Purely in order to make some sense of a discordant world, it is necessary to break up the news into bite-sized chunks. Then the information is categorised into different subject headings and finally, whatever happens to be topical is given the lion's share of attention. Since the budget is currently the hystèrie du jour, that inevitably gets by far the bulk of media coverage, and the full gaze of the commentariat. Tomorrow – or next week – will be different. The dogs bark and the caravan moves on.

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In my view, regulatory costs are simply an invisible form of taxation. It is activity that is being decided by the state, not by the market. Like visible taxation, a portion of it is essential, and management of this is part of the core job of government. But the major part we would be far better off without. With this logic, statistics on the tax burden, as a % of GDP etc, are underestimates.

Completely agree - and all the worse for being under the radar. This means it gets even less scrutiny than the headline tax levies.

As you mention all three parties are running along the green is good track but the first problem is to get some sense into the economy. If they were to deep six all the carbon capture and windmill rubbish there would be some useful savings. it seems we are way beyond the RBS mentioned in yesterdays posts. I find it difficult to understand the rush to spend money we haven't got on a myth when there are so many things that should take priority.

Derek

They are also administered as a monopoly by complete incompetents and consequently massively expensive.

Re politics.

Al beeb's Radio 4 programme last night, The Report, on the BNP (click "Listen" — it lasts 30 mins if you're interested):

Natch they'd use a hideous diversoid to present it.

Also, get a load of the mood music playing in the background. It's right there from the start. And the BBC claims it isn't biased. Not fokking much.

Well, here's my suggestion for the background music al beeb should dub in when they put a diversoid on: ♫walltowallpaki♪. They should use it every time the snot gobbler appears too. In fact there's no end of issues, themes and people they should dub it over and stuff it up. Indeed it should be their signature tune.

When did this government ever make anything cheaper? Even the lower mobile roaming tariffs are thanks to the elephant.

Given all the various imposts, you'd think a resourceful Opposition might track and publicise the extra costs imposed by government. Perhaps a resourceful Opposition would.

The Guardian's databank could attempt it. Think tanks could do it. The TPA for instance should be ideally placed to track these costs and keep the calculations live.

I don't understand why no one can be bothered.

Bali Global Warming Conference: 2027



I was put on to this site by Watts Up With That. Apparently Roy W. Spenser is the joker behind it.