Reckless lending got us all into this mess, and can get some of us out of...
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LATEST: Think you’re paying less tax now? The withdrawal of Working and Child Tax Credits leaves low earners paying a 73% marginal tax rate, and medium earners paying even more
...And this government says it cuts taxes for poor working households!
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RIP-OFF NEWS ROUND-UP, OUR PICK OF THE LAST WEEK'S MEDIA
Drug firm Novartis tried to 'scupper' trials of a cheaper version of eye medicine
Has Austerity caused the UK’s first decline in life expectancy in 20 years?
Kellogg's effectively paid no corporation tax in the UK in 2013, +more stories...
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YOU'RE FIRED?! We are already nearly the most easily fired people in the developed world
Only the US and Canada make it easier, says the OECD’s Worker Protection Index
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EYE OPENER: Housing Equity Withdrawal took off in 1979. Since then almost all UK growth has suspiciously equalled the amount we took out. Looks like it’s pensions next
Osborne’s new rules allow you to spend your entire pension pot now. Same mistake, different pot
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DID YOU KNOW? MPs are getting a 10% pay hike in May, to £74k
...and in 2010, 137 MPs put family members on parliament's payroll. Now it's soared to 167
GOOD DEBT
PENSION CRAZY
BANKSTER PAY
MPs' 2nd JOBS
TAX IS THEFT?!
FAILING SCHOOLS
AFFORDABLE NHS
1m WORK IN POVERTY
JAIL THE ACCOUNTANTS
RICKETS IS BACK
UN-NATIONALISED RAIL
LOW WAGE BRITAIN
BANK OF MUM & DAD
UK: A PRISONER OF CUTS
TAXING LIES
WATER CANNON BORIS
UNIVERSAL C.. OCKUP
FULL TIME JOBS? WHERE!
Sunday, 27 February 2011
“A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason.” J. P. Morgan (1837-1913), bankerFairtrade products cost more. But what happens to that extra you pay to be Fair? The supermarkets want you to think it goes like this:You don’t have to be a bleeding heart to believe in fair trade. Fair trade isn’t in itself just about charitable giving. Of course, charity can be an element in any decision. An OFGEM survey on why people swapped energy supplier showed 9% of switchers over 65 years old did so in part because...
“A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason.” J. P. Morgan (1837-1913), bankerFairtrade products cost more. But what happens to that extra you pay to be Fair? The supermarkets want you to think it goes like this:You don’t have to be a bleeding heart to believe in fair trade. Fair trade isn’t in itself just about charitable giving. Of course, charity can be an element in any decision. An OFGEM survey on why people swapped energy supplier showed 9% of switchers over 65 years old did so in part because...
Sunday, 20 February 2011
“A fat policeman chasing a speeding Ferrari” – Her Majesty’s Taxmen versus corporate tax departments
As it gets towards 4pm, when there is nothing but crumbs left on the biscuit plate, a civil servant’s thoughts turn lightly to the commute home. This is the moment the highly compensated teams of private sector lawyers, accountants and bankers focus laser-like on their incentives and try on their wheeze of the day. Hopeful that Her Majesty's tax officials have no desire to enter into another detailed debate, potentially threatening their chances of getting to the 17.25 train out of Victoria Station early enough to get a seat. Hopeful that in their...
Friday, 18 February 2011
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Regardless of their paid hobbies (i.e. all their other paid jobs), which suggest they have more free time than many of them claim, MP’s basic salaries have grown vigorously over the decades. The strategy seems to have been to take the pain, or more accurately the gain, in occasional bucketloads. For most years, salaries go up at around inflation – sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. But every now and then a major payrise is slipped through. And there is a certain correlation with changes of government – perhaps to cement members’...
Having been knocked back by public outrage over many of their brethren’s fraudulent expense claims over the years, Members of Parliament have just come up with a new tactic to justify cutting the strings of the public purse. Their spokesman has stated that they should be more liberally provided for to help the poor, those who have to care for relatives, and to fight child neglect. "It would be a tragedy if the implementation of an expenses scheme were to have the effect of inadvertently and unnecessarily limiting access to the...
