I am utterly confused. I admit it.
Vince Cable has just announced at his Party’s conference that he wants to impose a wealth tax of 0.5% per year on properties worth more than £1m.
I warned about this back in August 2007 when Vince first mooted this policy, then again in August this year, when I felt the chill winds of wealth taxation blowing through the left of British politics.
I’m about to disappear for the weekend to see in the Jewish New Year of 5770 with friends and family (sadly nothing like the secular alternative - more prayer services, much bigger meals and relatively little alcohol).
I thought I’d end the year on a high note with this press release from Eric Pickles, after yet another defection from the Liberals to the Conservatives.
So, Vince Cable is finally making an attempt to discuss the Riverside issue with local residents, despite saying he “doesn’t get involved” with local council matters.
This meeting will be held this Tuesday, 15th September.
The Riverside issue is at a critical stage and I have a number of questions for him:
1. Why are you holding the meeting on the same day as the group council meeting? It means that the council leader Serge Lourie won’t be able to attend - how are people supposed to get answers when all councillors will be otherwise engaged?
2. Why are you not holding the meeting in your own constituency? The meeting is being held in Richmond, not Twickenham.
3. Indeed, why are you not holding the meeting anywhere near the site of the proposed redevelopment?
I know you read this blog Vince, so why don’t we have some answers, or is this another stitched up photo-opportunity being dressed up as a consultation?
I had to check that it wasn’t April Fool’s Day when I read this story on the BBC this morning.
This is interfering nanny-statism of the highest order. Obviously under the guise of “protecting the vulnerable”, it is nothing less than a bureaucratic nightmare for parents, governors and public service professionals in a country where once again we are all assumed to be guilty before innocent.
I am sparing a thought for the families and friends of all those killed in the terrorist attacks 8 years ago.
Whatever your take on subsequent events, it was a horrific invasion against innocent civilians of all hues, religions and nationalities, which the world should not forget.
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