As Silvio Berlusconi prepares for strike three as Italy’s Prime Minister, the country’s recently defeated centre-left government has published details of all Italians’ taxable income on the internet, writes Claire Daley. People visiting the Italian tax authority website could snoop through their neighbours’ financial affairs for up-to 24-hours until a formal complaint was lodged.
Yesterday evening, I attended the Fabian Society’s debate ‘How can we defend the inheritance tax?’ although it might have been more aptly labelled a strategy meeting on how to set-up a pro-tax alternative to the Taxpayers Alliance. For when I had a chance to speak, the only one present to deny the explicit premise that… [Read More]
As a date for the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty looms ever closer (and at times then drifts further away, depending on the political climate and EU’s chances of securing a ‘Yes’ vote) it seems the tussle for votes has become smothered in political confusion, writes Claire Daley.
Patriotic history harmful to pupils; St George’s Day celebrations cancelled over spurious health and safety concerns; postal voting fraud on epidemic scale; Britain being carved up by Brussels into a set of regions of which the parts of some lie across the Channel.… With each day comes news of some fresh assault on the body-politic… [Read More]
It is of no great surprise to read in the Times Education Supplement (TES) today that a majority of parents were not sympathetic to the National Union of Teacher’s strike yesterday. Aside from the obvious reason – having to make childcare arrangements for the day – a large number of parents felt that teachers should… [Read More]
Writing in the British Medical Journal in February 2008, Allyson Pollock and Sylvia Godden lambasted the quality of care provided in independent sector treatment centres (ISTCs). They are right to raise concerns over data quality and collection, but a report released this week by the LSHTM and the Royal College of Surgeons allay many of… [Read More]
Crime in Middlesbrough is nearly twice the national average so it is surprising to see the police there have the time to detain members of the public for crimes that do not exist. Perhaps they need reminding that crimes (in a free country, at least), with few exceptions, involve theft or damage of property or… [Read More]
‘What legitimacy is there in a Parliament which makes crucial decisions on immigration with just fifteen ethnic minority MPs when there should be more than sixty? How can a House of Commons expect its decisions on counter-terrorism to be taken seriously by Muslim communities when there are only four Muslim MPs in the House of… [Read More]
Yesterday, on the anniversary of Enoch Powell’s ‘rivers of blood’ speech, Trevor Phillips urged us to hold a calm and measured debate about immigration. Despite his good intentions he still managed to malign the British people. On ‘the right’ he said that the issue became taboo because conservatives feared being branded racist. And ‘the left’… [Read More]
The NHS Confederation today publishes a report looking at polyclinics, widely anticipated to be recommended as part of the conclusions of Lord Darzi’s Next Stage Review in the summer. The Confed puts a pretty strong case for them, describing the principles behind them as ‘in line with the way that healthcare is developing across the… [Read More]