This is a link to a post on Richard Murphy’s blog Tax Research UK
Tag: Tax Research UK
The Joy of Tax in Orlando
This is a signpost to Richard Murphy’s summary of a talk he recently gave in Orlando. It is not open for comments as these should be directed to the source.
The links below take you to Richard Murphy’s outline of a talk he gave in Orlando recently. The main link is to the straight text version, the subsidiary link is to a mind map. I am closing this post to comments because I want all feedback to go the original.
Source:
Links and Coins
INTRODUCTION
I have a lot of interesting links to share, and some pictures from today at work.
LOTS OF LINKS
These links cover a wide range of stories. Each link will be preceded by some accompanying text.
First up, a really good story featuring Pizza Express. Please visit samedifference and read the full story.
Next, courtesy of the canary comes this story about the UN warning the Tories that their Trade Union Bill could be in breach of international law. It certainly sinks of double standards – OK to form a government on 37% of a 66% turn out but to go on strike you need 40% all those entitled to vote to vote yes.
My third selection comes courtesy of Tax Research UK and refers to the possible nationalisation of banks, arguing that unlike in 2008 it must be a proper nationalisation this time, and the bankers cannot be left in control again.
SOME POTENTIAL IDEAS FOR MY WEBSITE
The last two links and one picture are all stuff that could soon be featuring on my London transport themed website:
From visitlondon comes this listing of “31 free things to do with kids” which has lots of potential.
The folks at disabledgo have provided their top 10 of places to visit in the London Borough of Havering.
As a segue, here is a poster advertising skating at Cheshunt, which could be a nucleus of a post on the website…
SOME PICTURES FROM TODAY AT WORK
Why we must not replace corporation tax with a sales tax
Lord Lawson says abolish corporation tax and replace it with a sales tax – Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK explains in great detail why this is nonsense…
Source: Why we must not replace corporation tax with a sales tax
An NAS West Norfolk Coffee Morning
An account of a coffee morning organised by NAS West Norfolk, some photos and some important links. I draw your particular attention to the levitycropscience crowdfunding issue.
INTRODUCTION
As well as my title piece I have some photos from the King’s Lynn area to share, some important links and a platinum quality infographic.
A MUCH ANTICIPATED COFFEE MORNING
Having received more than one email from my friends at NAS (National Autistic Society) West Norfolk about this coffee morning I was hoping for a decent event. From my perspective the rest of the story involves three elements..
THE WALK THERE
With the event due to start at 10AM I set off from my small town centre flat at 9:15AM and headed for the Scout Hut on Beaulah Street by way of Bawsey Drain and Lynn Sport. It was grey and uninspiring, but there was the odd photo worthy moment…
AT THE EVENT
I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who had shown up – in total there were 14 of us present. One of the others, who I had not previously met, noticed the fact that i had a camera and had snapped off a few pictures, so I provided her with details of my blog, twitter account and email address, which she gratefully accepted, along with the explanation that all my best pictures are on the blog.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and I felt that this was a good start to what is intended to be a series of such mornings (and Karan, who organised the event, mentioned having people come to give talks in the future, which I also approve of).
THE WALK BACK
For the walk back I completed the circle by going via KES (King Edward VII Academy) and the train station. The only picture worth sharing that I was able to get was on the way out, heading down the stairs.
I look forward to more events like this in the future!
SOME LOCAL PHOTOGRAPHS
Yesterday was a sunny day, and I got some fine photos, the best of which I now share…
With two local landmarks pictured above this an opportunity to draw your attention to Heritage Open Day, this coming Sunday, when no fewer than 57 places of interest in King’s Lynn will be open to the public, some for the only time of the year.
LINKS
Cosmos Up address the question of why Pluto is no longer classed as a planet.
From secularism.org.uk comes this piece about a Norfolk council doing the right thing (yes ir does happen occasionally!)
Charlotte Hoather has produced a wonderful post, laden with lovely pictures, under the title “Charlotte’s Secret Garden“.
