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BLOGS
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Chuka Umunna
:Ed's Google Speech and What It Means for Responsible Capitalism
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Jack Butler
:Miliband Talks the Talk on Tax Avoidance - But Can Anyone Walk the Walk
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Jemma Wayne
:Time to Stop Laughing at Farage's Bad Jokes
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Duncan Weldon
:Chancellor Should Heed IMF Advice and Increase Infrastructure Spending Now
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Alistair Darling
:Salmond's Default Position Bankrupts His Credibility
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If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The problem for Miliband, and indeed anyone else looking to crack down on corporate tax avoidance, is that the world has changed. On this issue, the politicians are chasing the rampant forces of capitalism, and they appear powerless at the foot of the economic tornado.
Dead-set on proving to their constituents that Ukip are actually fluffy toys when it comes to Europe, Despite Cameron's commitment to a referendum in the next Parliament, Ukip would die. Excuse my Belgian-French, but this is crap.
The shady and immoral global tax system is allowing a whopping £12trillion in wealth to be stashed in tax havens. Yes that's trillion. More importantly, these assets are sitting offshore and off the tax man's radar. If governments could get at it to tax it fairly, it could raise an extra £100billion, which is enough to make a serious dent in solving world poverty.
For all our sakes let's hope that he doesn't succumb to pressure to have a referendum on Europe until at least there is better information provided to the vast majority of, I believe, see the EU at being at best irrelevant and, at worst, consisting of interfering foreigners who imposition of rules potentially undermining the British way of life.
As a former Conservative minister warns of the 'aggressive homosexual community', a savage beating of a gay couple in a South London park shows us just how much further we need to go in creating an equal and tolerant society.
One day, and maybe one day soon, we are going to have to face up to the mistakes we have made when it comes to the climate. I'm not saying we are facing a 'Day after Tomorrow' style extinction event, but whatever happens it's not going to be good.
I wonder whether the people who have created a monster ever come to regret it? It's a question as relevant to UKIP's Nigel Farage as it is to one of o...
My amendments today give MPs the opportunity to give clarity and protection for freedom of speech and conscience that are under threat from the Marriage Bill. We have the opportunity today and tomorrow to uphold the fine British traditions of free speech, tolerance and marriage. I hope we don't miss it.
The silver lining in David Cameron's current flurry of clouds is that no ministers have yet decided that their career prospects would be better served by resigning from his government.
If David Cameron expected voters to respect him for firming up his commitment to a referendum on the European Union, YouGov’s latest polling for The Times will disappoint him. Most Britons, including a majority of those who voted Conservative in 2010, think he is acting out of tactical calculation rather than because he feels deeply about the issue.
Civil service mandarins have had a tough time recently. Many government ministers have seen civil servants as obstacles to their plans rather than team players and the media has taken Whitehall to task over pay, perks and benefits.
Today the illegal wildlife trade is worth in excess of $10 billion annually and the surging demand for ivory from the rapidly growing economies of China, Vietnam and Thailand resulted in over 40,000 elephants being killed in Africa in 2012, or one every 15 minutes.
If only the Prime Minister had, say, a straight-talking Northerner he could turn to, to lift the party's appeal outside of the South East. Maybe someone who was uninterested in PR spin but was a take-me-as-I-am kind of bloke, educated perhaps at the local comp, maybe even went to polytechnic, the sort of background that would help to balance the coiffeured posh brigade.
My argument was that all of the likely election outcomes in 2015, the least likely was an overall Tory victory that would enable him to remain in Downing Street. Now, though, I'm beginning to think his downfall could come even sooner.
On close inspection, Ukip's policies are startlingly similar to the Tea Party's. They want to cut taxes by £90bn, but mostly for the rich, introducing a single flat tax of 31%, that will see millionaires pay the same tax rates as their cleaners.
With a rising number of Conservatives calling for a referendum before 2017 and the unlikely chances of this happening given that their coalition partners do not agree, the Europe question is going to be argued and debated for some time to come.
