Comments policy (from April 2026)

A revised comments policy will apply on this blog from April 2026.

The change is necessary. Traffic on this site has grown fourfold over the past four years. At the same time, the volume of comments that make requests that consume my time without contributing to broader debate has increased disproportionately. Since I am finite, this creates a demand on my time that makes it harder to fulfil other priorities. As a result, the conditions under which comments are accepted are being tightened.

What this blog is, and is not

This blog is a narrative commentary on political economy and what I describe as a politics of care. It was never intended to be an open discussion forum.

Comments are welcome, but when they are offered for publication, that outcome will always be made available at my discretion, and on the basis that the conditions set out below are understood and accepted.

The core requirement: comments must add value

The basic principle applied when accepting a comment for publication is that it must contribute constructively to the discussion I am developing in the post to which it relates.

From April 2026, all comments must:

• Be no more than 300 words in length
• Develop a point already made in the original post
• Present a clear and constructive argument that adds to debate
• Be complete in itself
• Not necessarily require a response

If a point cannot be made within 300 words, it is not a comment. It is a post and should be published elsewhere.

Note that few newspapers publish letters that are longer than 300 words, and, in effect, comments here will now be judged by the standards used for letters to a newspaper.

What will NOT be published

Some comments impose disproportionate demands on my time and will be deleted. These include:

• Requests for information (for elaboration, see below)
• Requests that I undertake specific actions, such as writing a blog post or producing a video
• Assertions that I am wrong that are not supported by a reasoned argument

Disagreement is welcome. Unsupported contradiction is not. Even where an argument is provided, I reserve the right not to publish if the point being made contravenes the requirements noted above.

Requests for information

If a comment asks a question that could reasonably be answered by searching this blog, using a general search engine, or consulting AI tools, I reserve the right to delete it without reply.

I have written more than 24,000 posts. I do not have time to repeat material that is already available. I do not provide an “explanation on demand” service.

Standards of conduct

Comments must address the ideas under discussion, not the character of the author or other contributors.

Repetition, bad-faith engagement (also described as 'trolling'), or attempts to provoke unproductive exchanges will result in deletion and may lead to the person commenting being blocked from posting further comments.

Identity and good faith

Given the scale of comment activity, priority is always given to those who appear to be acting in good faith.

The following significantly increase the likelihood that a comment will more often than not be deleted without explanation:

• Use of incomprehensible or apparently random usernames
• Email addresses that appear disposable or are not in genuine use
• Email addresses or URLs associated with known trolling behaviour
• Use of a single first name only (a first name and at least one initial is required, except for established commentators)

It is accepted that these are not necessarily guarantees of bad faith, but they are indicators that will be taken into account when moderating.

Commentators identified as using multiple identities will always be blocked.

Editorial control

All comments are subject to editorial control.

I make the final decision on publication, and there is no appeal
I reserve the right to edit comments to remove what I consider to be inappropriate material

Submission of a comment constitutes acceptance of the conditions published here.

Legal responsibility

By submitting a comment, you confirm that:

• You have the legal right to publish it
• It does not infringe the rights of any other person
• You accept unlimited liability for any costs arising from a breach of these conditions.

A disclaimer

All the above being noted, the information and any commentary on the law, tax or other issues contained in this blog are provided free of charge and for information purposes only. Every reasonable effort is made to ensure that the information and commentary are accurate and up to date, but no responsibility for their accuracy and correctness or for any consequences of relying on them is assumed by the author or the publisher.

The information and commentary do not, and are not intended to, amount to professional advice to any person on a specific case or matter. You are strongly advised to obtain specific, personal advice on any matter that concerns you and not to rely on the information or comments on this site.

Data Protection Policy

Key Roles

Data Subject: You reading this document

Data Controller: Richard Murphy

Data Processor: Richard Murphy

GENERAL PERSONAL DATA

Tax Research LLP holds some personal data of commenters on our website.

If a data subject leaves a comment on the website the name and email address of the commentator is stored in the website database. Only the name is viewable publicly.

Tax Research LLP makes no use of the stored email addresses. They are not shared with anyone. The only occasion that they are used is if Tax Research LLP has to make contact with the commentator to discuss an issue raised in the comment.

Data Subjects can also subscribe to receive email digests of blog posts from the website via Google's Feedburner service. This requires email confirmation through the Google Feedburner service. Tax Research LLP has no access to personal data on that service.

SUBJECT ACCESS REQUEST

If you would like to see what personal data we hold about you electronically and on paper, we have a legal duty to comply and will happily do so. You will need to confirm your identity with a photographic form of I.D. like a passport or driving licence. We will only be able to process requests made with photo I.D. We will respond within the statutory time limit of 1 month.

Policy Date 2^nd May 2018

Website Privacy and Cookie Policy

Overview

Effective date of this version: 2nd May 2018

Tax Research LLP is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

This webpage tells you the data protection and privacy practices for www.taxresearch.org.uk, specifically:

• What personally identifiable information is collected
• Which organisation is collecting this information
• How this information is used

Plain English Summary

We take your privacy very seriously.

www.taxresearch.org.uk does not actively track you as an individual.

Should you send us an email via the contact form, your name, email address and message will be emailed to us (as you would expect). This information is kept private. We will store this information within our own email system so that we are able to respond to you.

Should you comment on a blog post or web page on this site, then your name, email address, IP address and message will be stored in our website database (as you would expect). This makes your name, website address and comment (but not your email address) viewable by the general public on the website.

The website does use some cookies when you browse this website. These are used to ensure proper running of this website, and also to help us improve your experience when browsing.

This site uses Facebook cookies for the like buttons.

None of the information we gather via cookies identifies you as an individual - it is all entirely anonymous.

The cookies we use are detailed below:

Blog Post Comments

If you leave a comment on the website e.g. on a page, article or blog post, then a cookie may be stored to 'remember' your email address for the next time you post (should you choose the "remember me" option).

Cookie Policy Footer

In the footer of each web page on this site you will see a message alerting you of our privacy and cookie policy. If you've seen this message once, you probably won't want to see it again. We use a cookie to remember this setting. User data is all anonymous.

WordPress

WordPress is the Content Management System (CMS) that runs this website. It uses a "session cookie" when logging in and out and is essential for proper website operation. User data is all anonymous.

Third party cookies

We use "Share This" to share posts. They store some cookies to enable that to work.
The Social media sites Facebook, Google+ and Twitter uses cookies for social media sharing.
You can view more info about their cookies by viewing their privacy policies:
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Share This

Lastly we use Statcounter and Google Stats to track how many visitors the site gets. These do not track you identifiably.