@Ofcom Will you please save the time & bother of a FOIA request and publish now the full list of so-called "expert organisations" and how they were chosen?
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Albert Salter
3.4K posts
Albert Salter
@AlbertRSalter
retired civil servant
London Katılım Ekim 2015
162 Takip Edilen38 Takipçiler
We have accepted X’s public commitments to bring in new protections to tackle illegal hate and terror content.
Read the full list of changes and our statement here 🔗 ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/…
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@Keir_Starmer You don't know much about the decant, fair respectful people you have yet again insulted.
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I’ll always champion peaceful protest. But the Unite the Kingdom march organisers are peddling hatred and division.
We’ve already blocked visas for far-right agitators who want to come here to spew their extremist views.
They don't speak for the decent, fair, respectful Britain I know.
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@CPSUK I do hope you will be required to explain to Parliament the timing of this. It looks rather nicely chosen to allow the prosecution of people attending one of the events this weekend for actions taken before they have even had the oppotunity to read it. @speechunion
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Prosecutors have been issued new legal guidance on the use of offensive banners, slogans, chants or symbols to recognise the changing context and increase in increase in hate crime attacks ahead of significant planned protests in London this weekend.
orlo.uk/z2Tcn
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@StuartMaggs IOW it's OK to ignore the juror's oath and acquit if, say, the accused supports my team, seems nice, shares my belief in...
And I'd like to know the evidence that it's "Rarely used"
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It is difficult to overstate how important a principle of British justice this is. Juries are able to acquit people because they feel the person should be held not guilty, regardless of the law. Rarely used, but the sort of thing that gives you reassurance that underlying legal complexities there is a strong strand of morality.
This is another reason why the plan to limit jury trials is so outrageous, and should be junked.
Adrian Yalland@AdrianYalland
Whenever I address a jury as a prosecutor, I always tell them unless they are sure of guilt they must NOT convict, but if they are sure, and only if they are sure, then they MAY convict. Because that is our constitution. To impinge jury equity is not constitutional.
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@surreykiwi @DanNeidle No. There are plenty of payments in recognition of past service which aren't taxable. Classic examples are "benefit" matches for cricketers & bonuses to World Cup winning footballers.
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@DanNeidle Farage says it was a payment for services (a “reward” for delivering Brexit).
Surely payment for services is taxable?
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This is probably wrong. An inducement to take up a job or office can be taxable (the case is Shilton v Wilmshurst [1991]).
But this was (perhaps) an inducement to stand for election to an office. Probably not taxable.
Peter Jukes@peterjukes
I think this has to be the key thrust of the Parliamentary Standards Commission investigation into £5m ‘gift’ from Harborne to Farage. If it was an inducement to run for Parliament, then it is no longer a gift and so subject to tax. Are ‘security expenses’ genuinely a gift?
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@MWHoyle19 @DanNeidle OTOH pinning down exactly what is and isn't taxable leads to long and complex legislation.
And tax advisers understandably give priority to certainty over simplicity: they have to pay the professional liability premiums.
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@DanNeidle It’s always amazing to me how much of our tax law is impressionistic takes from very broad principles (my favourite being the cases on when someone owes income tax from their crimes).
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@dshensmith @QcWynter As of course they do*. But this is not a matter of drafting but of policy. I would not want judges to decide eg that a policy clearly expressed in legislation is absurd & can be reversed.
*Bennion:
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@QcWynter There is a point at which courts should cut through drafting that results in absurdity.
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Court then goes on in legal language to make the point that it is only having to give its silly ruling due to fact that its role is simply to interpret statutes, foisting the blame for this whole Tickle do-do show onto parliamentarians, where the blame does in fact lie.
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@WeAreFairCop Given Danish police feel able to do this can we borrow some (well, rather a lot actually) of Danish judges?
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This exemplifies the simple stupidity of any police force saying they have a ‘vision’ other than a ‘vision’ of doing their job competently.