POLITICAL LINKS
dwpexamination feature with this piece about the British government surveilling kids as young as three years old for signs of extremism (yep you read that right – three years old!)
Tax Research UK have produced this piece whose title says it all: “11,000 People Die In The UK Each Year Because George Osborne Is Obsessed With Closing The Deficit”
From the Joseph Rowntree Foundation via The Guardian comes this piece about how budget changes will hit single parents hardest.
Currently running on thepetitionsite is among others this “call for a full scale investigation into years of abuse by the DWP“.
I have previously mentioned that the UK is currently being investigated by the UN for human rights abuses because of the way the Scameron government treats disabled people. Courtesy of samedifference I can now tell you that there are no fewer than 41 issues that prompted this and provide this link (already widely shared on twitter).
This piece from politicalsift takes on the arguments about Corbyn and electability.
From cultureandpolitics comes this reminder that “I was only obeying orders” is not a recognised defence these days.
A LINK AND AN ADVANCE NOTIFICATION
While I have been producing this blog post I have received information about a crowd-funding campaign to support an autistic crop scientist, about which I shall be producing a full post sometime soon. For the moment, to prepare you, here is a link to levitycropscience.
A PLATINUM INFOGRAPHIC
This, from politicsbeginner comes this superb infographic about Kim Davis:
A FINAL WORD
I hope you have all enjoyed this post. I end with a request: please share widely. Even if you choose not to share the whole post, please share at the minimum the stuff about levitycropscience.
The Croft-Yates Wedding
A personal account of the wedding party for Rob and Olivia Yates, with lots of quality pics. Also, some important links at the end.
INTRODUCTION
I will start with a word of warning: this is going to be a very long post, as there is a lot to talk about and I have some fabulous pictures to share with you. Olivia Croft (now Yates) is a cousin of mine, which is why I was there.
THE PRELIMINARIES
Needing to arrive at Kegworth early enough for those who would be at the ceremony itself to travel on to Loughborough and arrive by 12 meant an early start. I was not at the ceremony and was assigned another task along with my nephew Zachary, which I have already written about in a previous post. After a schemozzle over room bookings, which worked out to my benefit since I ended up with a room to myself (they had messed up, so we got the extra room we needed at no further cost) it was time to deposit our bags in the rooms and make the short walk to the house where the party was taking place, next door to the Kegworth museum.
THE PARTY
Arriving at the venue the first arresting sight was a 1950s vintage Morris…
This is the time, before going on to the party itself to introduce my feature image, a montage of some of the many pictures I took through the day…
There was a Pimm’s table for those whose tastes run in that direction, although I ignored that and was then delighted to located cask beer (four kegs, each different). I went for something called Blue Monkey Infinity and it was delicious. There was a barbecue lunch which was excellent. It is now time for a brief diversion to…
THE FISH POND
The fish pond was quite simply magnificent, with a stunning variety of fish and an excellent rock garden…
PUNCH AND JUDY
At 4PM there was a Punch and Judy puppet show. I watched it all and got some good pictures. It seemed to appeal to its target audience, the children, but I was unimpressed to say the least…
OUTDOOR MUSIC
Early on in the day there was some live music outside in the sun, and helped to be the volume not being too ridiculously amped up it was actually quite pleasant from a distance…
THE SPEECHES
The speeches took place in the same area as the Punch and Judy, and with the exception of the opening salvo from Andy, the bride’s stepfather, none were particularly impressive…
AN INTERLUDE – SOME GENERAL PICS
Before going on to mention the supper and my own departure from the event here are some pictures taken at various times through the day that don’t fit neatly into a particular section…
SUPPER AND TAKING MY LEAVE
Supper was fish (or sausage in my case) and chips, and it was delicious (give what my uncle had apparently paid for the hire of the chip van for the evening so it jolly well ought to have been). While I was eating it in the shelter of the marquee, the evening’s entertainment were warming up, and that was sufficient to persuade me that as it was no longer suitable weather for being outside it was time to return, since there was no way I could cope with that kind of music at that volume and accompanied by strobe lighting at close quarters.
