Backing off from bank reform

Experience to date tells us that when "government sources" say something different to Vince Cable about a policy outcome then its the sources that are likely to be right. This lesson would appear to apply to the ConDem's troubled banking reforms where any shake-up of the present system seems unlikely to come into effect before the 2015 general election.

The Business Secretary insists that legislation to separate the investment and commercial parts of leading banks is imminent. However, treasury officials are telling financial journalists that the "practicalities" involved means it will take several years to implement. They also imply that a series of "exceptions" are under actve consideration.

Political commentators sense that Conservatives are back-tracking on earlier commitments to protect taxpayers from having to cough up for the costs of possible future meltdowns in the financial sector. The phrase coming from Chancellor George Osborne's office is that banks should be given the "breathing space" they have been calling for to build up their financial strength.

Very few observers think that the Lib Dems have the desire - or the gumption - to go to wire over this one. The fact that it is an expendable Vince Cable mouthing disatisfaction and not Clegg is sufficient sign of a pending acquiesence, albeit wrapped in some rationalisation or other.

As ever, Lib Dem influence over government policy is vastly overstated.

Affordability begins at home

We note that Peter Black expounds at length on the lack of affordable housing in Wales. Perhaps such lamentations should be expressed closer to home. Swansea, where he serves on the local authority, is scheduled to see less affordable housing delivered in 2011 than it did in 2008.

Whatever the rationalisations now on offer, Conservatives and Lib Dems have ably demonstrated the level of their commitment – especially towards those who need help in terms of housing and disability benefits.

When it comes to the harsh realities about housing and homelessness - and what are the underlying causes - then there really is only one trustworthy source.

Quango bosses more equal than others

Having commented ourselves a short while ago that ministerial "transparency" over top public salaries amounted to simply rubbing it in over inequalities in pay, we note that the Telegraph has picked up the same theme.

They report the scandalous situation whereby Britain's highest-paid quango bosses have almost doubled their salaries with six-figure bonuses, special allowances and pension windfalls.

Among the lucky winners is the chief executive of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority who comes out as the country’s highest-paid quango boss with a pay package of more than £520,000, comprising a basic salary of £365,000, a second home allowance of £85,937 and pension payments of £70,810.

Other amounts quoted as being paid out to government agency bosses are staggering given that civil service pay has been frozen and vital services are being cut back across the board on a daily basis.

A cabinet office spokesman however confirmed that the higher echelons of officialdom will remain insulated from the austerity that affects the rest of the public sector. He insisted that "increased transparency in public bodies and the removal of waste are top priorities.” In other words, inequality is OK as long as we know about it.

Wrong target

The increasing number of Labour MPs who are questioning each other why their party is not further ahead in the polls will take scant comfort from a story in the Observer about a forthcoming campaign.

In terms of actual insight, Labour’s leaked tactic of describing David Cameron as “recognisably right wing” is likely to convey about as much impact as calling Mother Teresa a nun. Little wonder that some despairing PLP members have suggested that former Conservative frontbencher Shaun Woodward might not be the right person to be heading up the party’s anti-tory attack unit.

The electorate’s honeymoon with ConDem coalition has moved swiftly into estrangement but Labour faces an uphill struggle in persuading anyone that the lesser form of austerity they have to offer is something to get excited about. So it is to be expected that strategists would opt in the meantime to target an individual who has found it expedient to abandon pre-election promises of inclusiveness and instead support an agenda of rolling back state provision whilst cosseting an unrepentant financial sector.

But shouldn’t they be talking about Nick Clegg?

Named and unashamed

The otherwise obscure Liberal Democrat MP who grabbed the headlines by exposing the publicity-shy through parliamentary privilege stands accused of being unfit for public office.

Member for Birmingham Yardley John Hemming endeared himself to news editors when he outed Fred Goodwin and Ryan Giggs in the Commons in order to overcome super injunctions that restricted reporting of embarrassing extra-marital involvements. Many understood Hemming’s personal motivation at the time, having had his own financial dealings and a series of affairs splashed in the press a while earlier. There was also the matter of his wife appearing in court charged with stealing a cat that belonged to the other woman.