Rak@RakMakkabi
So hat die dänische Polizei eine Blockade in Kopenhagen von Pro-Hamas-Terroristen in nur 1 Minute und 32 Sekunden aufgelöst. Das ist die einzige Sprache, die diese Terrorbande verstehen – anders scheint es ja nicht zu helfen.
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@Scott_Wortley Diane Abbott has the same number of is/is not *and* would finally break Labour's run of electing white, male leaders. A shoo-in!
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Pros for Healey
(a) He is not Streeting
(b) He is not Miliband
(c) He is not Burnham
(d) He is not Rayner
(e) He is not Starmer
(f) He is not a crank
(g) He is competent
(h) He is not from London
The choice should be obvious.
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@jamieellison29 @DanNeidle So Dan's work on Zack Polanski's houseboat & council tax was a Green Party ploy to establish Dan's credentials for this?
Actually, that's quite credible for the Green Party.
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@DanNeidle Why are you publishing this?! You must be a Green Party stooge
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The Guardian is reporting Angela Rayner has now paid £40,000 of extra stamp duty, but HMRC accepted she wasn't "careless" and so she didn't pay a penalty.
On the public facts, that’s hard to understand.
Here’s why:
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@Stocklington @DanNeidle @JohnAdams978716 @StuartMaggs I left the field before SDLT but thought solicitors could submit a return based on the client telling them they've taken advice and accept responsibility. IOW the conveyancer does not have to check it's correct.
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@DanNeidle @JohnAdams978716 @StuartMaggs There is a complication here that is overlooked. If the conveyancer acted for the lender they had a duty to hold the SDLT and return at completion. That can only mean the correct SDLT. It is striking that they either did not ask to see the advice she got or pottered on anyway.
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This decision by HMRC does not surprise me. Angela Rayner got caught in an obscure part of the legislation and the fact that no penalty was levied indicates that HMRC agrees.
It shows that people can correct their tax affairs without upset when they have done no wrong. Sometimes tax is complicated.
Pippa Crerar@PippaCrerar
EXCL: Angela Rayner has been cleared by HMRC of deliberate wrongdoing or carelessness over her tax affairs, paving the way for a potential leadership bid if Keir Starmer’s grip on power unravels. The former DPM has settled £40,000 in unpaid stamp duty, but has not paid any penalty as a result of the investigation. HMRC was also satisfied there was no tax avoidance. Rayner tells me she was “bruised” by whole experience because of intrusion into her disabled son’s personal life, but also because it had appeared as though she was “in it for myself” rather than on the side of ordinary people. Rayner indicated she may run in event of a contest as she would “play my part” and that she understood why Labour MPs were so upset following last week’s election crushing. She said Starmer should “reflect on” stepping aside.
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@thecraftybeggar @DanNeidle @AudreySuffolk Council tax is rarely included in rent in other rental properties. Eg Waltham Forest tell you
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@DanNeidle @AudreySuffolk He didn’t FAIL to pay a bill he never received! Like everyone else living on leisure moorings or plots (and yourself) he had no clue he was liable for council tax and thought it was paid in his rent as happens in other rental properties. Stop smeering! It’s looking weak.
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It's only 8am but I've already seen the stupidest insult of the day:
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@BallaTheSenior @DanNeidle I don't know how you know Polanski's intent. I do know when The Times raised the issue the Green Party told them he 'only stayed on the boat "occasionally"'. That may have been a mistake but it looked like an attempted cover-up.
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@DanNeidle It's all about intention Dan. Zahawi intended to deceive. Polanski didn't. It says something very important about their character. And you treated them the same. Which says something about your character.
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@AlexMacLeod9 @Heccles94 People who live on houseboats can use libraries, send kids to schools, use social services, call the police and fire services etc and ask for help from councillors - and in London members of the Greater London Authority such as Zack whose salary is paid in part from council tax.
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@Heccles94 Here's something to think about.
You have a house. It has no water supply. No sewage removal. Your bins aren't collected. No access to schools, libraries etc. Are you still happy to pay council tax?
