janus

Danes come clean

matt-on-tax

Margrethe Vestager, the crusading EU Commssioner, seems to have inspired her countryfolk to go after tax evaders at home. And how!

The tax minister is buying extracts from the Panama Papers which name and shame over 600 Danes who have been squirrelling away their kroner and cheating the system.

Typically of Denmark this is being done quite openly – not, as one might expect in other countries, through secret channels. Refreshing, huh?

Disingenuous

Obama with halo

So the UK was ‘wrong’ to vote for Brexit – according to Obama.

Setting aside the philosophical question whether a majority of a country’s citizens can be ‘wrong’ in any meaningful sense, maybe the sanctimonious President could answer this:

Would the USA join any club which suborned its sovereignty to the club’s management?

Would even the Democrats agree to the club deciding on US immigration?

Would the US fancy Juncker more than Trump or Clinton as its figurehead?

No no no, as I thought. Obama wins the headlines with his judgement but loses all credibility.

Proud

It’s meant a lot of work and determination but worth every ounce. I refer of course to a grandparent’s input to a grandchild’s GCSE results, published yesterday!

My most senior of ten did all the requisite academic subjects and (Jazz note) the really useful Textiles Technology, well suited to the distaff side methinks. 😷

So I can relax again until next year when another young lady shows her paces.

Le petit Nicolas schemes his way back to the top, despite his criminal cases. Will he be given another chance? Will it make any difference to France’s failing fortunes and Europe’s little local difficulties? Probably not, mes amis.

That’s the spirit!

Rio 2016 is not the last word in organisation or commercial savvy – thank goodness! What I’m enjoying is a feeling that the local volunteers and the Olympians are in it together, win or lose. Perhaps the best example is the golf competition. Pooh-poohed by many of the famous pros as small beer, beneath their notice, OL golf has proved to be a crowd-puller, with the skills we all admire but none of the big-money shenanigans. In fact show-boating by the big names in sport has been absent from most of the events I have seen, both on and off the running track. Even the Yanks are subdued. But the performances in general are superb, with hundreds of new, young talents coming to the fore.

So well done, Rio!

The trouble with brains

Jazz and I have a running duel about education which revolves around the value (or otherwise) of non-practical subjects. So perhaps a comment from Iolanthe is relevant? ‘I’ve a great respect for brains – I often wish I had some myself.’ Spoken by a 19thC member of the House of Lords, whose rôle in the burgeoning grammar schools debate in 2016 may prove critical.

Continue reading “The trouble with brains”

An old English custom

Some of the meeja hacks are getting hot under their cyber collars about Cameron’s parting gestures to his loyal colleagues. A K or two and a few MBEs. For people who, remember, had to work unreasonably long hours in old buildings whenever Dave and his Mrs needed them. And what else can a departing grandee do these days? He can’t sequester half of Yorkshire or the plate from a couple of monasteries on their behalf. And I wonder what Angela and le petit Hollande can do when they step down? The English honours system is very convenient, full of traditional meaning and cheap to implement. No, I’m afraid it’s raw envy that drives the criticism, and a persistent ignorance of The English Way of politics: it’s about Devil take the Hindmost. And none the worse for that.