It seems a matter of great delight to some in the Crown Dependencies that the EU has finally aproved their much altered tax systems.
As has been well known, I campaigned against these systems. And I think I can claim some small credit at the very least for forcing change in them, as I have in securing other change in the tax systems of the Isle of Man in particular.
But I did say, it's quite right, that there was a chance they might still be rejected. And they weren't, after some pretty heavy undertakings being given by the islands instead.
So you can say I was wrong, if you like.
So what? The person who never took a risk was never wrong. I take risks. So I'll get things wrong, sometimes.
I can live with that. It's the price I pay for effecting change. And I'll settle for the change plus the odd wrong prediction any day.
So telling me I'm wrong is a truism because it's inevitably correct. But I'll take it as a compliment because it means I might have impacted on you on the way, especially if you're in financial services or government in the Crown Dependencies. And that's what really matters in this case.
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You appear to have been proved right far more often than you have been proved wrong. Something you certainly can’t say about this present government.
Richard, I heartily agree with Stevo!! on this. May I also add, you were taken to task by Liam, on 3rd September, for running with my idea of a pull-out from the EU before the next election – Liam’s charming comment went “What absolute nonsense — you’ve gone from 1+1 and come up with “potato”, and that what the Tories were doing with the boundary/constituency changes was not gerrymandering. Further the EU withdrawal was not on the agenda at all.
On the gerrymandering issue, I suggest he reads this piece http://ht.ly/6vLlV, with its headline “Shocked MPs told electoral plan could remove 10m voters.” When a Government sets the terms of reference for the Boundary Commission, they have no need to get their hands dirty, but it’s STILL gerrymandering.
On the EU withdrawal, I suggest he reads this piece http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14863588 , with its headline “William Hague ‘being held back by Lib Dems’ on Europe”.
The Lib-Dems as key to both these matters, as the Tories are getting increasingly ratty about the way the Lib-Dems have suddenly rediscovered their social conscience (the Lib-Dems have woken up in bed after a huge bender, and found themselves in bed with a withered crone – not at all the beauty they thought they were conquering in their drunken gropings of the evening before, poor things!), and are now trying to crack the whip over them in the matter of the boundary changes “We let them have their AV Referendum, now they must accept the boundary changes without a murumur” – ignoring the way the whole Tory Party campaigned openly against AV.
The Tories are also worried at the increasing signs that the Lib-Dems, recognising that they can only save themselves from electoral annihilation by distancing themselves from the Tories – something they are increasingly doing, over the disastrous NHS carve-up, over the need for a Plan B (whatever Clegg thought or claims he was saying, he was asking for Plan B), will jump ship ahead of 2015.
Both Parties are, I believe, circling each other prior to a break; but the Lib-Dems must act before these gerrymandered boundaries come into operation – only then will they both win some credit from the electorate and also see that translated into electoral success for their Party. The Eurozone crisis is not only about economies, but also about politics, and may act as an operative cause for some decisive changes in the Coalition.
except the IOM VAT re-negotiation wasn’t down to you either (although you’ll never admit as much to your paymasters)
Hey I don’t claim all the credit
And I couldn’t renegotiate it
So I’m not overstating the case
But I can say that this was on no one’s agenda until I put it there
And I guess that’s why your ministers seem so keen to blame me