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BREAKING 🚨
The tax expert who broke the Polanski Boat Tax Story admits he wasn’t even aware of the situation surrounding Marina boat tax until he started exploring it.
It turns out only one resident in 35 years have ever paid council tax on the Marina!
Pretty quick to blame Zack though wasn’t he…
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@mccleangreen @BigSteve63 @DanNeidle Dan makes no secret of his politics. They're not mine. But that makes no difference to my admiration for almost* everything he & TPA do. Not everything is political.
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Not the gotcha moment @DanNeidle had hoped.
Matt Bowen@MartyBowen11
So the story about Polanski dodging tax is actually wrong, and it's the council/marina who have messed up. Looks like a lot of folk living on those boats are getting an unexpected tax bill thanks to Dan. Labour are even pissing off the floating voters now lmao.
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@peterrhague @DanNeidle If you think boaters deserve exemption from council tax make your case for it. Letting *some* of them off (while they are abusing non-residential moorings) is nothing like tolerating a bit of underage drinking. Others have to pay that bit more.
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Does it matter if boaters pay council tax? Nobody cared before. It’s one of these things the government didn’t think it was worth bothering with, the same way they used to tolerate a bit of well behaved underage drinking.
There is something to be said for not being overly rigid in enforcement.
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Latest propaganda line dropped.
The not-very-complicated reality:
- people should pay the correct council tax
- councils should do a better job catching those who don’t.
Matt Bowen@MartyBowen11
So the story about Polanski dodging tax is actually wrong, and it's the council/marina who have messed up. Looks like a lot of folk living on those boats are getting an unexpected tax bill thanks to Dan. Labour are even pissing off the floating voters now lmao.
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@tc1415 Not forgetting a PM in neither House for the period between renouncing peerage and being elected.
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(it would also be great fun, and I mean that! A PM in the Lords has long been the dream of a lot of us who want to do a bit of constitutional restoration, so the irony of Labour doing it would be sublime beyond all measure)
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(this is legally sound, though the reference to the Earl of Home is a bit backwards and sort of a red herring)
Tom Newton Dunn@tnewtondunn
There is a route for Andy Burnham to become PM without winning a Commons by-election first: he could be made a Lord. Constitutionally the PM just needs to be a member of one of the two houses of Parliament. This was Alec Douglas-Home’s route, who became PM in October 1963 as a Lord before winning a by-election to be an MP 20 days later. It’s an absolutely awful undemocratic look that could sink Burnham’s brand forever, plus of course Starmer may well not want to oblige his nemesis with a peerage. But these are strange and desperate times for Labour.
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@DanNeidle It'd be nice to think you've had an apology from him or his people but given he's a politician...
x.com/sammerriman_/s…
Sam Merriman@sammerriman_
NEW: Green Party leader Zack Polanski has tonight admitted that he failed to pay the correct council tax while living on a houseboat in east London
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The Times reported last week that the Green Party leader and his partner “appear in recent years to have stayed on a narrowboat at a marina”.
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Zack Polanski and his partner called their narrowboat their “amazing home” for three years. He registered to vote there.
If it was his main residence, council tax was due. None was paid.
His team says he stayed there only “occasionally” - if true, there's a very big problem.
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@Scott_Wortley Safe seat from the start plus McSweeney and the Labour Together "Starmer project" meant he never had to campaign. At the GE all ne needed to do was mouth platitudes and let the Tories collapse.
And how much of his career involved juries rather than judges alone?
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he is so bad at this. So bad.
How does someone get to that position being so bad at
(a) speaking?
(b) strategising?
(c) doing politics?
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@MartinDDean @SAshworthHayes a typographical error is a mistake such as transposition, omission or substitution of characters. Confusing freehold with leasehold could be many things but a typo ain't one of them.
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Either Angela Rayner doesn't know the difference between freehold and leasehold, or she believes that the Government should expropriate all property owners.
Neither is particularly encouraging.
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