I had a fabulous day, and by departing early was able to keep the good memories untarnished. This concludes the main part of this post, but I also have some…
LINKS
My first set of links concerns…
CECIL THE LION
Lots of stuff about this case…
- The Care2 petition to stop Lion Trophy Hunting.
- The petition site‘s petition calling for justice for Cecil the Lion which has recently topped the 1,000,000 signatures mark
- The Animal Rescue site are also running a petition related to this.
- The Zimbabwean government has already taken some action.
- And, thanks to Delta Airlines this is now one less way for folk to get their “trophies” home.
OTHER PETITIONS
I start this section by reminding readers of the change.org petition calling for a better gender balance in Parliament. Another reminder of a petition that I have been pushing for some time, Fiona Paddon’s via change.org calling for the NHS to provide tests for group B strep to prevent needless deaths of newborns. My next two are related, a call on BA to stop selling trips to seaworld and one from uk.whales calling on ABTA to enforce its own very tight guidelines. Still on the Cetacean theme, defenders.org have this plea on behalf of the Vaquita. Next and penultimate, another reminder, this time of the Sweets Way Campaign. Finally, I end this subsection by inviting all my readers to take part in a thunderclap on behalf of the Hen Harrier.
SCIENCE
I have several very interesting science pieces for you:
- A light start courtesy of Faraday’s Candle, whose latest offering is this one.
- Cosmos Up have this on red arcs on one of Saturn’s moons, Tethys.
- From Niume comes this on “Methane the Destroyer“
- Finally, accompanied by some graphics to whet your appetite comes this magnificent youtube video on the evidence for evolution.
GENERAL LINKS
The first link to appear in this section comes courtesy of a new find for me, suburbanprincessteacher who has produced this wonderful piece about school dress codes entitled “Newsflash: Girls Are Not Distractions“. Tax Research UK, often a source of good material have produced this on human rights versus trade deals. My next piece comes from unisonactive and is their take on the Trade Union Bill. My final link is to a quite wonderful response by a paramedic to news that New York fast food workers have won a minimum wage of $15 per hour.
AFTERWORD
I hope that you have all enjoyed this post and will be encouraged to share it. A final message for all who have made it to the end…
On Appreciating Nature
This post may be considered my personal response to the death of Cecil the lion.
INTRODUCTION
This post can be considered as my response to the tragedy involving Cecil the lion. Before getting into the main body of it I am once again going to share details (as I did in my previous post) of The Art of Autism’s calendar for 2016, currently being sold for $12. Full details can be seen on their own post on the subject, but I offer you this picture as extra inducement…
ON APPRECIATING NATURE
We are now in the main part of the post, which as well as what I am writing on my account will feature some photographic highlights relating to nature from the last few months, a variety of important links, and leading from here into the rest of the post my first essay in the craft of infographic creation…
CECIL THE LION
Cecil, a 13 year-old lion who jointly controlled his pride with another lion called Jericho, was shot by a wealthy American who had paid $50,000 to have him lured out of the reserve in which he lived. Walter Palmer, the shooter, has a long and bloody history of such activities, including at least one felony conviction involving poaching. Cecil was a huge tourist attraction, and even from the purely monetary angle (not a viewpoint with which I identify) his death has cost far than the $50,000 that was paid to bring it about. Before moving on from this introduction I have a bunch of Cecil related links to share with you:
- A public response from World Animal Protection
- Two links to the petition site:
1)The original petition
2)The current state of play - Sumofus calling on airlines to refuse to carry the “trophies” of such activities
- Take Part have produced this splendid article by way of response
- Patheos have offered this interesting view
- Finally, mashable have produced their own petition relating to this issue
There seems little doubt that Mr Palmer’s activities, and those activities that were paid for with his blood money were in breach of Zimbabwean law, and as a staunch internationalist I would say that the American government has a duty to ensure that Mr Palmer gets appropriately punished, either by putting him on the next plane to Zimbabwe to be punished in the country where he committed the crime or by arranging for him to be tried, convicted and punished in America.
