Posted in July 2007

New Taxes Being Proposed - In Addition to the last lot!

Source: knightrider45
Friday 27th July 2007, 12:02pm

Not satisfied with his previous tax raising incentives,(see previous blog) the ex-chancellor, now PM is also considering the following (NEW) taxes under proposal at the moment:

Revised Second Home tax: New Labour are currently thinking about second home owners paying a special, TRIPLE, rate of Council tax. To which could be added an Absentee Tax on homes left unoccupied for 6-8 months a year.

Nuclear Tax: Every household will have to pay an extra £3,400 on it's electricity bills over the next 20 years (£170 per year) to pay for the new nuclear stations and nuclear waste disposal.

Bed Tax: The Government is proposing adding a further 10% tax to hotel bills - in addition to VAT - making Britain the highest taxed holiday destination in Europe.

Insulation Tax: Householders who fail to have their windows double glazed, and loft and cavity walls insulated, will have to pay more council tax for causing Global warning.

Planning Gain Tax; New Stealth tax to be introduced within three years on land sold by home owners to developers based on the difference between the value of the land itself, and the value of the land with planning permission.

Garden Debris Tax; A charge of £50 per year from your coucil for removing the lawn cuttings and other stuff that goes in the wheely bin for recycling via the councils composting scheme.

English Lesson Tax: The Government has decided to stop funding college courses to migrants, which will be added onto local Council Tax.

Permalink | 6 comments

100 Not Out!

Source: knightrider45
Friday 27th July 2007, 11:43am

Here is a list of over 150 Stealth taxes that Labour have introduced to fund it's tax and spend policies, complete with the dates. . Heartbreaking. Absolutely heartbreaking.

July 1997
01 • Mortgage Interest Tax Relief At Source (MIRAS) reduced from 15% to 10%
02 • Dividend Tax Credits for pension schemes abolished
03 • Income tax relief on health insurance abolished
04 • Insurance Premium Tax extended to some health insurance
05 • Road Fuel Tax escalator increased to 6%
06 • Vehicle Excise Duty increased
07 • Tobacco duty escalator increased to 5%
08 • Stamp Duty raised to 2%
09 • Carry back of Corporation Tax losses limited to 1 year
10 • Windfall tax on utilities

March 1998
11 • Tax relief for the married couple's allowance (MCA) cut to 10%
12 • Top rate of Insurance Premium Tax extended to travel insurance
13 • Exceptional increase in tobacco and alcohol duties
14 • Duties on casinos and gaming machines raised
15 • Road Fuel Tax escalator increase brought forward
16 • Tax on company cars increased
17 • Tax relief on foreign earnings abolished
18 • Tax concessions for certain professions abolished
19 • Capital gains tax imposed on certain non-residents
20 • Restriction of Capital Gains Tax relief on reinvestment
21 • Corporation tax payments on account brought forward
22 • Stamp duty increased again
23 • Certain hydrocarbon duties increased
24 • Additional diesel duties introduced
25 • Landfill Tax increased
26 • Double tax credits on certain dividends restricted

March 1999
27 • National Insurance Contributions earning limit raised
28 • NI Contributions for self-employed increased
29 • Tax relief of Married Couple's Allowance abolished
30 • MIRAS abolished
31 • Self-employed contractors to pay NI and income tax as if employees
32 • Company car business mileage discount limited
33 • Double escalator on tobacco duties
34 • Insurance Premium Tax increased to 5%
35 • Vocational training relief abolished
36 • Employer NI Contribution base broadened to include all benefits in kind
37 • VAT on some banking services increased
38 • Tax on reverse premiums paid to tenants by landlords introduced
39 • Duty on domestic fuel oils up
40 • Vehicle Excise Duty for lorries increased
41 • Landfill tax escalator introduced
42 • Stamp Duty rates raised again to 2.5/3.5%
March 2000
43 • Tobacco duties increased above inflation
44 • Stamp duty raised for 4th time, scope of duty extended
45 • Extra taxation of life assurance companies
46 • Rules on tax havens tightened up
47 • Company car taxes raised

April 2002
48 • Personal tax allowances frozen
49 • National Insurance threshold frozen
50 • NI Contributions for employers raised
51 • NI Contributions for employees raised [Class 1 up 1%]
52 • NI Contributions for self-employed raised
53 • North Sea taxation increased
54 • Duty on some alcoholic drinks raised
55 • Stamp duty thresholds frozen
56 • Tax relief on investment in film industry restricted
57 • Rules on corporate debt tightened
58 • Nil-rate threshold for inheritance tax raised by less than the rate of inflation

