It isn’t just Tories like George Osborne and free-market fundies (pdf) who are interested in flat taxes. As Phil’s recent piece shows, liberal-minded types, including lefties like me, are also keen. Okay, it isn’t an egalitarian utopia, but once we all get over the visceral reaction that a non-progressive tax system must be “unfair”, the benefits are obvious. A high tax-free allowance can help correct the ludicrous situation we’re in now, where poor families are taxed a higher share of their income than the rich. And where low-income families face marginal tax rates of 91.5%, as recent DWP data revealed. Our tax system might be tagged “progressive”, but it’s in name only. A long-broken promise.
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My mum did warn me about getting into rucks, but I’ve been at it again. Worse: I’ve been in the same fight more than twice. It’s starting to look careless.

First time around, in the comments here and elsewhere, on the Dilpazier Aslam affair, originally raised by the much-imitated Scott Burgess. Second, over the Guardian column written by “Saudi dissident” Saad al-Faqih, in the zoo comments at Harry’s Place.

I guess it’s no surprise to find messianic strands of left and right making common cause: same moral certitude, same authoritarian itch, same mistrust of letting people think for themselves. Deluded blah fellow-traveller blah blah useful blah idiot.
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I will at the
earliest opportunity, assemble in London in a public demonstration of
respect to the victims of the July 7 atrocity, defiance of the murderers who
carried it out and solidarity with the people of London but only if 2,500
other people will too.”

The streets belong to us not terrorists. Sign the pledge.

UPDATE: Help spread the word. Cut and paste this code into your own site. You’ll get a banner like the one at the top of this page.

<!-- ---------- announcement ---------- --></p> <div style='color: #000000; background: #ddeeff;border: 1px solid #003344;padding: 10px;'></p> <div style="float:right; margin-top:0px; margin-left:10px; margin-right:0px; text-align:center" ><a href='http://www.pledgebank.com/solidarity' ><img src='../../../../../www.johnband.org/sharpener/solidarity150x150.html' border=0/></a></div> <p><center><b>WE DEFY TERRORISM</b></center><br /> <b>We pledge to assemble in London in a public demonstration of respect to the<br /> victims of the July 7 atrocity, defiance of the murderers who carried it out<br /> and solidarity with the people of London</b>.</p> <p>This pledge was started by the<br /> <a href='http://www.thesharpener.net/?p=103'><br /> <i>Sharpener</i></a> group blog,<br /> and is being hosted on<br /> <a href='http://www.pledgebank.com/'><br /> Pledgebank</a>.<br /> To sign it, go<br /> <a href='http://www.pledgebank.com/solidarity'><br /> here</a>. </div> <p> <!-- ---------- announcement ---------- -->

Before I set sail with this, let me get one thing clear. I respect Bob Geldof. I like the fact that he ruffles all the right feathers — as much for his favourable views on Bush’s record in Africa as for his soft-left activism. I agree, in different ways, with Jim and Squander Two. He should have sold those Live 8 tickets for a fat profit but, hey, that’s a quibble.

I also support protest; I’ve even been on a few. I endorse violent protest, given the right circumstances. Most of all, though, I like direct action.

direct action action… directly affecting the community and meant to reinforce demands on a government, employer, etc.
(Oxford English Reference Dictionary, 1995)
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Empty rhetoric
A brief flurry of soundbites
in six languages

Long before the fun began
Faceless phone-calls fixed the end.

Leaders meet with Bob
Mingle, drink coffee, improve
Their golf handicaps,

And make caring faces for
Photo opportunities.
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In a week when one country’s deeply flawed election process is attracting criticism from Washington, the appointment of another autocrat for Hong Kong has got barely a mention. When Xinhua murmurs approval at the ‘democratic process’, we should allow ourselves a little snigger and impolitely ignore them:
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To Make My Vote Count , and a plea from Paul for the Tories to consider electoral reform:

The Tories, it would appear, haven’t yet spent long enough in opposition to bother looking seriously at the ways in which the system they so ardently support is so prejudiced against them. It obviously didn’t matter when they were in power, then the natural choice for the next Tory leader turned up on the other side, while a succession of odd little bald men led the party from one embarrassing defeat to another. They may yet spend another generation in the political wilderness, but looking at all the possible solutions, including electoral reform, would surely be a good idea.

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I’ve always been kind of attracted to libertarianism. Not in the philosophical, well-read, intellectual sense. More in practical terms: I don’t think it’s any of the state’s business what I choose to stick in my veins or into another consenting adult. My biometric data is mine, not for them to treat as their own. I’ll swap the licence fee for a BBC subscription and my taxes for health insurance, should the ideological Right embark on their preferred trail of public vandalism.

Most of all, though, I like the idea that the free market and largely unregulated business will find a way to benefit us all. Read More

Judging by the reaction to previous posts here at The Sharpener, you, dear readers, cannot get enough of this electoral reform stuff. So, in the greater service of interested humanity, I thought I would write on the subject (hereafter re-branded the Fair Vote) once more.

But this time I’ll try to answer a specific question: how would the political map of Britain look if we went ahead and introduced this foreign, European electoral muck?
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I was going to just hurl a little invective at Jack Straw’s Graun piece and move on. Hey, he doesn’t like PR, so what? A turkey like him is hardly going to vote for Christmas. Anyway, expecting a NuLab insider to remember what it was like to believe in something as a matter of principle was always a long shot.
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