Harriet Harman hasn't had a good day. First of all, she appeared on Sunday AM. Around half way into the programme she made the astonishing claim that that the Attorney General's controversial advise to the Prime Minister about the legality of the Iraq war "was not published". Andrew Marr queried this, saying he thought the advice had been published, and that it was equivocal. Harman responded "No, no. The attorney's advice was private advice; this has always been the case".Of course, Andy Marr was right: the advice has been published (see HERE and HERE). Watch her floundering HERE 32 mins in.
She then came on Radio 5, where she refused to answer any question directly. She was asked whether she believed in a 50p tax rate but said there should be a Royal Commission on Incomes. She was asked if she wasn't ashamed that after ten years of a Labour government the poverty gap was wider than at the start. Ah, but 600,000 children have been lifted out of poverty. 'That's not what I asked you', said Julian Worricker. She kept giving a hint that she disagreed with much of what Labour did and that if you scraoed the surface you would find a redistributionist left winger underneath. I guess that was the intention.
And this afternoon she has described David Cameron as being like Paris Hilton - "shallow, drifting, weak and insubstantial". After her performances today, perhaps she ought to look in the mirror before making comments like that.
37 comments:
Of course. It was leaked by some Tory who got it from the Australians. Tells you a lot about the Tories and national security and more about John Howard's government.
and this is why the Labour Party will fall and fail, we all know they want to return to the left and I don't believe Brown has the same ability as Brown to stop that happening or the party spliting.
She makes me ashamed to say 'sisterhood' - she has the double standards of all that is bad in our society - what makes me so mad is whatever she says - when she leaves she will get an over inflated pension paid for by us!
Where's the justice in that? I would like to see a clause somewhere saying only the truly honest(regardless of party) politicains will get their pensions...
Oh well I can dream :)
Josephine in Eastbourne
I loathe Harman. But describing Dave as "shallow, drifting, weak and insubstantial"?Frankly, you could only really criticise Harriet for being too generous.
This woman is: duplicitous, Mendacious, Bigoted,a Charlatan,and her other half is about the same. I can recall the Parasite jumping into the back of a jag and screeching off burning rubber after "Duty" on the picket telling those poor workers a load of bullshine at Neasden in the seventies.
It will be a very sad day for the English should she replace Prezza.
Still as bad as she will be, which will be the better. her or perma-tan??
Fingers crossed she wins. Foot in mouth is what she's good at.
Calm down Tories, Harriet is going nowhere
So are all the other candidates.
Thank goodness this vacuous bimbo has been caught out, and shown in her true colours at last...
Btw, did you hear biker babe Blears talking to Paddy O'Connell in the Isle of Man on this morning's Broadcasting House ? Priceless...
Harridan Harperson is a joke.Always has been.
A 50% top rate of tax is a great idea. Just what this country needs to stop its professionals being tempted to emigrate to Australia. Well done all round.
Harman's awful but still not as bad as Alan Johnson. He has "two great fat chips, one on each shoulder" was how Peter Dobbie accurately described him in today's MoS.
God help us if he get's to be Deputy PM under the even more embittered and hateful Brown.
Anon 6:23
Yes, there may still be some Tories who "do" freedom of information (and the fact that it it discomfits Blair is pure jam - no doubt). How does the exposure of the document diminish national security? Did our enemies not know it was us who who they were fighting in Iraq? As to the Australian Government, the British Government need no lessons in tactical leaking from the PM's office.
By the by, she is awful but no more so than the rest of them.
If you want a lesson in how Ms Harman 'thinks' just take a look at her 'blog'. I cannot believe that this woman is halfway literate, let alone a serious contender for the office of Deputy Prime Minister.
But then again, if her predecessor has set the benchmark, maybe she's well up to the necessary standard...
Agree with lerxt and Harriet: Dave-id is all those things and more. Much worse than Blair. And now he's got Coulson, must worse than Campbell.
Whether Harriet is or is not (a) shallow and (b) as shallow as Dave-id is not that important surely to you Tories?
What you should be worrying about is how shallow, weak and lacking in reality he is.
The question that his slumming activities raise for me is how he ever became an MP and a leader of a major political party when he knew so little about anything before this exercise.
Portaloo was far more sincere and effective in his own sampling of how real people live.
shallow, drifting, weak and insubstantial"
That is the sort of accusation that has always been thrown at reasonable people by malignant loons that believe they need to slap the world into an image of their own ugliness.
She is a pitiful figure.
Re emigration to Australia to "save tax" - go to it - but realise that their economy is screwed thanks to Tories and especially to their strange lack of understanding of the miracle of migration.