April 2003
59 • VAT imposed on electronically supplied services
60 • Domestic staff on £89/week to pay NI & income tax, employers to pay NI
61 • Betting duty increases
62 • Tax on red diesel and fuel oil increased
63 • Anti-tax haven rules tightened to cover more UK firms with Irish subsidiaries
64 • Vehicle excise duty raised
65 • Personal tax allowances frozen again

July, 2003
66 • £35 added to all fines and £3 added to the cost of a home insurance policy
September, 2003
67 • Price of petrol raised 7p per gallon (with the VAT)
October, 2003
68 • Up to 8 times increase in the stamp duty on leases for retail premises
69 • Airport Tax doubled

December, 2003
70 • 40% extra Council Tax on second homes
Additional info : It has been pointed out that a number of councils gave an even bigger discount for second homes and the increase for some people can be 80%. Plus the usual 6-18% annual rise, depending on how bloated the council's operations have become.
Exemptions may be granted if the second home owner (1) has to live somewhere because of his/her employment, (2) the dwelling comes with the job, or (3) there are special threat/security reasons involved. All of which excuses apply to 10, Downing Street, the home of a certain Mr. Gordon Brown

January, 2004
71 • £60 per day fine for late submission of self-assessment income tax forms
72 • Traffic wardens to receive powers to impose fines for a whole bunch of offences to keep poor people off the roads. The offences will include parking more than 19 inches from the kerb (£100) and dithering by people who are lost over, and who don't know whether to make a turn or keep straight on
73 • A 'Victims Fund' surcharge fine on everyone who passes through the courts. £5 for speeding up to £30 for murder.
74 • Legal Aid for the middle classes abolished

February, 2004
75 • £40 per week charge to middle-class parents for formerly free nursery places
76 • £200 per year charge to middle-class parents for places on formerly free school buses
77 • £250 per hour charge from the fire brigade for non-fire-related call-outs, e.g. clearing up after road accidents and rescuing pussy cats from trees
March, 2004
78 • £550 tax rise (at standard rate) for people using a company van or people-carrier out of work time
79 • Council Tax will rise at least 7.4% next year (according to the Budget)
80 • The tax incentive for owner-operator small businesses to become companies abolished
81 • Tax on cross-border payments for goods and services between multi-divisional companies extended to transactions within the UK
82 • Tax on trusts up from 34% to 40%
83 • Duty on red diesel up 1p/litre above inflation (57% rise)
84 • Duty on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) used as fuel up 1p/litre above inflation (45% rise)
85 • Personal allowances for taxpayers under 65 frozen

April 2004
86 • PEPs and ISAs containing shares lose their tax break on dividends and the annual ISA allowance cut by £2,000 to £5,000
87 • The 100% tax allowance for small businesses & self-employed on new computer/advanced telephone equipment cut to 50% for 2004/5 tax year
88 • Passports - in addition to costing twice as much as the present price of £42, the new 'biometric data' passports will be valid for half as long. They will have to be renewed every 5 years instead of every 10 years, which doubles the cost yet again.
89 • £100 per year 'lighthouse tax' on small boats over 8 metres long. Commercial shipping lines think they should pay £2.6 million per year towards the annual £73 million cost of maintaining lighthouses and navigational equipment.

May 2004
90 • Council Tax bills to rise a further £110 in the affected areas to pay for 'Two Jags' Prescott's regional assemblies

Accident Tax • September 2004 Building on the success of the Vehicle Insurance Premium Tax, which raises £105 million per year, the government is planning to extend the idea to accidents in the workplace. The government hopes to raise a further £150 million per year from insurance companies when people are treated in NHS hospitals after accidents at work. Employers can expect their liability insurance premiums to rise by 5%. Some firms have already seen their premiums rise by 20-50% in 2003/4 thanks to the current compensation culture. The rate of business failure is expected to increase steeply when this new stealth tax is imposed.

Childcare @ School Tax • New Labour wants all schools to stay open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. by 2010 to allow mothers to work. The scheme has to be self-financing, so as a consequence, schools will have to charge for all out-of-hours activities, e.g. outings, sports coaching, and dance and music classes.

Computer Tax • (March 2006 Budget small print) Anyone who uses a computer at work for checking personal emails or private pottering on the internet, and anyone who uses a company PC or laptop at home, will be liable to pay the Computer Tax unless they can prove to the Revenue Dept. beyond a shadow of a doubt that the computer is used for work only and nothing else.
A £2,000 computer bought after 2006/04/06 will cost employees in the higher income tax band £160 more per year, and the employer will have to pay an extra £51.20.

Congestion Charging • This scam raised a lot of cash in London and other big cities are wondering about cashing in.

