Monthly Archives: September 2010

As we learn that many tax calculations under the Pay as you earn scheme have been wrong for years, the Treasury is busy consulting on taking over the task of running the payroll for every employer in the country. I jest not. That is the bottom line of their consultation. Apparently, because so many PAYE [...]

This week Westminster has been preoccupied by possible changes in the voting system. The bill to give the people a referendum vote on whether to move to the Alternative Vote system or not was granted a second reading on Monday. The history of this measure is complex. It failed to get a Parliamentary majority in [...]

A leading newspaper on Sunday had a most interesting Appointments Section. Out have gone all the additional public sector roles we became used to under Gordon Brown’s Labour government. Out have gone most of the eye catching public sector salaries higher than the Prime Minister’s. Practically all the jobs in the Section were either public [...]

The original script for the new government was radical reform of education and steady as you go for the NHS. Mr Gove spoke with racy and fervent language of the new schools he wished to allow. Mr Lansley spoke more quietly about the need to have real increases in spending for the good old NHS, [...]

Apparently those wicked speculators have been at it again. Not content with bringing the banking system down by sellling shares in banks that were just going through a slightly dificult time, they are now driving the price of wheat up so the poor starve. Cue Frau Merkel – time for the EU to regulate the [...]

Yesterday I was talking to a former Labour Minister. He reminded me of the strength of the Blairite view that politics was changed fundamentally by the advent of “the 7 x 24 news cycle”. It was change in the media, they argued, that meant Ministers had to spend so much more time on media matters. [...]

Both the USA and the EU need to create more private sector jobs. In both the American and European continents unemployment is too high. Tax revenues are depressed and social expenditures large as a result. Both the EU and the US authorities are taking actions which make private sector job creation more difficult and dearer. [...]

It’s not a topic I wanted to write about. I have studiously ignored the rumours and stories circulating on other websites and at a fairly empty Westminster. Today I cannot ignore it, as Mr Hague himself has issued an unusual statement and has invited all to comment on it. His statement confirms that he has [...]

I have refrained from commenting much on the Labour leadership. I have always thought it a two person race between the brothers. David is clearly the front runner, but I just feel Ed might steal it, given his sharper movement to the left. Last night’s “debate” on Channel 4 did not do Labour any favours. [...]

Let us suppose Mr Hawking does now have a full explanation from the laws of physics of how the Big Bang created the planets and stars as we now see them. Some scientists will assert that the job is done, and they now know how the universe was made without divine intervention. Religious people will [...]