However, a fellow MP has now written to the Speaker saying that Hemming should be made to quit Parliament after a woman whose cause he championed was accused by a judge of being a liar. John Mann, Labour MP for Bassetlaw, accused the Lib Dem of being "foolhardy and irresponsible" and of having a "macho attitude" towards the courts.

Hemming – known as “Haemorrhoid” by parliamentary colleagues who consider him something of a pain in the arse – also annoyed the hell out of South Wales NHS bosses for unwisely highlighting restrictive court injunctions taken out against a self-styled serial whistle-blower.

Speaker John Bercow is known to be exasperated by Hemming’s outbursts. Several MPs expect him to warn that further ill-considered naming of individuals with impunity will impede Parliament’s ability to introduce legislation aimed at curbing the media’s future ability to invade personal privacy whilst safeguarding public interest.

Based on available evidence however, Hemming is unlikely to care too much about such a possibility. He clearly enjoys being the only name in town.

Just like real life

The Telegraph reports that Channel 4 is in the early stages of producing a comedy show “featuring plots about newspaper phone hacking and other illegal journalistic practices”.

Developed under the work title “Hacks”, it will depict staff in a mythical newsroom where most of them are engaged in practices such as phone hacking, blagging and pinging to get a story by any means necessary.

The pilot is scripted by the people responsible for the series “Drop the Dead Donkey”. No news on technical advisors as yet but there is unlikely to be any kind of shortage.

When performance is a double-edged sword

As the working relationship between Cardiff Bay and Welsh local government continues to deteriorate, observers are looking for signs of whether Carwyn Jones will soon feel obliged to give a restraining tug on the leashes of his attack dogs.

Ministers keen to highlight the self-evident failings of council run services in Anglesey and Blaenau Gwent have so far managed to avoid any counter-accusations that other considerations are at work - but give it time.

Successive administrations have added to townhall burdens and dodged questions about the need for additional resources with meaningless talk of "local priorities". Councils are used to being told by various governments that they have to work with less. They are equally adept at taking the flak when the next round of budget cuts means closing something down or depleting a service. But when inspectors start regularly parking their tanks on the grass outside the civic centre then the rules of engagement change dramatically. 

As such, education minister Leighton Andrews might be overstepping the mark by publicly squaring up to Pembrokeshire and its well-regarded leader. As a farmer, WLGA leader John Davies would probably be entirely justified in commenting that a local authority which had so badly mishandled the aborted badger cull (for example) would have found itself in special measures some considerable time ago.

Indeed, some might argue that if the government game plan is to preface a 'rationalisation’ (merger) of Welsh local authorities with a barrage of reports & findings that expose endemic under-performance then the logical conclusion is that ministerial responsibilities for health, education and economic prosperity should be placed under a single portfolio.

Only saying.

Doctor's papers

We've been sent a copy of the email flying around Calamity Hall and elsewhere which has allegedly been issued by the leader of Swansea Council to all members. This purports that he has interviewed Dozy Den following complaints about his behaviour and has been given an excuse that it was all down to "very strong painkillers".

There is no indication as to whether it was medication that also induced him to reportedly ram his finger up his nose from time to time during the same event or demand alternative fare because his didn’t like look of the free buffet.

The views forthrightly expressed among backbenchers, some of whom have become openly contemptuous over his antics, is that those in charge have once again bottled out from taking the appropriate action - as happened when the same individual was accused of swearing violently at female members of staff.

However, we are advised by knowledgeable sources that people should “recognise the significance” of the semi-public manner in which what is effectively an open-ended suspension of a civic post-holder has been announced. Hmmm.

Not a solution, just a different problem

It has been good fun watching tories fervently polishing their law and order credentials in the wake of the recent riots. A case in point is Clwyd West AM Darren Millar who attacked what he considered to be lenient sentencing for a would-be rioter who posted something on Facebook for 20 minutes and got four months in pokey for his trouble.

As much as they lament the inconsistencies in sentencing (and hanker after the return of corporal punishment) you just know that it’s only a matter of time before Justice secretary Ken Clarke points out an inconvenient truth that packing the offenders into prison is unsustainable at best.