June 2005 Congestion Charges for rush-hour trains.

Dental Tax 1 • Despite increasing National Insurance, which is supposed to pay for the Health Service, the government is forcing dentists out of the NHS system and obliging their customers to seek private treatment via a dental plan costing, typically, £19 per month.

Dental Tax 2 • 2006/04/01 The cost of a dental checkup on the NHS rose threefold from £5.54 to £15.50. The cost of a filling went up fourfold to £42.40 and the price of a gold crown doubled to £189

Dividend Tax Credit • This allowance was abolished in 1997, reducing income to charities, pension funds and anyone living on income from dividends. Pension funds and non-taxpayera can no longer recover the tax credit on income from UK dividends. The effect has been described as compound interest in reverse as pension contributions must be increased to provide the same level of benefits.

Driving Licences • The cost of the driving test written test and the driving test itself have been increasing relentlessly, and now there is a charge for changing from a provisional licence to a full licence.

Driving Licence Photocard Tax : From 2008, driving licences will have to carry a photograph to comply with EU regulations. The government is offering 3 options:
1. An extra charge of £3 for everyone, which is expected to rise to £10 very quickly;
2. First-time drivers will pay for everyone and the cost of a driving licence will rise from £38 to £68; and
3. The cost of a driving licence will rise to £45 and the cost of registering a new car will rise from £38 to £45.

Fines, More Widespread Use • Everything from motoring offences, anti-social behaviour, truancy and binge drinking is seen as a means of raising revenue by New Labour.

Fiscal Drag • Gordon Brown, seeking to fill the monstrous Black Hole which he has created in the nation's finances, is adjusting tax bands relative to an inflation rate which has been massaged down rather than the rate of increase of earnings. As a result, 3 million of the 28 million taxpayers are paying the 40% rate, an increase of around 10% since Gordon Brown became Chancellor.
Fiscal drag includes Stamp Duty on property purchases, which is now at five times the 1997 level (£3,600 million compared to £675 million) and twice as many people are paying it as in 1997 (1,200,000 versus 607,000).

Inheritance Tax is another growth area. Thanks to the government's failure to allow for rising house prices, it has risen 75% since 1997 to £2.8billion per year.
Income tax has doubled under New Labour due to Fiscal drag - Chancellor Brown's policy of not raising tax thresholds year by year. The amount of income tax for 2006/07 will reach 109% of the amount raised in 1996/97. [£145 billion compared to £69 billion]

Free Travel Tax • Gordon Brown announced free off-peak travel for people of 60 and older in the 2006 budget. But he failed to provide the cash to pay for the scheme. So Council Tax and/or fares had to go up to bridge the gap.

Home Information Pack Tax • July 2005 From 2007/06/01, New Labour will require home owners to give prospective buyers details of their dwelling's structural condition, title deeds, energy-use efficiency, planning consent status (if applicable), e.g. for a conservatory, and details of guarantees for central heating, double glazing, etc. Reports for the packs will be compiled by 7,500 home inspectors, who will join New Labour's vast army of public servants with jobs that make them indebted to the Labour party.

March 2006 The information in these packs will be 'stored electronically' and made available to inspectors looking for excuses to raise the Council Tax on homes which have been improved or repaired, and homes on which the owner has spent a lot of cash to keep them well maintained.
April 2006 Home Information Packs will also attract VAT at the full rate of 17.5% on top of the £1,000 cost in line with New Labour's disgraceful policy of applying taxes on top of taxes.
June 2006 The packs won't include information on:
• subsidence risks;
• flooding risks;
• rights of access affecting security and the safety of children; and
• land contamination.
The main purpose of the HIP is to provide the Treasury with £111 million/year from VAT on the packs.

Identity Tax • After getting us used to Stealth Taxes, the government wants to give its customers Stealth ID cards by building personal data into passports and driving licences, which will cost at least £35 more than the current price as they will become multi-purpose documents. Anyone who doesn't drive and who isn't planning to go aboard will be required to buy a straight ID card for £35.

October/November 2004 The idea of adding biometric data to passports and driving licences to turn them into identity cards has been junked. The latest big idea to come out of the Home Office is a stand-alone biometric ID card. Everyone will have to have one, paying a Stealth Tax of £35, but no one will be obliged to carry it.
So anyone wanting a passport in and after 2007 will have to pay £85 for a non-biometric passport, which will be valid for 5 years. The price includes the £35 Stealth Tax for a biometric ID card, which will be valid for 10 years. [See also Stealth Tax 88 above.]
At present, a passport valid for 10 years costs £42. As a result of the changes and Stealth Taxes, travellers wanting the same deal will have to pay £135 for two 5-year passports plus a 10-year biometric ID card.