Presumably you have some awareness of the Oz tax system to be suggesting this? And despite the right winger Howard the take is rather more than 42% or whatever we have.
Federal Taxes, State Taxes, City Taxes - all on PAYE earn basis. Humungous.
The only miracle about migration is that most Britains are as yet unaware that they have been totally screwed. Watch this space.
Chris - yes, that's my point - at the moment the tax take in Australia is higher than it is here.
The problem is the quality of life is also considerably better, by many measures.
So if the tax take here gets even bigger, then it rather tips the balance in favour of leaving rather than sticking it out.
Australia's just one example because it's fairly easy to immigrate there because of a skills shortage (compare the US where obtaining a visa is reasonably tough), but of course there are other examples too - Canada, India, China, South Africa, etc.
People put up with the bad weather / terrible transport / drunken chavs in town centres / whatever because despite all of that the UK has historically (well, since the mid 80s) let its citizens keep a decent chunk of its own wealth.
My point is that the left just doesn't seem to understand the fundamental message on tax - in an upwardly mobile global economy, countries have to compete on an open market for the world's best talent. Increasing the tax take when other countries are decreasing theirs isn't the way to do that.
What you should be worrying about is how shallow, weak and lacking in reality he is.
Plod plod plod , it really is painful .Would you like a "Five year plan " perhaps or Brownesque *sesquipedalian * monologues ? It would be out of date in two years ..at least in that part of the economy not yet regulated into rigor mortis by the New Labour Robots As for Australia , as we can assume Chris Paul is a state parasite if anything , I would suggest he goes there where he can expect to be richly rewarded for his state sinecure
The high level of personal tax in Australia has lead to an exodus of skilled Labour to amongst other places , here , ( 16%) god help them. Also an inability to attract Labour .There are considerable problems in making comparisons as you will see here . http://www.aph.gov.au/library/Pubs/RN/2005-06/06rn18.pdf …Taking into account that they contribute to pensions through taxation the average worker’s level is almost identical. Business tax is the third highest in the world though by the way which is causing un-competitiveness .
Many Brits go there usually to take advantage of Property being relatively inexpensive. As we all know mortgages make the pain factor here a great deal worse . In part this is due to the population boom we are experiencing driven entirely by net migration( The miracle of migration ?). Indigenous people are imploding , reproducing at about 1.4 . Migration watch reckons each migrant contributes about a Mars bar a month nett but the cost to social Capital Services and to the coherence of the country is , of course, enormous .75 % of the country wish the “miracle of inward migration”, to be severely cut but aside from Margaret Hodge and others in the Labour Party most are wary of legitimising racism by tapping into legitimate resentment.
When people are consistently accused of being racists when they know they are not ( usually by twits like Chris Paul) , what happens in say Barking or Dagenham , when a Party claims to be in the same position. A problem for Labour whose core vote are often in the BNP target areas and sympathetic to them ( 35% would put BNP second said a recent survey)
Ireland is about the best place to go if you were hoping to be allowed to keep any of your money. They are experiencing more immigration per head than just about anywhere but it’s a bit different when you are not , like us , in the top three non City Nations for crowdedness in the world and you start for a zero ish base. Nonetheless the miracle of the Irish economy is not just due to EU rake offs from us it is also due to enlightened taxation.
PS sesquipedalian is my favourite autological word . A good one for the speeches of the lying ,lizard eating mouth breathing Scots Stalinist. How he got away with the tax credit debacle is beyond me . How he got away with the pensions heist defeats me and how he expects a clean start defies all efforts of credence . Why , when it was he , is he not blamed for the failure to reform welfare. We need to start sticking swords into this foul breathed scarred old Bull soon What is it at the moment Pity ?!!!!
Another Ed-I wouldn`t bother with social grace notes for Chris Paul he won`t understand
Another ED - No we do not keep a decent chunk of our own wealth or rather the wealth we create .State managed expenditure has risen agreat deal , I think its 35% to 43% ( Its in Cash Nexus somewhere) mostly in the form of indirect taxation.
This part of the general pattern of political dishonesty and creeping statism of the last ten years.Still when in 1997 we were poromised open honest government a little slip about not increasing taxes is not the most jaw dropping lie.
( I agree with your remark generally though)
Christ it all makes me need a pint and a fag ....oh dear.
Newmania is brilliant. I'm a twit. Profoundly.
And another Ed. I'm not recommending huge tax increases - and in Oz the huge rates start at very low thresholds - but I don't think if you were suggesting that the Oz rates are humungoud that came across.