According to a few criminologists, imprisonment is also a sure-fire way to give a large number of people an excellent opportunity for first-hand tutelage in real law-breaking.

Blood in the water

Although it is well concealed, there must be serious vexation at the Guardian that it was the BBC's Robert Peston, and not them, who exposed how Andy Coulson continued to receive cash payments from News International after his resignation and up to the end of 2007. He took up post as the Conservative party’s director of communications in July that year.

Tory party sources insist they had no knowledge of these payments and have checked with official involved in hiring him the former News of the World editor.

The paper states that “rumours of a financial relationship between Coulson and News International have circulated for some time”. However it was Peston who uncovered the “contractual arrangements” and is said to have learned a few more things that have been deemed possibly too risky for publication (as yet).

They add that, prior to him standing down as director of communications in January this year, party officials had asked the spin-meister directly whether he had received payments from News International during the period he had worked for them. They stated that they had received "categorical" assurances that this was not the case.

News International are less keen to hang Coulson out to dry and will only state that the company does “not comment on the financial arrangements of any individual".

We give it 24 hours before the Select Committees start circling.

Peering down the wrong end of the telescope

There is probably a dossier on Lib Dem peer Lord Carlile somewhere in party HQ with an overall assessment of “unhelpful”. And it is the same vein that the barrister and President of the Howard League for Penal Reform told the media that he expects differences over the sentencing of rioters to “cause difficulties” within the UK coalition government.

His view is that some ministers and politicians were grandstanding and should not interfere with the courts. Conservatives and Lib Dems would soon fall out over the issue, he contended.

Whatever the prospects of a contretemps, it’s worth noting that the Independent on Sunday reports how Conservative support has actually strengthened to its highest level since October last year. According to the paper, a poll conducted by ComRes appears to have “reinforced support for the traditional party of law and order”. Tory support is up two points since last month to 38 per cent, just two points behind Labour on 40 per cent. The Liberal Democrats are up one point on 11 per cent.

Given these trends, Cameron – who patently now favours hanging hoodies rather than hugging them – will undoubtedly consider further “creative tension” among his cabinet as a small price to pay for improved popularity. At the very least it will provide a respite from questions over his employment of Any Coulson.

Whether this hardening of attitude prompts Nick Clegg to jump in any particular direction on the issue is seen by many as an irrelevance. The deputy PM is shrewd enough to realise that being regarded in affected constituencies as soft on crime is hardly the best outcome.

Someone should tell his lordship.

Petards and payback

It’s fairly certain that News International executives (and others) will have been edified by the Guardian having to draw a rueful distinction between the arrest of a 51-year-old detective constable over leaks associated with the Met’s enquiries into phone-hacking and the wrong-doings under investigation.

A spokesperson for Guardian News & Media understandably declined to comment on reports that the leaks involved had been to the newspaper group and stated:

"We note the arrest of a Scotland Yard detective on suspicion of misconduct in a public office relating to unauthorised disclosure of information.

"On the broader point raised by the arrest, journalists would no doubt be concerned if conversations between off-the-record sources and reporters came routinely to be regarded as criminal activity. In common with all news organisations we have no comment to make on the sources of our journalism."

The problem with this particular defence however is that such conversations are already regarded as illegal if the ‘off-the-record sources’ are serving police officers providing info on live investigations.

What are the priorities?

When a health watchdog body warns that their performance will be affected by the cost of having to translate all their documents into Welsh, then it’s time for politicians to intervene – or at least have the bottle to say something.

Carol Davies, Director for Wales' Community Health Councils (CHCs) has described requirements for translating even internal documents into Welsh as "unrealistic". She added that the cost of compliance will result in an inability to effectively monitor the work of the NHS in Wales.

The Welsh Language Board state they are “unable to respond” citing their code of practice that drafting and agreeing on a bilingual policy is “a private and confidential matter between the board and individual bodies.”

That is all very laudable in theory but given that it is the public which ends paying the operating costs for both organisations in this instance then a little more transparency is warranted. It’s significant that none of our AMs has said something similar – so far.

