Putting up the National Insurance contributions for
the self-employed, of whom, as Zoe Williams informs us, 91% "are earning £20,000
or less" (Plausible, sober, and yet divorced from reality,09/03/17) is hardly
the action of a chancellor who "has been brave", as your editorial on the Spring
Budget suggests (The chancellor provides political theatre - but is it all an
act? 09/03/17). Going after the companies "who use self-employment as a way of
dodging national insurance", not to mention their responsibilities regarding
sickness and holiday pay, should have been Hammond`s first, rather than "next
step". It seems, however, that would be too much to expect from an increasingly
duplicitous Tory government, which refuses to deal with the financial crises in
the National Health and care systems, even when blessed with unexpected tax
windfalls amounting to billions.
It is blatantly obvious, to the Guardian`s
readers if not all of its writers, that May and her team have no intention of
governing in the way announced on the steps of 10 Downing Street last July, and
that many of the "just about managing" will have to continue to do just that,
albeit reliant on scant government subsidies. An Opposition leader who
"lambasted the chancellor", and whose post-Budget speech criticised the Tories
for their "utter complacency", should be praised for his stance against
inequality, rather than the recipient of snide remarks (Corbyn attacks
complacency as services suffer, 09/03/17).
Rather than looking "at the benches
opposite", perhaps Hammond is more aware of the lack of "pressure to defend
himself for extending austerity", refusing to tax the rich proportionally, and
for his "appalling priorities", in the nation`s leading centre-left newspaper
(Hammond was swaggering in the ring alone, 09/03/17)!
Your editorial is absolutely correct to say that
there are "habits, courtesies and unwritten codes of decency and honour" which
should govern politicians` behaviour, but wrong to suggest that there is
"something distasteful" about George Osborne "cashing in" on his time as
chancellor, whilst remaining an MP (Printed pledges and unwritten protocols both
matter in politics,10/03/17). It is utterly disgraceful, totally reprehensible,
and completely unacceptable! He clearly feels no guilt about the horrendous
suffering his unnecessary austerity policies have caused, otherwise he would
have resigned.
What a shame the British
press don`t see the need for a hatchet-job on the former chancellor, yet
continue to lambast Corbyn, a decent politician fighting against the inequality
which Osborne both espouses and epitomises!
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