The Taxpayers' Alliance is a small bunch of selfish, lying, cynical reactionaries, whose tiny membership believe that Thatcher and Pinochet were essentially communists. They'd rather let the poor starve, the old freeze and the sick die rather than pay any tax. So obviously they think that all politicians are thieves. All they want is lower tax - despite it already being lower than every civilised country I can think of.
The Daily Mail is a tumour. Its owner is a tax-evading, hypocritical harlot - a man with power but no responsibility. Again, the paper resents the existence of government. Lord Rothermere, owner of the Mail, lives in France. Except he doesn't. Well, it depends on who you ask. His milk and bread are delivered to a £50 million mansion in southwest England, which is definitely in England. Letters from the taxman, however, are delivered to a convenient address in France because he's officially 'non-domiciled' in Britain for tax purposes. Essentially, he's letting us pay to keep Britain the quite pleasant place it is for him to enjoy, while hiding his money elsewhere. No doubt he tells the French that he doesn't live there either.
Let's not forget that the Daily Mail stole the 1924 election by publishing the Zinoviev letters (which claimed that the Labour Party was a communist front) knowing them to be fake, openly supported Hitler and his British mini-me Oswald Mosley, tried to overthrow several governments, and was rancidly anti-semitic.
So what are these two unpleasant factions up to? They're raising money from the public to prosecute MPs for cheating us, the taxpayer. I know some MPs are corrupt. But most aren't, and we can sack those who are by voting for someone else. Lord Rothermere and this uninviting, loudmouthed pressure group however, can't be sacked, aren't elected, don't come under any proper scrutiny and can't be questioned. Rothermere is cheating you, me and everybody else, while pointing at MPs and shouting 'thief'. They've stolen a few thousand pounds. He's stolen millions. What can we do? Other than burn down his mansion (he won't mind, he says he doesn't live there), we can tell the truth to any Mail readers we know, and remind everybody that if you don't make a contribution to this country, you don't get a say.
Newspaper owners, including the Mail's in the 1930s and 1970s, plotted to overthrow the government through military means. Now they poison the less-informed because they resent democracy. They think riches qualify you to rule. They don't.
I'll stop now. I know you all think I'm a boring wanker for going on about this stuff, but it is really important and it's SO wrong.
No web access for the next few days. I'll miss you all, and Radio 4. I'm taking a Richard Sennett book along as a 'prop', as I don't have a copy of 'Friends of the British Museum'.
