Advice from fat cats for the country??

Whatever next? We`ve had advice on the country`s needs from tax avoiding millionaires like Stefano Pessina of Boots, and CEOs of banks guilty of interest-rate rigging and mis-selling, like Antony Jenkins of Barclay, so presumably, we can now expect similar words of wisdom from one of the energy companies` bosses, who have deprived the British public of millions,especially since the fall in oil prices? They will be keen not only to advise us on how we can all tighten our belts so that we can manage to pay the extra £114 next year, but also how we would be wiser to vote Tory in May, just in case a Labour government actually did listen to the wishes of the electorate, and nationalise their companies.

    The likes of the Yo! Sushi founder, and Tory donor, Simon Woodroffe, who wants "enormous profits" which can be "shared out later", and who thinks Labour are listening to the "masses" rather than business, have to be resisted, and it should not be difficult. Company bosses clearly are in need of a reminder of the meaning of democracy, and then challenged to explain why an extra £900m has had to be paid by taxpayers to enable low-paid workers to pay their rent, why tax avoidance by corporations and rich individuals has caused an annual tax gap of around £40bn, and why the FTSE 100`s CEOs typically receive in total renumeration 143  times that of the average employee in their firms. Are they happy with Britain`s 28th position out of 34 developed nations in the equality league table? Can they justify the £500bn businesses have hoarded away and refused to invest in the economy, or the £375bn the banks received from Quantitative Easing to kickstart the economy back in 2010?

        What a shame they all don`t all act in the interests of the country and pay the correct amount of corporate tax, and insist on a change in their culture, so that profit-at-all costs is no longer their raison d`etre, and that the needs of their customers are their priorities. The arrogance of our banking and business leaders beggars belief! 
         Rafael Behr rightly says that "Labour`s infantry will struggle to be heard" whilst the fat cat Tory donors are flying their "anti-Miliband jets", and the right-wing media are "foretelling apocalypse" if Labour win the election.(Guardian,04.02.15) The activists on the ground need support from Labour leaders who must not only attack the Tories for their anti-EU policies but have the bottle to challenge these so-called "wealth creators" whose profit-at-all-costs attitudes have led to soaring inequality, and the only wealth created their own!

      Miliband`s rebuke of the right of any tax avoider like Stefano Pessina of Boots to interfere in British politics was an encouraging start, but much more will be needed as the Tories continue to "weaponise" business. 

      Rachel Reeves`s warning that taxpayers will be forking out over £14bn by 2020 for housing benefit for the low paid is timely, but unless Labour`s top table start shouting such things from the roof tops, the efforts of the "foot soldiers" may well be in vain. Success in war is always more likely when the generals lead from the front!