With 11.5 million documents to read through, we’ve not heard the last of the revelations from the Panama Papers. David Cameron is on the defensive, though Jeremy Corbyn’s attacks are blunted by the fact that his party was once led by one half of the Blair couple, now rumoured to be worth a cool £60ContinueContinue reading “Keeping It Under Your Hat”
Tag Archives: Taxation
Cider House Rules II
We don’t often get to discuss the politics of cider. Politicians are usually smart enough to leave cider alone. But it did make the headlines this week, with news of changes in EU rules that could have a devastating effect on small producers. This, of course, is the opposite of what should be happening, evenContinueContinue reading “Cider House Rules II”
Pop Goes the Weasel
“Governments with money centralise and claim the credit. Governments without cash decentralise and spread the blame. Those are not the views of a hardened media cynic. They are what I was told by one of the Tories’ top policy wonks before the election.”Nick Robinson, BBC Political Editor, December 2010Surprised? Why? The masters of the universeContinueContinue reading “Pop Goes the Weasel”
Housing Whom?
Oxford professor Danny Dorling is the rising star of radical sociology. Some of us heard him speak in Witney during the 2010 election campaign. He has his critics, but he has an impressive grasp of statistics and deploys them with devastating effect. A review of his latest book, All That Is Solid: The Great HousingContinueContinue reading “Housing Whom?”
Responsibility Without Power
We are grateful to an MK blogger in Penzance for a careful analysis of what the Coalition’s pseudo-localism means in practice. It amounts to devolving the running of services, and the making of cuts to them, without devolving the money that used to pay for them. Local politicians get the blame for the consequences, while central governmentContinueContinue reading “Responsibility Without Power”
Tax – and Spend Better
“Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.”Oliver Wendell HolmesWhat defines a community? Among other things, it requires trust. It requires it because it calls for a lowering of the barriers that separate the private from the public. At whatever level, it’s about sharing. Time. Money. Identity.One reason for believing that corporate capitalism is NOTContinueContinue reading “Tax – and Spend Better”
A Stitch In Time
We remain firmly opposed to the wave upon wave of London overspill housing that is changing the character of our region for the worse. (And destroying in the process the very things that settlers find attractive.) That’s not to say that we think all construction workers should pack up their tools and seek a differentContinueContinue reading “A Stitch In Time”
Six Months
That’s all it took. All it took for the Coalition’s true programme to be made manifest. It talks the talk about decentralisation and localism but does it walk the walk?We await with interest the so-called Decentralisation & Localism Bill. We shall withhold judgment until we can read it, but recent pronouncements on housing and educationContinueContinue reading “Six Months”
Nothing Left Out
Colin Bex has defied the sceptics by conducting his campaign almost wholly by public transport. Today he did need a lift, to fit in three towns in as many hours after an emergency change of plan.Colin arrived by bus in Banbury this afternoon to be interviewed by Banbury Sound, the local radio station covering northContinueContinue reading “Nothing Left Out”
Keep Off the Cider!
Alistair Darling’s last budget before the election took a widely predicted swipe at cider drinkers. This afternoon he announced plans to raise the excise duty on cider by 10% over inflation, singling out our region’s choice for special mistreatment. Taxes on beer, wine and spirits will rise by just 2% over inflation, so Labour’s champagneContinueContinue reading “Keep Off the Cider!”
Wessex Regionalists 