Personality isn't everything

A number of Plaid watchers like ourselves will understand the exasperation by Bethan Jenkins over her party’s fixation with Adam Price. Whilst you can speculate whether her comments should be sourced back to her press and political officer, it was nonetheless time for someone to challenge the misguided view Plaid has been so diminished by the loss of key (i.e. media friendly) figures in May’s Assembly elections that its only hope of resurgence lies with the “prince over the water”.

She writes in her blog “I sincerely want to challenge Plaid and its members to think about what we want to achieve as a team of people, as opposed to falling into believing that it takes just one special person to change the party or develop it, without thinking about how they can take people with them on that journey, building a team around them – including, crucially, succession planning.”

Bethan’s spokesman however can rest assured that no-one seems to have interpreted her comments as a leadership bid or even took that possibility remotely seriously.

Do sleeping mayors lie?

We’re incredibly grateful to the semi-anonymous contributor who provided this charming pic of Dozy Den ‘in action’ at a recent graduation ceremony.

We hear that Swansea’s second-rate citizen has since informed his very limited circle of confidants that he is most unlikely to be available for civic functions for an indeterminate period of time as he is once more beset by ill-health (too many pies perhaps?).

However, we have since been given an alternative account of events that led to this enforced hiatus. Which of them is true? More to follow.

Lifting the lid

It back to phone-hacking for the broadsheet press where revelations of alleged complicity provided by legal advisors Harbottle & Lewis have made sure that the cesspit is given another stirring.

Lawyers above all know when the time is appropriate to fess up - and when to distance themselves from dodgy clients. In this respect, the information given to the Common culture committee is not only an exercise in disengagement but also adds impeccable provenance in terms of allegations of widespread and institutionalised wrongdoing.

The package of documentation is definitely worth a perusal – especially the redacted bits.

On 2 March 2007, convicted News of the World reporter Clive Goodman wrote to News International's HR director appealing against his dismissal. His letter was copied to Les Hinton, then NI's executive chairman.

Goodman’s primary grounds of appeal were : "(i) The decision is perverse in that the actions leading to this criminal charge were carried out with the fulI knowledge and support of [REDACTED]. Payment for Glen Mulcaire 's services was arranged by [REDACTED]. (ii) The decision is inconsistent, because [REDACTED] and other members of staff were carrying out the same illegal procedures.

Four days later, Hinton gave evidence to the Committee for Media, Sport and Culture in relation to its enquiry into self-regulation of the press. He told the committee that it was “believed” that Goodman was the only transgressor when it came to phone-hacking but that investigations were “continuing”.

The consensus is that former NI executives will find themselves called to give evidence to MPs in September and committee chairman John Whittingdale has already said that James Murdoch will probably need to give a better account of what he knew and when he knew it.

At this rate, the parliamentary committees will have wrapped things up before the Leveson Inquiry has completed its roll call. The underlying mood however within newsrooms and a currently dispersed Westminster is that the actual vehicle is immaterial. For them, each disclosure ensures that the path relentlessly leads, via Andy Coulson, to Downing Street.

It is only a matter of time.

The secret state continues

It will be instructive to see how ministers eager to stabilise a “broken Britain” manage to respond to criticism from the Equality and Human Rights Commission that government use & storage of personal data is "deeply flawed".

A new report, Protecting Information Privacy, claims current privacy laws are insufficient to stop data breaches and that the situation  is likely to "get worse in the future" as demand for personal information increases and new technology is developed for collecting, storing and sharing data.

The Commission’s findings are that there are still significant barriers preventing members of the public from knowing what information is held on them by the government and its agencies or private bodies. As such it is virtually impossible to hold anyone to account for errors in the personal data held or its misuse. They add that public bodies are consistently unable to justify properly why they need someone's personal data and for what purpose.

Geraldine Van Bueren, a commissioner for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: "The state is holding increasing amounts of information about our lives without us knowing, being able to check that it's accurate or being able to challenge this effectively. This needs to change so that any need for personal information has to be clearly justified by the organisation that wants it."

