RichardJMurphy

RichardJMurphy, 3 months ago to random

Why is everything so difficult for Rachel Reeves? https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/11/why-is-everything-so-difficult-for-rachel-reeves/. Rachel Reeves keeps saying being Chancellor will be about making difficult decisions. If she thinks they are that hard she really is not the right person for the job.

RichardJMurphy, 3 months ago to random

All fascists are terrified of the arts https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/02/14/all-fascists-are-terrified-of-the-arts/
It is now very clear that the fascists running the UK want to close down the right of those in the arts to speak freely. The spread of authoritarian control in the UK is now becoming truly frightening.

RichardJMurphy, 1 month ago to random

The FT view: let those least able to pay bear the burden of tax https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/18/the-ft-view-let-those-least-able-to-pay-bear-the-burden-of-tax/.The FT has an editorial on tax today, implying that if the wealthy are asked to pay more, they will run away. Except that there is no evidence that many will ever do that. So what they're really saying is that if more tax is needed, ask for it from anyone but business and the wealthy. Some things never change.

RichardJMurphy, 3 months ago to random

The lull before the storm https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/05/the-lull-before-a-storm/. We are living in limbo, waiting for an election that has the likelihood of meaning nothing gets any better. The likelihood that the pent up frustration of the UK might then become very apparent is high. And who knows what might happen then?

RichardJMurphy, 2 months ago to random

The NHS could be and should be, well funded so that it might deliver for the people of this country. That it does not do so is a result of Tory policy choice, not necessity https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/27/the-nhs-could-be-and-should-be-well-funded-soi-that-it-might-deliver-for-the-people-of-this-country-that-it-does-not-do-so-is-a-result-of-tory-policy-choice-not-necessity/. NHS satisfaction ratings are at an all-time low. Both the Tories and Labour will be delighted. This is the essential prerequisite for its privatisation that both seem so desperately keen on, whatever the consequences for the people of this country might be.

RichardJMurphy, 2 months ago to random

Why is Labour wrapping itself up in the Union flag? https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/31/why-is-labour-wrapping-itself-up-in-the-union-flag/. I am not sure of Labour's motives for doing this, but whatever they might be they appear to be a profound betrayal of all that is ethical, just and inclusive and that is profoundly unattractive in a party set to rule this country.

RichardJMurphy, 2 months ago to random

Losing hope that we can make it through this mess https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/14/losing-hope-that-we-can-make-it-through-this-mess/. The state is failing in the UK. Party politics, royalty, democratic processes and the media are all simultaneously in crisis, alongside an economy that is obviously not working. Can we handle this many crises at the same time? My optimism is being challenged.

RichardJMurphy, 2 months ago to random

The introduction to the Taxing Wealth Report 2024 https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/20/the-introduction-to-the-taxing-wealth-report-2024/. The Taxing Wealth Report 2024 is now complete, at least in draft. This is the final stage. The introduction explains what the whole thing is about - and that the austerity that Rachel Reeves is planning is totally unnecessary. All the money needed to transform the UK is available. As a result I have to assume Labour wants things to stay as they are.

RichardJMurphy, 2 months ago to random

Will Thames Water finally force Labour to address the nationalisation issue? https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/28/will-thames-water-finally-force-labour-to-address-the-nationalisation-issue/. Thames Water’s shareholders are giving up on it? Will Labour finally agree that the case fur renationalisation is obvious? I am not holding my breath.

RichardJMurphy, 3 months ago to random

The truly worrying message from the mess that Labour has created for itself in Rochdale https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/02/13/the-truly-worrying-message-from-the-mess-that-labour-has-created-for-itself-in-rochdale/Labour's made a total mess of the Rochdale by-election by picking an inappropriate candidate. But the real issue is bigger. By demanding simple certainties and denying the existence of alternative views, Starmer is demonstrating a startling lack of ability in the key skills of leadership that a prime minister must possess.

RichardJMurphy, 2 months ago to random

Can we really claim to be a democracy when the government very clearly does not care if people can vote? https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/25/can-we-really-claim-to-be-a-democracy-when-the-government-very-clearly-does-not-care-if-people-can-vote/. More than 7 million people in the UK are missing from electoral registers. The government does not seem to care and is undoubtedly making matters worse. Are we a democracy when electoral abuse on this scale is going on?

RichardJMurphy, 4 months ago to random

If the Office for Budget Responsibility does not disclose that its forecasts are total nonsense when it knows that they are what is the point of it? https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/01/24/if-the-office-for-budget-responsibility-does-not-disclose-that-its-forecasts-are-total-nonsense-when-it-knows-that-they-are-what-is-the-point-of-it/ The OBR knew that the data supplied to it by the government to prepare forecasts last November was total nonsense - but did not say so at the time. Their credibility has been shattered by that admission. And so too has their independence been totally compromised. What a shambles.