May 2005 : The government's first guess was £5.8 billion for the cost of the ID card scheme. A more realistic estimate is that the cost is on course for being 3 times as much at around £18 billion. And if the scheme has to be self-financing, the government will have to charge £300 per card! If the government chooses to conceal the true cost of the card by sneaking in taxpayers' money from another account, then card-holders can still expect to be ripped off. This year's guess for the cost of a card is £93, which is 20% up on the guess for 2004. So the likely price in 2008, when everyone applying for one of the new biometric passports will be obliged to get an ID card as well, is £160.

December 2005 : The price of a standard passport was raised from £42 to £51.
March 2006 : Identity cards may not be compulsory just yet, but anyone who applies for a passport in 2008, but chooses not to have an ID card as well, will still be charged £93. Up to 6 million people face being ripped off for an ID card which they don't want but have to pay for.

Additional facts :
• The government expects ID cards to become compulsory in 2013.
• People will have to go to a data collection centre at some central point and spend anything up to an hour being measured - plus time spent hanging around waiting to be measured.
• Biometric ID cards will have to be renewed every 5 years as iris and facial scans will have to be updated to take account of changes in the owner's appearance.
• The Home Office says that card readers will cost £250-750. A more realistic estimate of the cost is £3,0000-4,000 each.
• Processing a card and its owner will take about a minute. So anyone at the back of a queue of 30 people will have to hang around for half an hour - assuming everything goes smoothly with the verification process for the other people in the queue.
May 2007 : The latest guestimate of the 10-year cost of the ID card scam has gone up by £840 million since last October to a new total of £5.75 billion. This guess excludes an additional £510 million on the Foreign Office budget to cover the cost of consular services associated with issuing ID cards abroad. The guestimate also excludes the cost of installing ID card readers at social security offices, at GP's surgeries for registering new patients, etc.

The latest increase raised the estimated cost of an ID card by £12 to an eye-watering £105

.
June 2007 : From October, the price of a standard passport will rise to £72 (up £6), the premium 'same day' service will cost £114 (up £6), the fast-track 'within a week' service will cost £97 (up £6) and a child's 5-year passport will cost £46 (up £1).
Licensing & Registration Fees • Thanks to New Labour's willingness to go along with any new red tape that the Eurocrats of Brussels dream up, more and more people are having to pay a registration fee for being allowed to do their job - doormen, electricians and school dinner ladies to name but a few. And homeowners, who allow a job to be done by someone who isn't licensed to carry out electrical work in the home, are liable to be fined. Certification costs £ 877.50 and there is an annual renewal fee of £405.38. As usual, the consumer gets a bigger bill as someone has to pay for all the red tape.

Further, the cost of registering care homes, and the enforcement of new regulations, have both increased by huge amounts. As a result, many care homes have simply gone out of business and the rest are having to charge much larger fees.

Even further, pubs, clubs, restaurants, takeaway shops which serve food after 11 p.m., concert halls, village halls and any venue which holds events at which drinks are served are all required to renew their licence this year because New Labour changed the rules in 2003/4.

Anyone who misses the August deadline will find things get a whole lot more complicated for the October filing date, and the government will require them to jump through a lot more hoops. Worse, as processing the forms involves a lot of work, councils will have to shove up their Council Tax to pay for it.

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Manure Recycling Tax • Riding stables and other businesses using horses have to buy a licence to make compost (used as fertiliser) from horse manure. And from 2005/07/01, businesses doing so will have to spend thousands of pounds on installing a leakproof concrete flooring beneath muck heaps with a sealed holding tank for the liquid which runs off.

So, does New Labour Do Anything different from History? Still Not going to vote?

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Crazy Britain No. 4 - Wanna free iPod?

Source: knightrider45
Thursday 26th July 2007, 4:43pm

Drug addicts are to be offered gift vouchers and prizes such as televisions, DVD players and iPods on the National Health Service under Government plans announced this week, to encourage themto stay clean.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) is expected to recommend the system of offering addicts tickets for a prize draw every time they give a negative drug test.

Christmas savings from the (in financial difficulty) NHS

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Crazy Britain No. 3

Source: knightrider45
Thursday 26th July 2007, 4:32pm

While most of us struggle earning wages, Unemployed Carl & Samantha Gillespie have just received a new £500,000 detached home in a quiet leafy suburb for nothing, thanks to West Berkshire Council

The Gillespies have 12 children between them and they lost their last council house as a result of one of the youngest playing with cigarette lighters.