Zero credibility

Amongst the trumpeted government jingoism and press-driven talk of single-minded retribution against the rioters, it quietly transpires that the rumours of a week ago about plans to scrap the 50p tax rate are gaining credence.

In a carefully timed interview, reproduced by the Beeb, chancellor George Osborne sort of ‘revealed’ his intention to get the HMRC to check whether the 50p top rate of income tax represents an efficient means of raising revenue for the government. His confusion on the matter is apparently due to claims by “some economists” [un-named at this stage] that tax avoidance and evasion by the better-off in the country means the rate is raising less income than expected.

What's the matter with the government today? Surely eviction or a spell of national service would soon straighten out these damned tax-evaders!

Will police reform get kicked into the long grass?

Although he deftly side-stepped the question during this week’s emergency debate, David Cameron and his aides are acutely aware that cross-party pressure is growing for a Royal Commission into policing. It has to be said that this unashamedly lobbied option represents a handy recourse for MPs eager to be regarded as simultaneously pro-reform and pro-police by their constituents.

The problem, as Cameron himself remarked on Thursday, is that Royal Commissions have the ability to “take minutes and go on for years”; which is probably exactly what the Police Federation has in mind. An equally ticklish aspect from the PM’s perspective is that once a Commission gets started it is difficult (if not impossible) for the government to stop it. Including a practical finish date within any terms of reference therefore would be big consideration.

As for being any sort of solution, some will doubtlessly point to the Wakeham Commission which looked at length into reform of the House of Lords in 2000 and the inaction that followed publication of its key recommendations.

The smart money says that Cameron will need to be put substantially more on the back foot before agreeing to even consider kicking police reform into the long grass. The former PR man is also aware that it only needs a couple of ‘new’ press revelations of further collusion in hacking victims’ phones before the current high levels of public empathy for the police start to wane. Just as importantly, the Fed know it too.

It's the same the whole world over ...

Nice piece by Shipton of the Mail who outs Welsh establishment fixture Lord Rolling-in-it Beddoe for ‘earning’ an annual salary of £35,000 for four days’ work a month as one of two deputy chairmen of the Newport-based UK Statistics Authority.

As the paper mentions, the Monaco-based businessman and Conservative Party fundraiser was appointed chairman of the Welsh Development Agency in 1993. His appointment was renewed after Labour came to power in 1997 and he subsequently became chairman of the Wales Millennium Centre among other non-executive incumbencies.

He is one of a generation of double-barrelled cracach who have displayed a consistent ability to slurp up the publicly-funded gravy ever since the Welsh Office and its offspring came into being. They still occupy dozens of positions in various advisory bodies & steering groups and permeate the Welsh quangosphere like nobody's business.

The really sad part is that in these days of stark social inequality, far too many politicians still fail to grasp that all this so-called “greater transparency” about incomes is merely rubbing peoples’ noses in it. Redressing the imbalance is what counts.

Ask me no questions ....

The Western Mail carries an uncomfortable story for Welsh Lib Dems which implies that reinstated AM Aled Roberts may not have been “entirely straightforward in his account of events” as Sir Humphrey was wont to say on occasion.

An unnamed AM has contacted the Electoral Commission to “confirm” claims made by the North Wales regional member that he had accessed a Welsh language version of an advisory website on 24 March this year to check his eligibility as a candidate. Roberts contended that the information was out of date.

The Commission state that an analysis of site traffic on 24 March showed no visits were made to the Welsh version of the candidates’ guidance document. Similarly, they state that no downloads of the Welsh version took place on that day either. The clear inference is that the assessment made by Gerald Elias could well be flawed as police did not request evidence specific to the date in question.

At least one AM, Jocelyn Davies, who voted for reinstatement has signalled her disquiet at the possibility of being misled and others will no doubt add their own calls to the suggestion that Roberts should clear up any lingering doubts by allowing the police to do the necessary forensic checks on his computer.

What we find most intriguing about this story however is not so much how a police force with extensive experience of forensic computer analysis allegedly failed to request key information or that the Commission has once again been so uncommonly forthcoming in its explanations. It’s how the unnamed AM involved apparently knew how to ask the right question and why he or she wishes to remain anonymous.