I rather like it there. And I rather liek the high tax high services balance.
But their economy worries me it really does. Protectionism in Labour and other markets is the root of my worry.
Um, are you being economical with the truth Iain?
Of course the advice was private - it says "secret" at the top. This particular secret was leaked and published in the Grauniad 2 years later, but Harman's recollection is accurate.
There is a huge amount of advice from the AG that has not been released isn't there? Didn't we only get a precis?
Yes, that is my recollection Chris. If there was to be a proper enquiry eventually (once the troops are home)which I think Harman supports, then perhaps the full advice will be released.
Calm down Tories, Harriet is going nowhere
Except maybe to visit her husband in jail. Anyone know how his trial is coming along?
I'm a twit - Chris Paul
Not the word I would have used, but I see that we are sliding towards agreement.
Ooops, was thinking of Tessa Mills. My humble apologies. Either delete both of these comments Iain, or leave them both up to show my stupidity.
Chris Paul remains a twit though.
She looks mad to me.
Horrible Harman implicitly and stealthily suggested that 50% taxation could address the widening gap between the richest and less well off in our society. She did not, however, address the question of the tax evasion by our politicians which defrauds the less well off.
No politician can have any credibility on a policy to reduce the poverty gap while they themselves fiddle substantial tax free allowances, ficticious expenses and tax free pensions.
newmania said:
Would you like a "Five year plan " perhaps or Brownesque *sesquipedalian * monologues ?
Had to look ses... up, n:
Sesquipedalian: The big word for 'big words' comes from Latin sesquipedalis, "a foot and a half long, hence inordinately long,"
When I did, realised it was just perfect for the toe nail biting, Big Foot.
Chris Paul
have you no sense of right and wrong? How can you defend these scumbag NuLabour MP's who have given us illegal wars, rendition flights, corruption on a grand scale, widened the rich/poor gap, lied to the country on countless occasions etc etc??
Look in the mirror young man, do you like what you see?
Pre-1997 I paid 40% tax on company bonuses. It was worth taking money out of my company, so I worked hard and expanded operations. It cost £100,000 to put £60,000 in my pocket.
Then came Gordon Brown, who added Nat Ins so tax is raised at around 63%. It has, since 1997 cost around £160,000 to put £60,000 in my pocket.
It is simply not worth putting money at risk when you keep 100% of your loss, and only have a beggar's portion if you win. Result - I stopped working and went overseas.
To buy UK assets, instead of earning money, I now borrow with no intention of paying back, except by reselling the asset. I have moved to living from rents and capital gains which are taxed variously, but with top rate at 40%, still acceptable.
It seems odd to me that the kind of investment that creates jobs, raises wealth levels, and makes the economy more productive is the most penalised by tax.
Britain has a problem. People must accept that those who raise the country's productivity and its wealth level have to be rewarded. Taking risks is not a job like a brain surgeon, or architect. You can stop doing it any time. I have, I regret to say. The reason is undoubtedly Gotdon Brown.
If they raise the rate to 50%, that will translate to 73% with nat Ins added on. So I would need to pay £220,000 to put £60,000 in my pocket. Do they think I'm mad?
I have paid far less tax since Gordon Brown starting raising taxes. In fact they keep sending investigators round to try to see where all their money has gine. They really don't have a clue. If the p[urpose of tax is to raise more money, they should cut the rate. BUt of course the purpose is not that at all. They want to flatten wealth levels.
They won't make me poorer. People like me just go - to where people want us, and allow us to be free. That's the main motivation in people running busionesses - to be free of all this crap, and people like Harriet Harman.
Tapestry you are ,as usual , quite right about risk. A few year ago I was paid a good bonus ( by my ordinary standards ). I could hardly belive how little of it I kept . I was working in a high risk enviroment and two years later I was redundant just as my first child was born.
It struck me at the time , well now I `m earning bugger all so can I have the money back ? This feeling was because risk is part of the equation. People in the Public sector have no idea what life is like in the producticve side of the economy and how , psecifically , you take 100% of the down side .
Of course, she could have meant is that the Attorney General's real advice (ie that invading Iraq was actually illegal) was never published; only the "advice" he was asked to give after he'd had the facts of life explained to him by Tony and Alastair.
Sorry to be pedantic, but given that Newmania has a penchant for demonstrating his knowledge of language, could someone tell him how to spell the past tense of the verb to lead? He has, at least, been consistent in getting it wrong.
Good lord I `ve been spelling that wrong my whole life.
The shame is taken anon
Harman is considerably prettier than both Cameron and Paris Hilton. That doesn't exactly say much though, does it?
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