I’m not bothering to forecast 2013: it’s too unpredictable to call. So there’s only one thing I will say. I expect to write an awful lot of words in 2013, whatever happens.

I’m grateful to Tom Pride for pulling together a chain of thoughts this morning. He suggested on his blog that the government is trying to suppress discussion on Twitter (which via Tory friendly libel lawyers I suspect it is) and that there is a precedent for this, in 1675. The Coffee Sage web site provides the text:
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As the FT notes this morning: France’s Socialist government has vowed to continue squeezing the rich, despite therejection of its controversial 75 per cent tax rate by the country’s constitutional council. Quite right too, with the explanation coming from Phillip Inman in the Guardian: As Fred Harrison, research director of the London-based Land Research Trust, points
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The Ripped Off Britain blog asked me what my New year wish was. This is what I wrote: Can I shock the world and say what I’d really like someone to do in the New Year has something to do with tax? I believe in tax. I think it’s the price we pay for living in a
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The UK Coalition government has gutted most of the anti-avoidance mechanisms in UK tax law that were meant to stop Uk based companies abusing offshore. They’ve done it deliberately and they feign surprise that tax receipts have fallen as a result. The pressure on the US government to do the same is rising. In the 12 minute monologue
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I can’t pretend I live up to this, but it’s well worth reading and thinking about: Available for download here.

Read the full report here. Then ask the question – why is the UK such an easy ride for multinational corporations? More from me in the Mail on this tomorrow.

It’s slightly annoying to find Nils Pratley has written pretty much the blog I was thinking of doing this morning when musing on the day ahead, and now I’ve read his I can’t claim originality. So, what the heck, I’ll quote him instead. His first point it important: he says that there is a difference between complying with the letter
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On the first day of Xmas the Bankers gave to me sovereign debt and forced austerity, On the 2nd day of Xmas the Bankers gave to me money laundering On the 3rd day of Xmas the Bankers gave to me tax ha-vens  On the 4th day of Xmas the Bankers gave to me corruption served  On the 5th day of Xmas the Bankers
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