Absolutely Not The Daily Troll-o-Graph

Allison Pearson Daily Telegraph  I’m not done with Essex Police yet, and readers’ tales of similar Kafkaesque treatment have just made me more determined Link I got an early Christmas present. Lord Herbert, chairman of the College of Policing, has said that the Government should consider scrapping non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) after “inconsistency and controversy” over their misuse. That controversy arose, you will recall, after I wrote here about two Essex police officers turning up at my front door on Remembrance Sunday to tell me I was accused of saying something a year ago on social media by a “victim”. But they were unable to reveal what I’d said or whom I had offended. (Essex Police claim my tweet was upgraded to a criminal offence under the Public Order Act, although it was recorded as an NCHI 12 months earlier by Sussex Police. In any case, the CPS slapped down this patent absurdity and confirmed the obvious; no case to answer.) The incident was so Kafkaesque that it pro...

 Trust in the political establishment is already at a dangerous low: Labour are playing a game they can only lose Source - Daily Telegraph - 17/12/24 Link Justice delayed is justice denied, or so a long-established truism dictates. But does the same go for democracy? Yesterday, amid the trumpet fanfare of yet another local government shake-up in England (this one really will work and will embed the local government map for decades to come – promise!), there was much focus on the size of the proposed new single-tier authorities and how many existing district councils were for the chop. It was only later that the second shoe dropped and people started asking whether next May’s local elections were going to happen at all. Annual spring elections are a familiar feature of the political calendar. No government at Westminster can rest on its laurels for long – even after securing a three-figure majority at the last general election – before it needs to start organising to fight the next ...

 The new Tory leader is already coming under attack. Here’s how she wins 15 December 2024  Source - Daily Telegraph-  Link A good sailor knows that tides are more important than waves. Waves demand attention and can be noisy. At their worst, they destroy cliffs and buildings. But waves come and go, one moment frothy, the next millpond quiet. Tides are inevitable, often imperceptible. As we approach the end of 2024, there are plenty of waves (immigration, culture wars, whether Love Actually is the best or worst Christmas film ever). But there are only three tides. Nigel Farage’s Reform Party has momentum. Labour’s tide is in danger of going out – but could turn. The Tories are becalmed, but not for the reasons most people think. Three weeks ago Reform hit 100,000 members and set a target of winning hundreds of council seats at the local elections next May. In the summer, talk of Farage having any chance of an assault on Number 10 would have seemed fanciful. Such an outcome...

Hit to Exchequer from lower investment and job losses will outweigh revenue uplift, warn economists Source - Daily Telegraph Link Rachel Reeves’s inheritance tax raid on family businesses and farms will backfire by costing the Treasury over £1bn more than it makes, economists have said. A drop in investment caused by the Chancellor slashing tax relief risks outweighing the extra income the Exchequer expects to gain from the changes, according to analysis by CBI Economics. Its report says the Treasury has “underestimated the impact” of changes to business property relief (BPR), with the majority of family businesses forced to cut investment because of the raid Analysts estimate that 125,678 jobs will be lost as a result. Overall, the loss of economic activity will lead to a £2.6bn reduction in income from taxes such as corporation tax, income tax and national insurance over the next five years, the research suggests. This is much more than the estimated £1.38bn in extra inheritance tax ...

The UK's membership of the CPTPP came into effect on Sunday. Britain is the first European country to join the Indo-Pacfic bloc, its previous government billed the move its "biggest trade deal" since Brexit. Source - DW In focus December 15, 2024 Link The United Kingdom became the 12th member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, as of Sunday.  The previous British government signed the accession treaty last year, with most members of the bloc having since ratified the UK's entry. Officials hope membership could boost Britain's struggling economy by as much as $2.5 billion (roughly €2.4 billion) per year.  The country is trying to strike new trade deals abroad in the aftermath of leaving the European Union following its 2016 referendum on Brexit, with EU member states still accounting for over 40% of UK exports and more than 50% of imports. What is the CPTPP?  The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-P...

As an MEP, I represented many Chagossians living in the UK. I know a a moral and mutually beneficial way to solve this crisis Daily Telegraph 01/12/24 Link “Chagos pour British!” they chanted, in the melodious creole of their ancestral archipelago. And any watching Brit could hardly fail to be moved. They were gathered outside our High Commission in Mauritius, a crowd of exiled Chagossians protesting against Labour’s handover of their islands. Simply by speaking those words, they were risking ten years in prison. In 2021, Mauritius made it a criminal offence to “misrepresent the sovereignty of Mauritius over any part of its territory”, a law aimed more or less explicitly at the Chagossian diaspora. Chagossians are by no means alone in opposing Labour’s surrender. British voters dislike it. The incoming US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, says it “poses a serious threat to our national security interests.” Even the new Mauritian government, elected three weeks ago, is unconvinced. It ha...