Around this time last month, George Osborne was in Moscow meeting his fellow G20 finance ministers to talk about tax avoidance. Describing tax avoidance as “morally repugnant”, Osborne has commendably acknowledged the extent of the problem as a drain to public finances. Unfortunately the key weapon in Osborne’s arsenal to tackle the problem – the […]
Osborne may need to rethink anti-tax avoidance measures Read More »
Once upon a time, the financial transaction tax (FTT) was the stuff of legend, supported only by radical economists and written off by the European Commission as unfeasible unless introduced on a global scale. But now, with 11 member states moving forward with the Commission’s ambitious plan to place a 0.1% tax on transactions in
Britain must support the financial transaction tax, it’s only fair Read More »
I was on Ken Livingstone and David Mellor’s LBC 97.3 show this morning, speaking in support of Ed Miliband’s plan for a 10p tax rate funded by a mansion tax, and how I would go about cracking down on tax avoidance in the unlikely event George Osborne were to call me up. My favourite moment
This article was originally written for Left Foot Forward. I grew up in a household that had voted Labour since time immemorial, but aside from a second preference vote for Ken Livingstone in last year’s London mayoral elections, I have never voted Labour in my life. I came of political age at the height of
Sixteen years of age, a naive young activist who’d read a bit of Marx and wanted to make the world a better place, I was walking along Lowestoft high street when I encountered a stall of scruffy-looking men campaigning against the impending Afghanistan war who were saying all the things I identified with. They called
Left Unity: A vital project for the age of austerity Read More »
This article was originally written for Left Foot Forward When David Cameron blindsided Ed Miliband with an in-out referendum on the EU last month, he hoped to deal a devastating blow to the opposition by painting the Conservatives as the party of democracy with its finger on the pulse of public opinion against an out
Labour’s poll lead over Tories proves austerity is more unpopular than the EU Read More »
It’s a bit of a cliché to fall back on the Bible of Monty Python if you’re a lefty, but when you’re dealing with something as timeless as Life of Brian, it’s no surprise there are parallels more than 30 years on. When John Cleese’s militant cries “but apart from better sanitation and medicine and
What has the EU ever done for US? The Working Time Directive Read More »
At 11.39pm, April 14 1912, a man called Robert Hitchins made the mistake of turning right instead of left. The RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sank, taking with it a captain who had blithely ignored all warnings of danger and plowed on full steam ahead with the arrogance of an Empire which was soon
George Osborne: History will remember you better if you turn left Read More »
David Cameron is taking his sabre to the Netherlands tomorrow, rattling it like a toy rattles when it’s thrown from a pram. On the agenda: Britain’s future in Europe. There will be the predictable xenophobic, nationalistic froth from the right calling for the UK to leave the European Union. Almost as dangerous, there will be
Why we need the EU Read More »
