I was on BBC Radio Jersey this morning (no link yet) - replying to deputy Chief Minister Terry le Sueur, who was welcoming the government's planned new review and saying things like this, included in a press release they put out yesterday:
The Review will give us a further opportunity to show the strength of Jersey's regulatory system and the extent of our international co-operation and transparency. We are confident it will also provide us with further third party endorsement of our continuing compliance with international standards, of our preparedness to cope with the present economic climate and withstand future shocks, and also of our ability to sustain the long term stability of our economy.
Unsurprisingly, I disagreed. I had planned my comments in advance, as I often do, using a MindMap. When you're live at 7am that's especially important! It looked like this:
That last one should have been 'will', I note.
And this is why I could say with confidence on air that Jersey's days as a haven are numbered. It is playing by the rules, but it's playing the wrong game. The game has changed, and theirs is now over.
OK, it will take time, but Senator le Sueur is leading the people of Jersey up a garden path if he really thinks that this plan is good for them. It won't be. This time the new anti-haven alliance of Washington, Brussels and London means business, and this time they will be dragging the OECD and IMF behind them.
PS: The MindMap took a minute or two using MindGenius. I strongly recommend it as a productivity tool.
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The States have just discovered the Heresy (Jersey) Law 1665, which received Royal Assent in that year and has never been repealed.
It allows for trial in absentia of all heretics who rail against God’s Island. All who are found guilty will be extradicted, incarcerated in Gorey Castle dungeon, prior to flogging and burning at the stake.
Be careful!
Still recommending Microsoft tools?
Doing your bit for poverty, are you?
I see that you are not posting my comment submitted at 11:55 am, whereas you have posted comment made after 1pm on other posts. I am therefore assuming that this will not get posted.
It is of course your complete right: this is your blog and you have mentioned in the past that you were reserving te right to post or not comments.
But you not posting my latest post shows that you are only posting debates comments that you can win, and you cannot win that one. You endorse the products of a company which uses bad business practices and tax havens. Yet, for some reason, you do not seem to seek alternative to this company’s products because it suits you (for whichever reason – business needs, habits, laziness, lack of curiosity, prejudice, etc…) . That, to me (and I may be wrong) is double standard and makes you lose all your credibility and your integrity. Microsoft is a company that does as much harm to developped countries as the big 4. Did you read about the latest attempt to bribe Nigerian officials?
I know a tax blog is not the forum for such debates, but I am nonetheless disappointed. I will keep on reading your blog because I find it informative, challenging, and often right. I just wish you went all the way and acted in complete accordance with your ideals.
Just check http://www.gnu.org.
All personal wishful thinking again Richard, but once this next visit has been completed, yet again you will be proven wrong.
Hum
Let’s get real here….
I have a job to do as well as this
And I even take lunch
In other wards, I have a life apart from blogging
And nothing gets on here until I’ve read it
So I’m not offering many apologies for taking a little over an hour to approve a comment
Richard
Well done.
You’ve kicked my comment into touch because of form rather than content.
Game, set and match Richard.
Hum
You may have noticed I am no lover of Mr Gates and his merry crowd. I helped get his abuse of Ireland out in the public domain so I really do not see your criticism that valid.
But for the record I’ve tried Linux, and sorry, I haven’t got time for the C> prompt and all that goes with it.
It’s just not good enough for non-geeks yet.
That’s reality
Richard
Has someone forgot to tell me something?
As the developers, publishers and owners of MindGenius we didn’t realise we had been bought by Microsoft!
We are based in East Kilbride, 100% UK and proud of it!
Donald & Derek
FREE TRADE AND FREE SPEECH
ANTI-HAVEN ALLIANCE?
If anybody that has a problem with Microsoft really wants to do something about it then instead of posting off-topic comments on blogs they might care to design applications that are better and cheaper. Unfortunately the understanding of ‘better’ amongst geeks rarely if ever extends to the concept of inter-operability. A day or two ago I was searching for software that would convert a particularly obscure video format into something that could be shared with normal human beings who expect to put a disc into a player and for it to work. Nearly every site I looked at was clogged with comments from people who think that the more obscure a format is, the better it is, regardless of the fact that most people would not be able to use it without searching for and downloading obscure software to play it. For the majority of people for whom computers are tools to perform a function rather than the centre of their lives this runs the risk of downloading trojans, spyware or the dreaded Yahoo toolbar. The common factor amongst the ‘anything but Windows’ brigade is that they apparently have no need of software that enables them to share information with neighbours, colleagues or the general public.
Having spent several months in the High Court, over a period of three years, doing my small but effective bit to help nail one of the most revolting slum landlords in London, who ran his property empire through Liberian and BVI FRCs with stooge directors in Jersy, I read this site to be kept up to date on the progress in the fight to help stop such things happening again. Tax Justice is not just about abstract notions of poverty in far away places it is about bullying and explotation of people in your neighbourhood who may well have decent jobs but who cannot afford decent representation to exercise their legal rights. I for one am perfectly happy if Richard bins all the geek comments, just as I am perfectly happy for Hum to set up his own blog dedicated to criticising Richard for using Microsoft. Free Speech is about being able to say what you think, demanding that somebody else publishes your remarks for you is simply an impertinance.
Having got that off my chest…
Richard,
Do you seriously believe that London, the British Government, is really part of an anti-tax haven alliance?
(I cannot help but remember that thirty years ago we had a Labour government and a number of Cabinet members were avoiding tax by pretending to be Farmers. All animals are equal, but some … etc.)
My impression is that it is President Elect Obama that is anti tax haven and Whitehall are simply facing up to the fact that his incoming administration are not going to tolerate the various banana republics that pretend to be British undermining US tax revenues.