I would also like to see a blanket ban on “trophy hunting”, enforced with stringent penalties for those who breach it. Also, I have concentrated on the American, rather than the two Zimbabweans involved in the atrocity because it is the American who bears full responsibility – without his money the two Zimbabweans would have had no motive for their nefarious contact – Mr Palmer is guilty on his own account and has made criminals of the other two involved.
SOME PICTORIAL HIGHLIGHTS
This subsection is devoted the only kind of shooting I am interested in performing – that done with my trusty Nikon Coolpix P530. Yes I have recently acquired a set of five obsidian arrowheads – but that was purchased as on object of interest, not with any intention of using them as weapons!
Every single photo in this subsection was bagged within walking distance of my “compact” town centre flat – if you truly appreciate nature you do not have go very far to find glorious sights, and nothing need be harmed.
A FEW NATURE RELATED LINKS
These two links are both to petitions that anyone who takes an interest i nature should sign and share:
1)This from 38Degrees is an emergeny petition about bees
2)Take Part are running this petition against unsafe drilling in the Arctic Ocean.
A FINAL REMINDER
To finish the main section of this blog I have another infographic, which gives the same message as the one I opened the section with – the fundamental message of this post…
GENERAL LINKS
Just a handful of links today:
- Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK on the “power of capital well used”.
- An update on the change.org petition launched by the Sweets Way Campaign.
- Two from Vox Political:
1)A splendid attack on the despicable Jeremy Hunt.
2)A scathing indictment of Tory plans that would amount to legalising bribery and corruption. - Finally, to end the post, a link to a new find that came by way of Fargaregardsanna, Harsh Reality, who are offering the opportunity to share a blog post, which I shall by accepting!
England Humiliated
An account of England’s spinelessness at Lord’s, some pictures and links.
INTRODUCTION
As well as my title piece I have some photographs and links to share. I hope that you will enjoy this post and be inspired to share it.
A HORROR MATCH
Australia went in to the fourth day of the second ashes test match at Lord’s 362 runs to the good with all their second innings wickets still standing. The plan was obvious – lash up as many more runs as possible during the morning session and leave themselves five sessions to bowl England out. Part 1 of the plan was carried out in exemplary fashion, the eventual second innings tally of 254-2 declared leaving England a purely nominal target of 509.
England’s subsequent ‘effort’ to make a fight of it was so ludicrously inadequate that they failed even to take the match into the final day. A humiliating 103 all out left England beaten by 405 runs (their second largest ashes defeat by a runs margin). The actual extent of England’s failure in this match was even greater than the bald margin of defeat shows – Australia scored 820-10 in their two innings (82.00 per wicket), while England managed 415-20 (20.75 per wicket).
England did win the first match of the series and it is possible to turn things round straight after a huge win – England were monstered in the 4th match of the 2009 series at Headingley and bounced back to win at The Oval in the 5th, while in the 2010-11 series England were thumped at Perth and responded with innings victories in the last two matches of that series at Melbourne and Sydney. Not forgetting of course the 2005 side’s response to a humiliating defeat at Lord’s – 400 on the first day of the second match at Edgbaston and on from there to win the series.
A PICTORIAL INTERLUDE
The pictures in this section come from three different locations, because as well as Sunday lunch in East Rudham, there was an afternoon garden party elsewhere in the village that I also visited…
LINKS
My first link is to piece from Tax Research UK about the Labour Party leadership contest, and the bankruptcy of the position taken by The Observer in particular.
My next two links are to two related petitions both organised via change.org:
1)The successful petition to prevent Julien Blanc from coming to this country which is now being used as a jumping off point for…
2)This petition to prevent the misogynist Roosh V from being invited to Canada – please sign and share if you have not already done so!
