What a strange country we live in. A couple of weeks ago we had courts sitting 24 hours a day to convict daft kids who took part in or received proceeds of the riots. In many case ridiculous sentences were handed down by wizened, old fuckers who are still living, in their own minds in the 70s. One, as you will recall, was for a guy who nicked 4 bottles of water from a looted shop as he walked home from his girl's and he got 4 years, despite the fact his record was clean.
On the other hand, our rulers, the politicians, have just signed a deal with Switzerland to get tax back from those with secret Swiss bank accounts. Fucking good thing, I hear you shout. I agreed, until I looked into it a bit closer. The Treasury and the political Establishment in this country have the ability to make a pound of tripe, seem like the finest fillet steak. The Swiss have agreed to tax these accounts and the Treasury have said that they expect to get back £5billion. Firstly, there is no chance of that amount coming back here and well they know it. Secondly, why should these tax evaders be taxed less in Switzerland than people who bank in this country and thirdly, why are they being allowed to keep their anonymity?
Let me tell you the answer to those questions. The EU are or more correctly, were, in the process of making Switzerland tell all EU states, who had accounts, how much was in them and when they were opened. This deal with Britain scuppers that agreement and it can no longer go ahead and individual countries will now have to make their own arrangements. So the British Establishment which is jailing people for 4 years for stealing some water is allowing the rich and mostly the mega-rich, to evade taxes and hide their identities.