West Berkshire Council spent £350,000 buying them a new home, plus another £150,000 on renovations, including double glazing, furniture, carpets and heating.

Carl Gillespie said "We're not scroungers. If it waas economical for me to work then I would do."

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E U Referendum Cancelled!

Source: knightrider45
Thursday 26th July 2007, 4:25pm

Gordon Brown has stated that he will refuse to sign the EU Treaty rather than have a referendum if it's seen to be capable of damaging UK interests.

The Prime Minister has vowed to pull the plug on the treaty if fellow EU leaders start attacking his so called Red Lines, and said that there would be no need for a National Vote.

Which is just as well really. The former French President who constructed the Original Constitution, Valery Giscard d'Estaing,admitted the changes made were "few and far between........and more cosmetic than real."

Mr d'Estaing, who compares his part in drawing up the original Constition to that of the American Founding Fathers,said the term Constitution had been dropped simply to make a few people happy.

And other E U Leaders including Germany's Angela Merkel have lined up to boast that the 'new, amending treaty' is the old constitution in a new form. "The substance of the Constitution is preserved, that is a fact" she told MEPs last month.

We won't be British soon. We'll all be European.

Attached photo is Valery Giscard d'Estaing

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Call This Justice?

Source: knightrider45
Monday 23rd July 2007, 2:32pm

Less than half of criminals supposedly "Brought To Justice" end up going through the Court system thanks to new regulations.

Instead, most criminals get on the spot fines, cautions, or warnings. This comes straight from Stephen Wooler, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service, who also reports in his annual report that the over zealous use of such penalties could damage public confidence in the CPS, and also advised that the public could begin to see the service as a Revenue Raising Initiative.

In 2003, 68 per cent of all criminal acts resulted in a court conviction, but Mr Wooler said, that last year, the figure had fallen to between 40-50%.

All this serves to illustrate the dramatic changes made by Labour to the Criminal Justice System.

Cannabis possession is now punished by a simple telling off, on the sopt fines have been introduced for shoplifting, criminal damage, being drunk and disorderly, and other yobbish behaviour. Less than half the fines are correctly paid.

Total figures for 2005, the most recent available showed that:

51,000 violent offenders were only cautioned, including 757 who inflicted potentially fatal wounds and 588 who threatened to murder their victims,

199,000 children given repirmands or final warnings,

146,500 drunks, thieves or thugs were only cautioned,

22 rapists were cautioned, and,

390 were let off with with a caution for having under age sex and three for child porn offences.

Call this justice?

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Ex-Burgulars Given a Licence To Snoop Round Your House

Source: knightrider45
Monday 23rd July 2007, 2:09pm

Burgulars and thives can be appointed to inspect homes because of a serious blunder by Labour.

Energy assessors for the rapidly failing Home Information Packs will not be checked by the Police for previous convictions.

Some 2,000 applicants are being trained to carry out the so called Green Audits, a section of the HIP packs which include key documents needed to sell a home.

Believe it or not, some prisoners have even been phoning surveyors organisations from their cells to find out how to become assessors.

Tory MP Grant Shapps, Housing Spokesman, said: "The prospect of someone who has previously been convicted of burgulary strolling into your house on apparently official business will concern thousands of householders throughout the country.

Lib Dem MP Paul Holmes said "Estate agents and surveyors ad flagged up the concerns with housing ministers, but their fears had been repeatedly ignored."

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Common sense dies in Britain. Obituary of the late Mr Common Sense:

Source: knightrider45
Monday 23rd July 2007, 1:48pm

With many thanks to Clarion, who posted this article. Isn't it just so true as well?

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Crazy Culture - Break in, Get Hurt, Get Compensation

Source: knightrider45
Tuesday 17th July 2007, 7:43pm

Crazy Britain! A boy who broke into a school was handed £5,700 compensation when he hurt himself swinging on a gate. £2 Million has been paid out by schools over the last year to pupils who have injured themselves.

The crazy litigation culture we find ourselves in means its really easy to claim compensation from schools in the event of injury, even if the injury's as a result of breaking the Law.

The payouts are causing schools to introduce more safety measures. Shadow Education Secretary david Willetts said: " If councils are paying out millions because of routine accidents, it could lead to schools wrapping kids in cotton wool.

A Taxpayer Alliance spokesman said: "The vast majority of claims are people out to make a quick buck at the expense of taxpayers.

Footnote: Security Guards are now being routinely sent on First Aid Courses specifically to be able to assist criminals who may injure themselves whilst committing crime on the premises the Guards look after.

