I have noted I had quite a good evening at the Association of International Accountants' Founders' Lecture tonight. In contrast John O'Connell of the Taxpayers' Alliance did not.

It's not just that Joe Stead of Christian Aid outshone him on presentation skills, it was just that almost everything that O'Connell said sounded, quite candidly, barking mad.

The entire audience knew that even if we want tax simplification there is no way we can abolish capital gains tax, inheritance tax, stamp duty, all green taxes, corporation tax, and more decides and still have a working economy.

And as Mike Truman of Taxation Magazine said, none of what he said made any sense anyway: we were already not raising enough tax for what society clearly needed and unless you were planning to completely abolish the NHS  then all these proposals were meaningless.

When it came to a vote this bunch of sage accountants did, as far as I could see, not give the TPA a single vote. Christian Aid and tax justice won the day.

I think that says all you need to know about the TPA's appeal. They really are out there all on their own with their far right friends in the wonk tanks.