My final link is to tradeuniongroup.com who have produced an excoriating analysis of Scam-eron’s Trade Union Bill
SOCIAL MEDIA
I hope that some of you will share this post. I was sufficiently inspired by one of the swan pictures that I have edited it to serve as a thank you message – my fourth such picture since I first decided to do something a bit special in that department for use on twitter:
The main text is Copperplate Gothic Bold, 58pt in the fourth thank you messgae, while the smiley face is a capital J in wingdings, 48pt.
A Hectic Period
INTRODUCTION
This is going be to what I think of as a ‘standard issue’ blog post – my title piece, a couple of infographics that have caught my eye, some interesting links and a few of my own photographs.
IMAGING, IMAGING AND MORE IMAGING
With James and Sons’ own June auction and the Great Centenary Charity Auction which is being conducted by James and Sons happening within four days of one another I have a heavy load of imaging to get through. The last of the GCCA stuff was done yesterday, and I then got back to imaging for the regular June auction, on which I had made a start before I was commandeered to image the stuff for the GCCA.
At least today, with the GCCA stuff out of the way, I will be working at my usual location the whole day, and should get a lot done.
Towards the end of yesterday I got a few bits of June imaging done, some of which I shall share now…
LINKS
I am grouping these links by subject matter, because although there are only a few of them, they cover a wide range of topics…
RELIGION
I have two pieces in this section, both courtesy of Patheos:
1)A piece on the Caitlyn Jenner story
2)Much more important than one, a piece introducing my readers to the Freethought Rescue project
SCIENCE
Just the one science link today, to a piece my Marcus Chown about the Cosmic Microwave Background.
LOW PAID JOBS
Two pieces in this section, one from Tax Research UK about social security payments and, following the brook back to the parent lake, the inspiration for the Tax Research UK piece on flipchartfartfairytales.
AUTISM
Just the one piece, but it is an excellent one, and it is feel-good story to end my links section on an upbeat note, courtesy of ramblingsofaspecialmom – a story about finding the right kind of support.
INFOGRAPHICS AND A CLOSING NOTE
I hope you have enjoyed this post and will be encouraged to share it.
Important Items to Share
INTRODUCTION
This post is going to be made up entirely of Links and Infographics (I have a lot of important and interesting stuff to share).
LINKS
TAX RESEARCH UK
Tax Research UK in spite of the uninspiring sounding name is often a source of good stuff, and today I provide links to two of their recent stories:
1)The need to eliminate competition from the NHS.
2)A piece about electoral reform, which connects to…
2a)This blog post from the Electoral Reform Society.
SCIENCY PIECES
My first piece in this section comes courtesy of Patheos, and just before highlighting the link I wish (as someone who is a very strong supporter of theirs) to criticise them for publishing under their banner a piece by Russell Shaw in which he has the nerve to claim the American Christians are being persecuted. The piece to which I include a link concerns the use in science classrooms in Louisiana of a book that has no place there.
My next three pieces are linked, both being concerned with countering environmental damage:
1) Faraday’s Candle on bees.
2) Oxfam on dumping coal into the dustbin of history.
3) An Avaaz petition about climate change.
SOME INFOGRAPHICS
DISABILITY, MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES AND AUTISM
This is my final set of links, starting with this piece from Jayne Linney. Huffington Post, a regular source of good stuff, provide this piece from Laura Roche. Although I am not an ebay user, and therefore not able to take direct action, I was of course thoroughly disgusted to come across this from Vox Political about disability hate products being sold via that site, and I urge those of you who do use ebay to complain loud and clear as VP suggest. This blogpost from Natalie Leal provides some shocking detail about deaths related to DWP sanctions. Finally, to end this section, a post from Autism Mom, which features Alan Turing.
CLOSING STATEMENT
I hope that you have all enjoyed this post, and that you have followed up some or all of the links I have shared. I encourage people to share any or all of this post.
aspiblog 