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Crazy New Tax 2 - The Plastic Bag Tax

Source: knightrider45
Monday 16th July 2007, 8:38am

Incredible, but true. There's going to be a ten pence tax on the free carrier bags from supermarkets if current proposals get sanctioned.

The plan is that all supermarkets, and shops, that give out the free carrier bags will charge their customers 10p which is then handed over to the local councils.

The Government aim to get away with this by hiding under the Global Warming/Excessive Landfill/Non Bio Degradable argument. Maybe it's time for those old brown paper/card carriers to come back with the string handles.

Would it not, perhaps, be more prudent for the Government to subsidise Paper Manufacturers to make the brown paper carrier bags instead, and put their money where their mouth (apparently) is?

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Crazy Enforcement 1

Source: knightrider45
Sunday 15th July 2007, 2:41pm

Silly council officials have ordered a pub to shut all its windows to stop cigarette smoke drifting inside.

The enforcement officers warned that fumes from smokers could waft through and violate the ban.

They told the staff to keep all windows and doors locked all throughout the summer months at the Greyhound pub in Maidenhead, Berks, or risk being fined.

Environmental health officer Gillian Taylor said "I can confirm we advised the premises that the windows be closed. This is in keeping with good practice to ensure compliance with the spirit of the legislation. Every situation is different and we need to ensure non smokers don't have to endure smoke blowing in from outside."

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Public Overspend Costs Each Household £900

Source: knightrider45
Saturday 14th July 2007, 3:12pm

Taxpayers are picking up a bill of £23 billion - £900 for every household in Britain - after hundreds of Government projects spiralled over budget.

The sudy by the Taxpayers Alliance pressure group states the problems are made much worse by the fact that politicians and Whitehall officials have "no experience of managing large projects."

Conservatives have said the report underlined concerns that the Government was squandering tax payers money.

Philip Hammond, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury said: "Labours inability to manage projects effectively partly explains why Gordon Brown has spent so much and achieved so little."

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EU Officials Confirm Britains Red Line Opt Out as Worthless

Source: knightrider45
Saturday 14th July 2007, 3:00pm

Senior EU Officials have themselves confirmed that Britains "Red Line" opt out from the Charter Of Fundamental Rights is not worth the paper it is written on.

Margot Wallstrom, the European Vice President said the Charter will apply to swathes of British law.

Gordon Brown has admitted that "approximately half of all new regulations that impact upon businesses in the UK originate from the EU"

If the EU treaty agreed by Tony Blair is ratified, Gordon Brown will find the charter, including the right to strike, is enforceable in European Courts. If ratified, the Charter will be unstoppable in changing Britain and its' laws

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Crazy Europe To Control Britains Sporting Issues

Source: knightrider45
Saturday 14th July 2007, 2:42pm

Brussels wants to take over sporting issues across the European union after Tony Blair signed away the National Veto last month.

Jan Figel, the EU commissioner in charge of sport, believes sport should be subject to the same rules as other economic sectors.

He wants Europe to be in charge of everything from football transfer fees to crackdowns on corruption.

EU Leaders signed away the ability of one country to block proposals on sporting issues when they agreed on a replacement to the constitutional treaty. More than 50 vetoes have been voted away to prevent legislative deadlock in the EU, which has grown now to 27 members.

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Goodbye General Hospitals

Source: knightrider45
Saturday 14th July 2007, 2:16pm

The new PM has announced plans for the creation of Superclinics, sounding the death knell for General Hospitals.

Giant units that provide a wide range of treatments will be axed, with major surgery and specialist care now being handled by a small number of regional units.

Routine ops will be dealt with at so called Poly Clinics which will be extended GP Surgeries.

The PM has denied planning mass closures, saying that it's simply a revamp.

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Winston Churchill Banned From School History Lessons

Source: knightrider45
Saturday 14th July 2007, 8:10am

Sir Winston Churchill, still rated as the Greatest Briton of all time, even today, has been axed from school history lessons.

This new education plan - which also drops Hitler, Stalin, Ghandi and Martin Luther King from history lessons, was hatched by "educational advisors" who want to concentrate on more relevant issues, as they see it, namely sex, drugs, climate and GM foods.

The plan, rightly, has angered schools secretary Ed Balls who insisted that "Churchill should be taught to all pupils and I shall be taking steps to ensure that it is."

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Another Crazy New Tax: Government unit 'urges fat tax'

Source: knightrider45
Thursday 12th July 2007, 2:41pm

Plans for a tax on fatty foods such as cakes and biscuits are being considered by government advisers

The Prime Minister's Strategy Unit is considering increasing duties on some food and having a sports drive to fight obesity, according to the Times.

