Peter Hill
THE new business rates are an embarrassing mess for Theresa May and the Government – outrageous increases for many small businesses and reductions for out-of-town supermarkets and online traders such as Amazon. It has shades of the poll tax, which sank Margaret Thatcher and the Tories.
Ministers are desperately trying to defend what’s ludicrously described as a “reform”. Chancellor Philip Hammond is said to be working on ways to minimise the blow for those who can least afford to pay the up to 400 per cent more demanded.
So much more sensible to admit that it’s a huge mistake and go back to square one. On top of uncertainties over Brexit this is a step too far and if the Government can’t get that it is arrogant and stupid.
How can anyone justify hammering the little people and wrecking what’s left of the high street while rewarding the big boys who already make big profits? Time for a U-turn. q A STUDENT with the picturesque name Bartholomeo Joly de Lotbiniere made a small sensation when he appeared on University Challenge and a bigger one when some time later he appeared in court accused of rape, an allegation he denied.
After 10 hours’ deliberation a jury at York Crown Court last week failed to agree a verdict. Prosecutors have now to decide whether there should be a retrial. Without offering any opinion on whether Mr Lotbiniere is guilty or innocent, I believe an injustice has been done in naming him.
A special ignominy surrounds sex offences which lingers even when cases are dismissed and that’s why anyone accused of such crimes should not be identified unless found guilty. Especially when they have an unforgettable name. A change in the law is long overdue. q ANOTHER appalling injustice was done to a young couple whose baby was taken away by social workers because the father was heard to make positive comments about formula milk. The parents have mild learning difficulties and hospital staff were concerned about the father’s “unorthodox” views. The child was returned to the couple after three months and is said to be thriving.
A family court judge has now awarded them £11,250 damages after ruling that Kirklees Council breached their human rights and misled a judge. It’s the idea of “unorthodox” views that makes me want to scream, that even suggesting anything other than breastfeeding is a crime warrants the authorities snatching a child from its parents. Unbelievable except in our politically orthodox brave new world. q IF SCOTLAND splits from the UK it would have to make austerity cuts of £19billion because its nationalist government’s addiction to big spending can’t be sustained, according to a new report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research.
The gap between what Scotland raises in taxes and spends on public services will rise to 9.4 per cent of GDP, more than three times that of the UK. It means that shorn of massive subsidies from the rest of us Scotland would be the new Greece. Yet Scottish Nationalist leader Nicola Sturgeon insists on another independence referendum. She must be off her head.
It was barely yesterday that the Scottish people voted 62 per cent to 38 to stay in the UK and given the dire state of their country’s finances you would expect the result of “indyref2” to be even more decisive in favour of remaining. If there were a poll in England I reckon it would be 80-20 in favour of cutting Scotland loose. q GETTING into university used to be a big deal but today universities are so desperate to fill their quotas that they are admitting students who can barely read and write. But what can you expect when 50 per cent of young people go to university against only seven per cent in the past?
Each year entry requirements are reduced and lecturers complain that students arrive badly prepared with a high number who are “almost illiterate”.
As thousands of unhappy students waste years of effort businesses naturally prefer to recruit able immigrants. Proper apprenticeships and vocational training are what’s needed. q BREXIT should be a simple process. Everyone wants free trade to continue, including the other EU countries. It makes sense for all EU citizens living here and for Britons living in Europe to have the right to stay put, and of course we have to pay debts such as pensions already built up by EU employees. A bunch of ordinary people could sort it all out in a couple of weeks. q DEFENCE Secretary Sir Michael Fallon plans to send more British troops to support Afghanistan forces fighting a resurgent Taliban otherwise he predicts another four million Afghan refugees will pour into Europe. I wouldn’t risk any British lives in that faraway place – it’s doomed.
As for the refugee tide, another handful of British soldiers isn’t going to stop that. q TWO Irish towns are claiming ownership of Napoleon’s horse Marengo, captured by the British at Waterloo. Each insists they bred the stallion and that our army museum should return its skeleton, which they hope would be a tourist attraction. Surely they’re missing the point.
Haven’t they heard of the spoils of war? Or did the Irish win that famous battle?