I have been listening to all the commentary on Osborne’s proposed capping of tax relief on philanthropy with some bemusement. First let us be clear what the issue is. To make things simple let us assume that the top rate of tax is still 50% and that we are talking about a rich philanthropist most [...]
Erudite talk of the “Maastricht Definition” makes me realise that I should have said something in my earlier comment on the Autumn Statement about how the National Debt is defined. We are not talking about obscure technical points that can change the number by a few percent or even the odd ten percent. We are [...]
The last few days’ news has been inundated with attempts to influence or spin George Osborne (40)’s Autumn Statement. It was delivered today. As expected, it included some significant policy changes: It is now rather clearer why Osborne leaked (sorry trailed) his “£30 billion infrastructure plan” over the weekend: capital spending is being substantially cut [...]
I have recently been on several “enter and view” visits to NHS related facilities in Tower Hamlets under the auspices of the Tower Hamlets Involvement Network (THINk). There are about two hundred Local Involvement Networks in England. There were established by Part 14 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007. Inter [...]
Wikileaks I do not know much about Jenni Russell. According to Wikipedia she is a member of the New Establishment, friendly with Steve Hilton, Cameron’s director of strategy, and Ed Miliband, and married to Stephen Lambert, who runs an independent television production company. On Sunday, she wrote a comment piece for the Sunday Times in [...]
