The Daily Telegraph

Trump foes should beware what they wish for

- JULIET SAMUEL NOTEBOOK FOLLOW Juliet Samuel on Twitter @Citysamuel; READ MORE at telegraph. co.uk/opinion

This was meant to be the week when US Republican­s started to turn things around, striking a delicate deal between the White House and Congress on a package of tax cuts crucial to their election prospects next year.

Instead, it was the week that Michael Flynn, Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials. Even more dramatical­ly, US media has reported that Mr Flynn will testify that he was talking to the Russians on Mr Trump’s orders.

This is exactly the missing link to the White House that Democrats have been salivating over for months. It was already thought that Mr Flynn had lied to the FBI to cover up his potentiall­y illegal diplomatic activities before Mr Trump entered office. But up to now, it seemed unlikely that there would be a direct link to the president.

Now his most hysterical enemies are convinced that it’s only a matter of time before long-anticipate­d impeachmen­t forces him from office. It’s certainly hard to like the thin-skinned Mr Trump. But even if the Democrats manage to oust him (still unlikely as they don’t control Congress), it would be a disaster.

Nothing would galvanise his supporters more than what they would see as a Washington DC stitch-up. Even moderate voters don’t like being told that legitimate election results will be annulled (consider the effect of a Brexit reversal, for example). Mr Trump’s approval rating is already running at record lows due to his own failings. The best way to be rid of the man is for him to be booted out by a scornful electorate. An impeachmen­t might seem like a neat way out of the Democrats’ nightmare, but it would, in all probabilit­y, be the start of a farright fightback.

For the second time in two months, the car was not where we had left it. In normal circumstan­ces, you’d report a crime. But I have the good fortune to be a resident of Westminste­r and one thing I have learned about my council is that it has a fervent love of using public spaces in odd ways. And sure enough, the car had been moved – again – to make way for a film crew.

This is connected to another interestin­g fact about Westminste­r: it charges the lowest council tax in the country. After many years of massive government cuts to council budgets (they have nearly halved since 2010), the strain is showing. So, this week, Westminste­r started polling its richest residents on whether they might like to pay more tax – voluntaril­y.

I don’t fall into the category being polled, but I have an emphatic answer: yes. Please, yes. Charge me more. And don’t make it voluntary. Taxes are not charitable donations.

I’m no lover of tax rises. I don’t particular­ly like council tax either: it’s regressive and the bands haven’t been updated for 25 years. The top band in Westminste­r is for properties worth £1.3 million and up. Clearly, there’s a need for more bands above that.

But Westminste­r is an excellent example of how a headline-grabbing obsession with squashing down on one type of tax can lead to annoying consequenc­es. Last tax year, the council brought in £84million in council tax. By contrast, it collected £1.8 billion in business rates and nearly £1billion in fees, charges and grants. This last category is the only one whose revenues the council gets to keep in full, perhaps explaining its preference­s.

It also explains what keeps happening to my car, as well as the council’s obsession with renting out its many beautiful parks. Recently, it proposed letting a third-rate theatre company build a “temporary” venue for nine months in one of the few historic parks on the Thames.

It’s commendabl­e for a council to protect residents from massive tax rises and find other revenue. But at the point where parks and parking spaces start disappeari­ng in a seriously wealthy area, it’s time to wonder what your local council is there for.

Not many people noticed, but shortly before Prince Harry’s news on Monday, the Government published a 255-page white paper laying out its “industrial strategy”. It managed to avoid embracing bailouts for failing industries, but went instead for a big investment in first-rate waffle.

Don’t get me wrong: there were plenty of helpful policy tweaks, like making public data easy for innovative companies to use. But all of this should have fitted into no more than 50 pages.

But then we would have been spared the delight of reading about “the five foundation­s of Ideas, People, Infrastruc­ture, Business Environmen­t and Places”, the many kinds of “revolution” (data, farming, energy and so on), and this important insight: “Our capacity to act nimbly and effectivel­y depends on maintainin­g capacities across a wide range of technologi­es and discipline­s.” Who could agree, or disagree, with that?

Suggestion­s on how to keep one’s hands fresh from onion or garlic smell after chopping have flooded in. I’ve been recommend Crabtree & Evelyn gardeners’ hand wash, been sent a free bottle of Dermacare, told to buy a stainless steel lozenge to use like soap (I already have one) or to use latex gloves (it seems so wasteful). But this was the best suggestion of them all: outsource the onion-chopping to your husband.

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