Archive for 'Rants & Raves'
Obama, Hayward, BP and Leadership
As criticism of Tony Hayward grows and with President Obama throwing his toys out of the pram with increasing regularity, many people are wondering what this shows us about the leadership qualities – or lack thereof – of both men. But who is to blame for this disaster? This post has grown from several comments [...]
Full StoryWho Says Politicians Never Listen to Voters?
Back in June of 2008 I told readers of this blog about my discussion with Des Browne, who at that time, in addition to being Member of Parliament for Kilmarnock & Loudon had two Westminster jobs; that of Defence Secretary and Secretary of State for Scotland. A bit odd really to have two part-time jobs, [...]
Full StoryPouring Cash Down the Toilet – £18 Billion Shortfall in British VAT During 2006
It has long been suspected that there is widespread under collection of VAT throughout the European Union. But until now no one realised just how big the figures were. Talk about pouring cash down the toilet! There are a number of reasons for the shortfall some relating to systematic fraud (such as “carousel fraud” on [...]
Full StoryHM Treasury
This is the UK government department, headed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which is responsible for managing the country’s public revenues. In recent years it hasn’t had the best of records (despite many ill-informed commentators promoting Gordon Brown as a “prudent” chancellor – HAH!!!) as can clearly be seen by anyone who looks at [...]
Full StoryYet Another Costly Labour Flop
£130 Million wasted in yet another “quick fix” Labour initiative! Three years ago the Labour government announced that the UK Passport & Identity Service (part of the Home Office) had estimated that 10,000 false passports were issued every year. This was, they said, unacceptable and a new procedure which would see all new applicants face an [...]
Full StoryUK Economy Worst in G20 – Hasn’t Gordon Brown Done Well?
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) next year Britain will have the biggest debt of any major economy. So much for prudent Gordon Brown. According to the IMF Britain’s budget deficit will be a horrendous £191 billion. This equates to £7,600 for every family in the UK. Not only is this much higher than [...]
Full StoryFive Year Olds To Be Given Lessons About Wife Beatings
Harriet Harman, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party but not (thank goodness) the official Deputy Prime Minister, has come up with the daft idea of teaching 5-year old boys that it is wrong to be a wife-beater. Hmmm. I’d have thought that the vast majority of 5-year olds would never have come across or thought [...]
Full Story
