a matter for a House of Commons Committee, it is very easy to contact them.
Sarah Palin ‘believed Queen was in charge of British forces in Iraq’
Another article from the Daily Telegraph.
I think if the Queen had been in charge, we wouldn’t have had a war in Iraq.
Sarah Palin always strikes me that if she had had a word fight with any of the great wordsmiths, she’d have been metaphorically hung, drawn and quartered.
Basques Want to Join an Independent Scotland
I can’t work out if this was a Spanish joke or not, but it is reported in today’s Times. The leader of one of their political parties has said it and has also waxed lyrical about kilts and said that Edinbrgh should replace Madrid as their capital.
Probably it’s just another way of stating the old adage – You don’t have to be mad to be the leader of a political party, but it helps.
I actually think on a day of such miserable foreign news, the story lightens everything up.
On the other hand it could be a large publicity stunt on behalf of Bilbao-based company CAF, who are building the trams for Edinburgh’s tram system and they want to get it finished and of course get paid. When it does get finished, I suspect that a mixture of Scots, Basques, paella and Scotch will be a good recipe for a party.
The Anonymous Widower 