The newspaper claims a document urges a fatty food tax as a "signal to society" because the number of obese British people has risen sharply in 20 years.

A Downing Street spokesman said the government had no plans for such a tax.

He said: "It is no secret that the government is looking at the problem of obesity. "

The spokesman said that there was agreement both in and out of government that it would not be a workable system.

However, he confirmed the story came from a minor discussion document by their strategy unit.

The Times says the strategy unit's paper, titled Personal Responsibility and Changing Behaviour, points out that NHS spending on obesity-related disease has risen.

"The main drivers - poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle - are largely outside the direct influence of the NHS," it says.

It suggests a number of policies such as a national sports drive along the lines of the successful Active Australia strategy, and lifestyle lessons in schools

Tax 'life-saving'

A new tax or the extension of VAT is proposed for some dairy products, fast food and sweets.

"This would be a signal to producers as well as consumers and serve more broadly as a signal to society that nutritional content in food is important," says the document.

Last year doctors at the British Medical Association (BMA) debated a proposal to impose the full 17.5% VAT rate on a wider range of high-fat foods such as biscuits, cakes and processed meals.

The full 17.5% rate is already charged on some foods including fizzy drinks, crisps and heated burgers.

The British Medical Journal recently claimed a 'fat tax' could help prevent 1,000 premature deaths from heart disease every year in the UK.

Plans opposed

Martin Paterson, of the Food and Drink Federation, said a fat tax would hit lower income families who already spend a higher proportion of their income on food and drink.

He said: "Consumers will rightly feel patronised by "top-down" messages based on the idea that they can't think for themselves and need to be taxed into weight-loss.

"The idea that any particular food is bad for you is out of date and simplistic. A balanced diet can include snacks and treats - moderation is the key."

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Miscarriage of Human Rights - 1

Source: knightrider45
Wednesday 11th July 2007, 5:58pm

A transsexual burgular is taking prison chiefs to court - for refusing to let him out to have a sex change operation.

Clive Watson, 39, is serving 4 years for 70 raids to fund expensive female hormone drugs. He claims Dovegate Jail, Staffordshire, is violating his human rights.

He has just got consent to take his case to the High Court.

And Britain's been silly enough to give him Legal Aid to fight his case.

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The Nanny state is killing our Country

Source: knightrider45
Wednesday 11th July 2007, 5:31pm

Everything the Western world takes for granted as a pillar of liberty is being taken away by our Health & Safety obsessed nanny state Governments.

Political & Social Correctness is killing our world

Everything the Western world takes for granted as a pillar of liberty is being taken away by our Health & Safety obsessed nanny state Governments, whereas in reality the formation of incredulous Health & Safety rules form an effective back door access to increased taxes.

Yet, if many of these new guidelines are to be believed, the vast majority of us should not be alive today as the world many of us have grown up in is far too dangerous, according to todays new regulations.

As babies, we grew up in cribs painted in lead based paint which was promptly chewed and licked. There were no child proof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors and cabinets and it was fine to play with the pots and pans.

We rode our bikes without helmets, florescent jackets and other body protection, just sandals on our feet, and more often than not, wearing just tee shirts and shorts.

As children, providing Mum and Dad were able to afford a car, we rode in them without seatbelts, air bags or side impact protection.

We drank the dew from the grass in the fields, and water from garden hosepipes and not from a bottle, and it still tasted the same. We ate sandwiches made from the cold fat left over after cooking meat - called dripping in England - and followed it by drinking sugar rich pop or soda drinks. We were never overweight because cars, computer games, and televisions were not as prolific as they are now, so we were always playing outside.

We didn't have hundreds of television channels, videos, DVD's, Surround sound, mobile and cell phones, computers and chatrooms. We used to have real friends and we had to physically go out to find them.

We used to walk to school everyday instead of Mom taking us in the big four wheel drive armoured personnel carriers they use today, clogging up all the roads.

We shared one drink between four or five friends, and no one died from doing so. We spent hours building carts from scrap wood, and after crashing into nettles so many times, we learned how to cure the blisters without medication creams. We would play out all day, in all weathers, getting back before dark. No one was able to reach us all day, and no one minded.

We played street games and cricket without helmets. Sometimes the ball really did hurt. We fell out of trees, got cuts and bruises and broken teeth and there were no lawsuits. We just learned not to do the same thing again. We made our things last for as long as possible, and the idea of our parents baling us if we got into trouble with the police was unheard of. We learned our actions were our own and consequences expected.

