Politics

Cut taxes, get popular

Refreshing common sense article in the Telegraph from Dennis McShane - "The answer's obvious: cut taxes and spending". He advocates reduced taxes and to fund it he proposes reduced spending!

A Labour government that got serious about weaning its bureaucracy and clients off dependency on the citizen's money would find itself popular again.

In Moray public administration, education & health account for the employment of 1 in 3 ^[PDF] of all economically active people. What on earth are they doing all day?

Taxation

David Miliband

I've just watched a couple of videos of David Miliband on his recent trip to the US which he mentioned on his blog. It is refreshing to hear a politician not talk in soundbites and seem willing, even eager, to answer questions. This ties in, in my head at least, with a couple of posts on Lords of the Blog which address sincerity in politics; from Lord Tyler in Don't know?

what would happen if a Minister, faced with the demand for an immediate comment on the Today programme, replied “I don’t know, I’ll think about that”. Would John Humphrys explode ?

We applaud government show-offs who can demonstrate their rapid and witty responses whereas in real life I want Ministers with sound judgement, personal integrity and sense of good purpose.

I find myself often disengaged from politics because it is impossible to understand what reasoning lies beneath a menacing line, e.g. "the threat of seperation".

Anyway, the Miliband vids follow. Watch them.

Communication