Bieber Shot....on CSI

Barclay's pay 1% tax.

Just read this article on the Guardian site.

It seems that instead of paying 28% as they should Barclays in 2009 paid 1%. 1 measly %. They did this through basing subsidiaries in tax havens and arguably some of their profits were generated in other countries by their foreign subsidiaries. Come on this is a British company the lion share of profit should be taxable here.

Barclays argue that they paid £2bn in tax in 2009, however most of this was payroll taxes(i.e Ni and income tax on employees pay.). I'm not a banker but even i know that the tax you pay on behalf of your employees does not count as your tax. Apart from the employers NI this is your employees contribution to the nations coffers not yours.

Tax avoidance at its worst. That's up to £2bn in tax we lost from Barclays alone, how many nurses could that have paid? How many libraries could that have kept open? Is it just Barclays? Is it not possible that the structural deficit might be covered in its entirety if we made big business cough up no-more than what they should pay*?

I can't wait to see the Governments reaction if their is any at all.



*By should pay i mean the meaning of it, 28% of profit! Not the wording, 28% of what you decide was the profit for the bit of your business that isn't run by a goat from a shack in the Caymans.

Liverpool Philharmonic Budget Cut.

I recieved a mail today from the Liverpool Philharmonic ask for my help as their budget will be cut by £450,000 at least this year.

This is thanks to a reduction in grants they get from Liverpool Council, which in turn is thanks to cuts imposed on the council by a bunch of Toffs.

Now I think this is terrible but it seems that Michael Eakin the Chief Executive of Liverpool Philharmonic is asking for people to raise this with Liverpool council. Sorry Michael you've got it misplaced, i'm happy to write letters to MPs about this or donate to the phil direct but its not Liverpool Councils fault. An increase in the phils funding will mean a necessary decrease somewhere else.

I have to agree with Liverpool Council a company that is already gaining 2/3 of its income through private sources, is somewhere that can possible take a cut in grant to save money for Vulnerable Children's care for example.

I love the phil although i have enjoyed it mainly in the form of its commercial successful events, Comedy and Pop music concerts. I think the Phil has other avenues open to it to cover for these cuts, from public donations to sponsorship (I notice straight away no adverts on their website.) and even putting on more commercial shows than they currently do.

To see the post form the phil go here.

Tuesdays Ten "Interesting" Facts 5

1. Current PM David Cameron, is the direct descedant of King William IV and his mistress Dorothea Jordan. ...hmmmm
2. Avocados are highly toxic to parrots.
3. before he was famous Liam Neeson drove a forklift in a Guinness Brewery.
4. Sir Patrick Moore wrote a ballet, its called Lyra's Dream.
5. Possible polymath Harry Connick Jr, isn't just a talented actor,singer, pianist, composer, dancer.....he also invented/wrote a computer program to allow musicians to follow the score on a screen.
6. Robson Green has a class four fire works licence which permits him to perform fireworks displays professionally.
7. Lake Nicaragua hosts the only freshwater sharks in the world.
8. Roald Dahl was a fighter pilot in world war II, after his basic training he crashed in no-man's land between the Allied and Axis forces when he was given the wrong directions and run out of fuel. He would partially recover and play a vital role in the Battle of Athens, and many other engagements. He was later discharged due complications from the injures he sustained.
9. Dolly Parton insured her boobs for $1 million each.
10. During the Manhattan project applicants for routine jobs in Alamogordo were rejected if they could read. The milltary did not want employees to be able to read the research notes.

Coldplay To Headline the Pyramid stage

Though it’ll be sometime in April before we get the “Full List” and sometime in June before the excellent clash finder is finished. The slow drip of officially confirmed bands has begun.

With the announcement that Coldplay will make there long over due return to the Pyramid stage on 25th June. They join unconfirmed but very highly rumoured U2, Beyonce and Prince.

Personally I am holding out for Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters and (wishful thinking) QOSTA. All of whom are touring at the right time. Fingers crossed.

It wont be long until I am a blibbering mess of anticipation, as i tick the days off till i'm back were everything makes sense. Let's just hope its a wet one this year.

Lancashire tea

It came to my attention recently that not only is there a Lancashire tea, but it is made in my home town. I wouldn’t have thought we had the climate to grow tea.

So as part of my personal localism agenda to fight the horrid attack on my town’s prosperity by a bunch of callous Eton boys, I intend on pushing this brand like noone has ever pushed a brand before.

Name That Game.

The following was just posted on Spree4's facebook page.

"Name that Game will be restarting tomorrow, so make sure you tune in to win Spree4 credits and a £50 Amazon voucher! Check our Name that Game tab for more info."

This is the second time, they've done this. Basic premise is they put a mostly obscured picture on the facebook page of an old video game. They invite people to guess, if no-one gets it they un-obscure some more of the picture until someone gets it.

Last time it went from being stupidly easy to rather hard, but was quite a bit of fun.

Winner receives 10 spree4 credits, and gets entered into a 5 way draw (well last time it was 1 in 5) to win a £50 Amazon voucher.

To play Join their facebook page here.