This freedom produced some of the best risk takers, inventors and problem solvers - ever. We had freedom, failure, responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it ourselves before Governments started to interfere and regulate our lives for our own good. Health and Safety legislation is the biggest killer of normality ever as it envelopes everyone in it's tireless grip of cotton wool

Britain, as well as suffering from the Nanny State, also endures interference from the European market in daily life. Britain, like most western countries, is now a health and safety obsessed Nanny State. Between them, the British and European Governments have brought in hundreds of new laws, often on a weekly basis, and over eighty new taxes in the last ten years to help pay for them.

Britain is now a country where you can't ride your bike (ethically at least) without a florescent jacket and a stupid cycle helmet. It's now a country where you can't eat beef on the bone, parents cannot physically discipline their children with a slap, hunting is banned, smokers cannot light up in the pub, at work, or in the car. Health visitors are told not to enter a patients house if they've smoked at home, hospitals will not treat smokers unless they've given up for at least three months, and overweight people must lose weight before being treated..

Britains now a country where the rights of the criminal far outweigh those of the innocent. Children have been stopped from catching crabs at the seaside in some areas, and are now unable to pay conkers at school. Schools close in "bad" weather, which, in reality, means a few millimetres of snow on the ground. London has introduced a congestion charge for vehicles entering the city on the roads the public have already paid for, and many other councils are set to follow suit. Speed limits on most roads are being dropped, and speed cameras proliferate at an ever increasing rate to trap errant drivers - and fine them for speeding in order to raise more finance for the local councils.

Manufacturers of certain foods cannot advertise on television if children may be watching, this includes some health foods which, by virtue of European definition only, are now classed as junk food.

As more power is handed to local councils by Europe, additional civil servants are hired as Enforcement Officers. Children, including pre-schoolers, have been fined for dropping crisp packets in the street. Shoppers are banned from wearing hoods or baseball caps in shopping centres. Shops are banned, and people are banned from sending, age related birthday cards. Councils have banned the use of so called offensive words. Words such as manpower, black, white, she, man, woman, are all examples. With the result that British school children now make Uncoloured Snowpersons. Hooligans cannot be called yobs anymore, in case it upsets them. Staff cannot wear a crucifix at some workplaces.

Enforcement Officers are being recruited at an alarming rate and are responsible for their own specialist area. Photographs are being taken of houses, without owners knowledge, so the council can raise additional Council Tax when the rules change, by charging extra tax to people who have improved their homes by building extensions or garages. Spy cameras are being fitted to bins or trash cans to monitor the levels of waste, and are responsible for householders being fined if those bins are put out on the wrong day, or simply just too early, for the refuse collectors.

On the work front, British workers cannot now turn on an electrical appliance, use a ladder, or a photocopier, or boil a kettle until that appliance has been independently tested, the workers have attended, and passed, a training course proving they are proficient in the use of the item. The Risk Assessment must be carried out beforehand. And the individual member of staff must not work more than 48 hours a week

So, in conclusion, where does this lead us?

Childhood diseases increase because freedom and adventure is curtailed, the overweight, too clean, housebound child cannot build up their natural immunities to the outside world.

Businesses dying because of excessive taxation, rules, regulations and red tape from both the British and European Governments. Enterprise and entrepreneurial skills curtailed by foreign, remote Governments who have no interest in this country, save for enforcing ridiculous European laws here.

Community spirit has died because people are too frightened to get involved anymore. No one knows their neighbours today. There are no front doors left open anymore. Men are frightened to be left alone with children of any age.

Police Officers too frightened to get involved with criminals in case the criminals are deprived of their human rights by them doing so. Terrorists and other criminals prosper in number because no one dares to check what they're doing. The innocent suffering as the criminals live in protected luxury. Early release for prisoners. Stupidly lenient sentencing in the first place. Some crimes being decriminalised such as shoplifting, such offenders now receive on the spot fines instead of a court appearance. Police Officers stopped from doing their job effectively by complicated European legislation, Risk Assessments and human rights.

Ordinary people made to be criminals for every day living. Taxes increasing every day almost to pay for stupid, meaningless human right laws and council regulations. Having the incentive to work taken away from them, so they cannot earn overtime once the 48 hour rule comes in. Unemployed parents being entitled to extreme amounts of Government cash handouts if they have large families meaning they lose money if they were to work for a living.

Ultimately, as more people are made criminals, through regulations, the British Government will build up it's database of DNA, reported to be the largest such database in the world. ID Cards are being phased in, for which everyone must pay for their own ID card, which they will have to have by law.

The end result of which will be a total Police state with the highest taxation levels in the world, but at the same time, one which allows murderers and terrorists to commit their crimes with total freedom. A society which has no community spirit, the vast majority of it's people in poverty, and the only winners will be the criminals, council leaders and the European Government.

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