The Grumpy Old Blog

I would love (and I know it will never happen) for just one conspiracy theorist somewhere in the world to prove just one, or even half of one of their claims. My local Professor Conspiracy dropped in for a coffee and has some new theories she is convinced of. 1. The internet is just out there in the sky and is free. We should not be paying for it. Yes, Sir Tim Berners-Lee indeed wanted it to be free, which depending on what you use it for (ie avoiding data hoovers), it can be sort of free. However, I cannot get Professor Conspiracy to understand that the "free" internet cannot be brought into your house without charge for the infrastructure and technology that enables it via the providers. I asked her why then does she not drop her internet provider and just go get it for free herself. Her reply. "But you need to pay someone to bring it into your house. All the wiring and that." In effect, she is arguing with herself. 2. Amazon was never started by Jeff Bezos. It wa...

On the tax front, instead of arguing amongst themselves in political debate and trying to score against each other as to whose fault it is that google pay only 3% corporation tax, just cross-party cooperate. Both political parties are at fault. Bring the appalling Lin Homer (she quickly jumped ship after her ennoblement) types at HMRC to book to make the tax system sensible. Instead of all the guff that serial tax evasion consultants such as KPMG and Deliottes (I know it's le gal) can extract from the tax code's 11,520 pages, reduce it to just one sentence.  "You operate a corporation in the UK that takes money from UK taxpayers, then you pay 20% corporation tax." And stop engaging these consultants for public sector work until they stop helping companies evade tax. Simples

The news seems to have broken regarding upwards of 2,000 public servants who are currently pretending they are limited companies in order to save on their tax and national insurance obligations. In fairness, they, like you or I, are keen to avoid paying a penny more than they have to into a system that seems to be awash with money when it comes to supporting infidel-hating middle-eastern clerics, with their benefits, mobility and legal aid payments, as well as illegal immigrants who continue to live in paid-for Chelsea properties having already defrauded the taxpayer of more than £30,000 to date. These public servants are ostensibly no more a limited company than you or I. And what is more galling is the fact that their salary is far more than yours or mine to begin with, any reference to this legalised con aside. I have never decried people making a fortune, provided it is worked for genuinely and honestly. However, there is only so much money you need for a very comfortable exi...