Boris on the streets

Something you don't need in the aftermath of a riot are the pointless rambling platitiudes of Boris Johnson - but that's all he had to offer and the London public reacted accordingly.

- or you can watch the Guardian version


Update: It could have been worse,  Sky News reports that Nick Clegg was booed off the the streets in Birmingham. They state that crowds shouted "go home" during his attempted.walkabout. He was then quickly ushered into a waiting car by police and security staff. As it drove off, some of the crowd heckled "go on, run, run, run".

Unholy alliance needs balance

Something novel happened this Monday morning. Most newspapers were somehow printed without some issue cited as a totally outrageous waste of public money by the Taxpayers Alliance.

Perhaps those dedicated to a campaign of criticism aimed at Britain’s burgeoning public sector have gone on their annual hols. Even they need a break from exposing the shameful array of non-jobs in the nation’s townhalls and quangos it seems.

This apparent lull will be a blow for local & regional newspapers. Type in “Taxpayers Alliance” on the Wales Online website and you get an impressive list of hard hitting articles highlighting public sector self-indulgence and poor performance. And it seems to be two-way traffic as the TPA website has Lee Canning, Alliance spokesman in Wales quoting a South Wales Echo item on how Cardiff Council is “failing to provide one of the most basic front-line services that taxpayers expect” – thus ensuring that the news is recycled even if the refuse apparently isn’t.

Public sector trade unions point out that there is remarkable sparsity of press stories about the Taxpayers Alliance itself, especially in terms of its own finances or just the political proclivities of this influential pressure group.

This is strange since it only takes some basic research to find that the Taxpayers' Alliance is constituted as a private company limited by guarantee in the UK - number 04873888. As a small company, it is exempt from audit. This means it either has an annual turnover of £5.6 million or less, a balance sheet total of £2.8 million or less; or fewer than 50 employees. As it happens, the TPA has two offices – one in London and one in Birmingham. Its website shows that, in March 2009, that it employed 13 members of staff.

Sixty per cent of donations come from individuals or groups giving more than £5,000. These include the Midlands Industrial Council (which has donated £1.5million to the Conservatives since 2003) who provided the Alliance with £80,000 on behalf of 32 owners of private companies. David Alberto, co-owner of serviced office company Avanta, has donated a suite in Westminster worth £100,000 a year, because he opposes the level of tax on businesses. Construction magnate Malcolm McAlpine and a spokesman for JCB tycoon Sir Anthony Bamford, have said they also helped fund the TPA.

Although notionally “apolitical”, the Alliance is known to have staged a sponsored “lobbying event” last September on behalf of groups involved in the US right-wing republican Tea Party movement. The Alliance has also sought advice from the Tea Party leadership, with Matthew Elliott stating in September 2010: "We need to learn from the Tea Party movement in the US. It will be fascinating to see whether it will transfer to the UK. Will there be the same sort of uprising?”

Another insight comes from how TPA political director Susie Squire, who last year reacted with indignation at the suggestion she was a "secret Conservative" only to became a special political adviser to DWP Secretary Iain Duncan Smith.

Maybe these are too many facts for your average editor and cut-and-paste journo to absorb. Or maybe they are a bit inconvenient. Whatever the reason, it's high time that the description of "right-wing pressure group" was used in future media references to the Taxpayers Alliance - if only to restore some balance to Welsh reporting.

So what's the story here?

As ever in the murky world of UK press and politics, things are seldom what they appear to seem and the nagging perception of high-level duplicity continues to stick like a foam pie. It is a situation not helped by further cracks that have appeared in the phone-hacking facade diligently created by the main players.

So forget the global economic crisis, the biggie for David Cameron, according to the Independent, is the allegation that the guy used by the PM's office to do the pre-employment vetting on Andy Coulson was himself an experienced investigator with “strong links” to the newspaper group that owned the News of the World.

