Caveat Emptor

  Something in my soul jibes at being cheated. It first came to my notice as a young teenager that people would try and put one over you if they could, and you let them. I'd saved my paper round earnings to buy a bike from a lad down the road. It wasn't a fantastic bike, it only had 3 gears, but it was a lot better than the one I had before. I negotiated a price with him, and once I'd saved enough money I went to buy the bike.

  As I rode away from his house I noticed something wrong; I couldn't change gear. It soon became apparent that I'd been cheated; that he'd swapped the rear wheel. I turned round and pedalled back to his house my temperature rising a point for every yard cycled.

  He was waiting for me with a grin on his face. He told me I'd bought the bike sold as seen and it wasn't his fault if I didn't check before I handed over the money. All very true, but it wasn't in the same condition as when I'd checked it over a month before when I agreed to buy it. 

  After a short period of negotiation, which consisted of me hitting him, he agreed to put the original wheel back on. I cycled happily away for the second time on my new bike having learnt a valuable lesson. 

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Twenty Woodbine and a Kit Kat Please.

  So the ban on displaying tobacco comes into force today, meaning that cigarettes and other products will need to be kept under the counter, or behind the closed doors of former display cabinets.

  The ban will only apply to large shops and supermarkets, with smaller shops being exempt until 2015.

  Apparently, according to public health minister Anne Milton, young people are recruited into smoking by colourful, eye-catching, cigarette displays. Really?

  I'm no great expert on these matters but I'd always assumed that young people smoked because their friends did.

  Don't get me wrong, I'm not an apologist for smoking - it's a filthy disgusting life threatening addiction but is this really the best way of tackling the problem?

  What about obesity? That's quite a large (pun intended) problem as well. I think the government have missed a trick here. at the same time as the tobacco display ban they should also have banned the display of sweets, chocolate, and other confectionery from all shops everywhere.

  This would do wonders for the future health of young children, and earn the undying gratitude of harassed mothers throughout the land

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Taxing Times

    "Forgive me father for I have sinned." I said through the grill.

I heard an exhalation that I took for a sigh, and then, "What is it this time child?"

  Okay it didn't actually happen like that but I do confess that I've always had a secret interest in politics. There will now be an interlude while you mutter something along the lines of, "crazy fool."

  I have a sneaking suspicion that this fascination came from my maternal grandfather who was an ardent trades unionist back in the day when the unions were a powerful force.

  I've voted in every general election since 1976; more often than not voting for the party that eventually formed the government. I don't claim any special power that enables me to predict these things; I just get fed up of the mob in power at the same time as lots of other people.

  I've always occupied the middle ground of British politics; occasionally veering to the right, before swinging to the left for a while. We won't mention the disastrous flirtation with the Social Democrats, or the Liberals.

  I've never studied this but I've always subscribed to the theory that people, when they vote, follow the money; I certainly have. When I was poor and impoverished in my teens and early twenties I was a socialist; the poorer I was, the redder I became. Conversely, when I became a bit better off in my thirties and forties I swung the other way, becoming a rabid Thatcherite. Now, in my fifties and poor once again I feel the socialist in me bubbling to the surface.

  In line with these thoughts I've been giving some thoughts to the taxation system in the UK. I don't know how it is in other countries but here in the UK we seem to be taxed on just about anything and everything. Apart from the standard income tax and national insurance - despite the name - a tax, we have VAT, council tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, stamp duty, car tax, crossing the road tax. Okay I made the last one up but we do have air passenger tax, and insurance premium tax. I'm just scraping the surface here and could go on for hours, but I'm sure you get the picture.

  Now to my mind the first principle of any taxation system should be that it's fair and equitable. In my opinion the UK taxation system is anything but. If you have enough money you can employ tax accountants to drive a coach and horses through all the loopholes that a complicated tax system leaves in its wake.

  Bearing in mind that if the benefits system is means tested then why shouldn't the taxation system be likewise. Therefore my solution to the problem would be: if you're unemployed you don't pay any tax at all. That's right - none, on anything. If you're employed but don't earn enough to pay income tax then the only other tax you would be obliged to pay would be VAT at a rate of 5%. If you earn enough to pay income tax but less than £20k pa, then you would pay the full range of taxes but at 50% of the full rate. There would be a sliding scale of tax eligibility rising to an income of £50k pa where the tax rates would be a lot higher than they are now; e.g. VAT at 30%. The simple principle being: the more you earn, the more you pay.

  Of course I reserve the right to alter it should I ever win the lottery! 

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