Dysfunctional council to be abolished after years of controversy and "all out civil war"Our Headline of the Day Award goes to the Leicester Mercury. I know things can get pretty het up on the city council, but the authority in question here is Witherley Parish Council. The village of Witherley lies on the Leicestershire-Warwickshire border near Atherstone, and we are able to bring you exclusive video of its most recent attempt to conduct a parish council meeting. (more) |
Good news about the Family Farm TaxFarmers have been complaining for some time that the price of farmland has lost any connection with the income that be derived from farming it. And The Agri Brigade column in the new Private Eye suggests they have a strong case: Average UK farmland prices have more than quadrupled this century, from just under £2,000 an acre to well over £8,000 an acre, according to statistics from land agents Savills. Over that time, farm profitability has remained poor, but farmland's IHT-free status drew many ultra-high-net-worth individuals into buying land as a convenient way of minimising their tax liabilities - the ... (more) |
David Alton, Andy Burnham and telescopic radicalismEmbed from Getty ImagesIt struck me that if Mrs. Jellyby had discharged her own natural duties and obligations before she swept the horizon with a telescope in search of others, she would have taken the best precautions against becoming absurd, but I need scarcely observe that I kept this to myself. - Bleak House, Charles Dickens. Mrs Jellyby goes in for what Dickens call "telescopic philanthropy", in that she devotes her energies to promoting a philanthropic project in far-off Borrioboola-Gha while her own children fall into the grate. We've all known political households like that. You can also have telescopic ... (more) |
Will Burnham abandon neoliberalism by adopting a radical agenda?The Guardian reports on the view of more than a dozen influential thinkers who have called on Andy Burnham to tackle inequality in the UK by introducing a wealth tax, universal free personal social care and bringing gas and electricity networks under public ownership. The paper says that in the lead-up to the first budget of the chancellor, John Healey, this autumn, the Compass thinktank has collated 70 policy options from 15 leftwing thinkers that they argue would deliver on the prime minister's promise to end 40 years of neoliberalism: Introducing the report, Ending Business as Usual, Michael Jacobs, a ... (more) |