The paper states that media chief Coulson was given a low form of clearance, which was reportedly handled by a branch of Control Risks, a private security company with good connections to the Conservative Party. A more “developed” form of security scrutiny could not be completed due the former editor’s resignation from his Downing Street post in January this year.

It remains to be seen whether this story develops legs. The same can probably be said of yesterday’s reports of how Rebekah Brooks remains in the News International payroll despite her high-profile resignation as chief executive last month.

It’s a funny old world, Rupe.

On the carpet

The rumour at Calamity Hall this afternoon was that Deputy Den has found himself on the chief executive’s carpet over his recent anti-social behaviour. We also hear that local activists in his community are less than thrilled at some of the stories doing the rounds. The consensus is that a sudden incapacitating illness will put the civic liability out of circulation very shortly.

ConDem recovery plan: tax cuts for the well-off

Life is full of little surprises.

Surprise number one is that despite repeated denials, the bulk of lobby journalists have received informal briefings that treasury officials are "drawing up plans" to cut the 50p tax rate. Surprise number two is that senior Liberal Democrats will not be opposing the move provided that tax cuts for the richest are “offset by other measures” – or something equally mealy-mouthed in nature.

The somewhat insulting ‘rationale’ offered up as justification to us lesser-off proles is an analysis which suggests the extra revenue generated between the 45p and 50p tax bands raises as little as £750m. Of course, this does not take into account that people on higher incomes are more likely to have accountants with expertise in tax avoidance. Nor does it factor in an incontrovertible truth that HMRC is now less able to pursue the loophole-exploiting merchants thanks to successive staffing cuts and other 'efficiency savings' imposed by the ConDem coalition.

The Independent reckons that the Conservative-driven plan will prove “controversial” at a time of severe cuts to public-sector jobs and services. We suspect that this might well be an understatement.

Update: Interesting points raised by A Change of Personnel - among which is the question as to who is responsible for running the country this week.

Poor timing

The Labour opposition on Swansea Council are probing the Lib Dem led administration over whether the local authority’s financial shortfall can now be made up by some payback for Liberty stadium during a forthcoming season of top flight football.

It’s a reasonable question given that the clubs, and specifically the management company, have paid virtually nothing in rent since the 20,000 seat stadium was opened a few years back. Surely everyone should do their bit during this period of civic belt tightening.

It’s just a pity that a news item appearing elsewhere reports that of the seven (out of 72) councillors who have opted to claim back the cost of recently introduced car parking permits for members, all of them happen to be Labour – and include the group leader.

It’s not just in football that timing is everything.

Sleeping Beauty (not)

Sources tell us that Deputy Den managed to upset a few hundred students, staff & parents at a local university the other day. It seems that the silly burgher fell asleep during the annual degree ceremony. This was on top of being generally disinterested in the proceedings and later whinging loudly to his hosts that post-event hospitality did not include pie & chips.

  

We understand that there were also complaints from members of the audience regarding his “personal behaviour” on stage. A number have allegedly written to embarrassed university authorities stating how their day was ruined.

Sadly we cannot presently confirm the rumoured report that a YouTube clip will soon be available showing Swansea’s second-rate citizen doing unmentionable stuff between naps. We promise to keep you posted.

Justice minister investigated for blagging

Labour continue to gnaw at the juicy bone provided by justice minister Jonathan Djanogly who used private detectives to try to “blag” information from his party agent and constituents.

A while back, the Daily Telegraph revealed that Djanogly ordered Morris Chase International (MCI) to conduct “discreet inquiries under the pretext of writing a newspaper article” to establish the source of a their story about his expenses.

The Huntingdon MP paid MCI £5,000 to obtain information about his constituents, using “pretext calls” including to his [then] political agent, Sir Peter Brown. Sir Peter resigned after details of Mr Djanogly’s expense claims were published.

The practice of “blagging” has been roundly condemned by Prime Minister David Cameron and the expectation is that Djanogly will probably lose his post come the next reshuffle.

Labour hounds smelling blood have challenged an earlier decision by the information commissioner not to investigate the matter. A spokesman for the commissioner’s office has since stated that they are “carrying out inquiries into a complaint ... and will be responding in due course.”