Today the Chancellor finally announced what the measure would be to compensate people who have lost out due to the income tax changes. They are going to give all basic rate taxpayers an extra £120 by raising the personal tax allowance by five times that amount. That was the solution to the problem that I [...]
Last week the government seemingly did a u-turn over the scrapping of the 10 pence rate of income tax, although it is far from clear what form the compensation will take for people on lower incomes who will lose out under the new tax regime.
It’s difficult to see how the government could have thought it [...]
It is now three months since smoking was banned in enclosed public places in England, bringing it into line with the rest of the UK. I have to say that, while Tony Blair’s government have been unpopular on some issues, and have been criticised for producing too much legislation, the Health Act 2006 is one [...]
Remarks by the Conservative Party’s spokesman for Community Cohesion in today’s Independent must have left many people feeling incredulous. Sayeeda Warsi, a Muslim woman of Pakistani descent, says that the BNP have “some very legitimate views” on immigration and crime.
Unfortunately, it appears that Ms Warsi (who, contrary to the report in The Independent, is not [...]
After all the speculation, it’s finally been announced that Prince Harry will not be serving in Iraq. The military officials who had to make the decision were in a no-win situation – they would have been criticised whichever conclusion they came to. In the end, it seems they have done what was best for all [...]
In Scotland, 100,000 ballot papers were spoilt in last night’s elections. This has been blamed on the layout of the ballot papers, and also on the Scottish Parliament and local council elections being held at the same time, each with a different ballot paper and voting system.
The ballot paper for the Scottish Parliament looks simple [...]
The BBC’s economics editor, Evan Davis, has a good article in his blog on the economics of Scottish independence. He basically states that the revenue from North Sea oil and gas an independent Scotland would enjoy equals the funding it currently receives from Westminster. So when, in the not too distant future, the oil runs [...]
The fact that over a million people have now signed an online petition against the introduction of a road pricing scheme just goes to show how much the public hates this idea. Even if there has been a lot of encouragement in the press and the blogosphere for people to add their names, and even [...]
Today, we hear that only two groups have submitted bids to become the next operators of the UK’s National Lottery: the incumbent, Camelot; and Indian lottery operator Sugal & Damani.
The new entrant promises to raise a greater amount money for good causes with a more efficient operation than Camelot. Of course, we don’t know much [...]
Today, the government has announced that 2500 post offices are to close. It’s hardly surprising (and not just because the scale of the closures was leaked, and because it’s been under discussion for a long time). People now prefer to have their pension or benefits paid into their bank account. They pay utility bills or [...]