Posts tagged as:

taxpayers

Skeletons in the cupboard.

March 11, 2009

On Monday 9 March 2009, the Channel 4 Dispatches programme broadcast How They Squander Our Billions, a documentary on government projects including the NHS’s National Programme for IT (NPfIT). The NPfIT had an initial announced cost of £2.3bn which rose to £6.2bn and later £12.7bn. A key objective of the NPfIT is the introduction of [...]

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Judge and Jury

March 9, 2009

Sir Paul Judge, a millionaire Conservative donor, is setting up his own political movement called ‘Jury Team’ that aims to get more independent MPs elected. My initial response was ‘why’? Why would a Conservative donor become so disillusioned that he wishes to finance an entire new political system? In an article in yesterday’s Telegraph, he [...]

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The Laddie’s not for turning….

March 8, 2009

The intrepid class warfare contestants seem to be meeting themselves coming backwards over the past week. We have Billy Bragg in the Guardian telling us that: With 25 years’ hindsight, Maggie’s bitter victory over the striking miners unleashed forces that led directly to this economic crisis. Apparently it was Thatcher’s achievement in giving council house [...]

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The Darien Scheme revitalised?

March 6, 2009

The original Darien Scheme was an unsuccessful attempt by the Kingdom of Scotland to establish a colony on the Isthmus of Panama. Almost every Scot who had £5 to spare supported it. It came a mighty cropper. The financial loss to Scotland amounted to nearly a quarter of its liquid capital, and is believed by [...]

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The tax man is telling fairytales……..

March 2, 2009

The February edition of HMRC’s thrice-yearly “Employer Bulletin” normally contains a CD of software designed to help small firms deal with their tax obligations. There should be an employee database, tax calculators and automatic form generators. “Install Immediately”, the taxman’s packaging urges. The CD is updated and mailed out twice per year. This year ‘hard [...]

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Another sexed-up secret?

March 1, 2009

Vince Cable has tabled a parliamentary question challenging the Treasury to reveal the contents of a Treasury dossier submitted in evidence to the Competition Appeal Tribunal last December by the Merger Action Group who were opposing the Lloyd’s – HBOS merger. The document set out the reasons why Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling, and Lord Mandelson [...]

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Shredding Freddie…….

March 1, 2009

I had not thought I should write in support of Sir Fred Goodwin, nor any other banker, but the sinister orchestration of media voices baying for his blood has brought out my mothering instincts.  Leave Freddie alone. No one, so far, has alleged that he has done anything criminal. He signed a contract  which seemed reasonable to those who offered it to [...]

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