RichardJMurphy, 2 months ago to random

Freeports are a threat to free markets and to the wellbeing of the populations of all countries in which they exist https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/04/05/freeports-are-a-threat-to-free-markets-and-to-the-wellbeing-of-the-populations-of-all-countries-in-which-they-exist/. Freeports only exist so that those using them might extract additional profits from the abuse of the societies that host them. Why are governments so stupid that they cannot see this?

RichardJMurphy, 2 months ago to random

£10 million of private donations to a political party are corrupting https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/13/10-million-of-private-donations-to-a-political-party-are-corrupting/. The racism of a Tory donor, revealed yesterday, was shocking. But, staggeringly, the issue is even bigger than that.

RichardJMurphy, 4 months ago to random

Labour abandons hope https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/02/08/labour-abandons-hope/. Any party seeking power without a vision or plan and with no hint of hope on offer does not deserve to be elected. That is where Starmer is putting Labour after abandoning its green commitments. Politics rarely witnesses something quite as incompetent as this. He's managing it.

RichardJMurphy, 3 months ago to random

Labour’s tribalism makes it a profoundly small minded party. And small-mindedness is the enemy of most things of value, including peace. https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/02/19/labours-tribalism-makes-it-a-profoundly-small-minded-party-and-small-mindedness-is-the-enemy-of-most-things-of-value-including-peace/. Will Starmer finally let his party join the SNP in voting for a ceasefire in Gaza this week? Despite his words at the weekend, don’t bank on it.

RichardJMurphy, 3 months ago to random

The opposite of a certainty is not an uncertain uncertainty https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/02/13/the-opposite-of-a-certainty-is-not-an-uncertain-uncertainty/. Our old, supposed, certainties are being replaced by something deeply troubling, but undoubtedly known even if not admitted as yet.

RichardJMurphy, 3 months ago to random

In a decent parliament we’d have a decent Speaker https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/02/21/in-a-decent-parliament-wed-have-a-decent-speaker/. Gaza should not have been a reason for Labour to threaten the Speaker with a loss of his office. Nor should he have caved in to their demands. If anyone thought that Labour might run a clean, ethical government they really do need to think again.

RichardJMurphy, 4 months ago to random

First they came for Just Stop Oil https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/02/06/first-they-came-for-just-stop-oil/. This morning I have shared a list from an old friend, the environmentalist Jonathon Porritt. In it he makes clear just how dangerous are the attacks now being made on our human right to dissent in this country and asks, quite appropriately, where are Labour and the big NGOs on this issue? Are they selling us out too?

RichardJMurphy, 3 months ago to random

Liz Truss gets (almost) everything wrong https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/02/23/liz-truss-gets-almost-everything-wrong/. Liz Truss thinks that there are left-wing, woke, hierarchies of power opposing her free-market ideology in the UK. She's right about there being hierarchies of power that oppose her deranged thinking. The trouble is that they also maintain the power of an established privileged elite. Doing so, they are anything but left-wing or woke. And that is the problem.

RichardJMurphy, 4 months ago to random

Labour’s plan for the City is grossly irresponsible and could lead to a repeat of 2008 https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/01/31/labours-plan-for-the-city-is-gross-irresponsibility-that-could-lead-to-a-repeat-of-2008/. I am staggered by the scale of stupidity in Labour's plan for the City. It's as if they want to relive the pre-Crash years, with all the consequences that followed. Is that really the best they can do?

RichardJMurphy, 3 months ago to random

Galloway’s win only signals more trouble to come https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/01/galloways-win-only-signals-more-trouble-to-come/. Galloway’s win in Rochdale will only fuel the theocratic tendencies in both the Tories and Labour, and we will all lose from that.

RichardJMurphy, 4 months ago to random

The Tories are changing the law on water companies so that even if they fail the shareholders do not take a hit https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/01/25/the-tories-are-changing-the-law-on-water-companies-so-that-even-if-they-fail-the-shareholders-do-not-take-a-hit/. Staggering new laws have been introduced that will allow water companies to fail but permit their shareholders to carry on owning these companies, so determined is the government to avoid nationalisation. Creditors would pay the price of failure instead. This is economic mismanagement on a gross scale.

RichardJMurphy, 4 months ago to random

Will the Tories ditch Sunak and go for PM number 4? https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/01/16/will-the-tories-ditch-sunak-and-go-for-pm-number-4/. Rationally, you have to think the Tories would not want to take the risk of four Prime Ministers in a single parliament, but then you realise how far the Tories really are behind and realise that a big Tory backer was willing to pay for the mega-poll that showed that which was published in the Telegraph yesterday and rationality ceases to be a factor in this. Might fear make them do it?

RichardJMurphy, 3 months ago to random

The Tory view of British values https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/03/02/the-tory-view-of-british-values/. Sunak is coming for you