Uncharitable to the bogeyman

It's probably uncharitable to point out that there's a YouTube movie on Guido's blog in which (if you have the stomach for it) you can see the Chancellor picking his nose during yesterday's PMQs.  It's probably uncharitable but you could say the same about Mr Brown's Budget speech.  Greg Clark MP, Shadow Charities Minister, has just released a press release that notes that the cost to charities of yesterday's 2p cut in income tax will be £70m.  Greg Clark MP commented:

“The Chancellor’s Budget has conned Britain’s charities.  In his Budget speech he was cowardly enough to make no mention of the fact that his tax changes will hit hardest Britain’s good causes.  Gordon Brown must have known about this, but instead he kept quiet and hoped no-one would notice.  It is typical that in robbing Britain’s charities, the Chancellor made no provision to protect them from the impact of this sting.”

Download charity_sting_press release.pdf

As is always the case with Gordon Brown's Budgets the devil is in the detail.  Tonight's main story in the London Evening Standard notes that homebuyers in the capital are being hit by a £3.4billion rise in stamp duty bills.  London homebuyers now pay an average £8,615 in stamp duty compared to just £1,795 five years ago.  This massive increase in tax reflects the Chancellor's failure to raise the higher stamp duty thresholds in line with inflation.  A spokesman for the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors told the Standard:

"The Chancellor should have raised the bottom threshold of £125,000 to at least £150,000 in order to help first-time buyers on to the housing ladder given that up-front housing costs are a key issue for many buyers."

Comments

[Chris]

Tim, I'm just getting a blank pdf on your press release link...

[Tory T]

Excellent catch on charities. And of course this is on top of the theft from the Olympic costs/Lottery fiasco.

On the repellent video of Gordon Brown picking his nose, several times, during the PMQs right before his most important event of the year. Not only boorish and disgusting, but what does it say about the judgement of the man seeking to be our Head of Government... to represent us at international summits?

Picks his nose on live TV right next to the Prime Minister. Front bench of the House of Commons.

If he becomes PM, we will be an international laughing stock.

[Editor]

Sorry Chris. Should work now.

[Richard Carey]

Good pick-up by Clark on the situation regarding tax relief on charitable donations. It's interesting to try and envisage a policy instrument that would address this, however. Does anyone here more knowledgeable than I have any idea how changes in taxation rates and their effect on the income of charities has been managed previously here or in other countries?

If he becomes PM, we will be an international laughing stock.

I can feel an attack ad coming on already - we need shots of animated DC talking easily with both international colleagues and schoolchildren alike, inter-cut with Brown pouting dourly, exploring orifices on the front bench and being cheered on by the oaf Prescott if possible. End it with a split-screen of half each of DC and Brown's faces, meeting in the middle: "Britain's face in the world - you choose".

Well, it's a start...

[Walaa Idris]

Please, please , please say this is a spoof video it is!!!!? Isn’t it? No way, he picked his nose knowing good and well that the whole nation is watching.

He did not …..? And did he ………eat it too?

Yep he is gone ……..maybe to lunch….but he isn't coming back anytime soon.

['Disgusting' DVA]

Another amusing video of Gordon Brown here!

Top Gear fans in particular should appreciate it.

[MrB]

In his response to the budget Cameron said Brown was in a "Deep hole"
Now we know he was speaking literally....

[Chris]

Great find DVA! Absolutely hillarious!

Cheers Tim :)

[Snot fair!]

Bogeyman? That's snot wot I would expect to see on a Tory Diary headline!

[TB should stay]

On a serious note what are NuLav going to do now? One thing the budget proves is that Brown is unelectable, obvious for ages, but now the pp and party members are left in no doubt.

It should also give us a huge hint that the public have got the joke and they want change. Not middle ground spin.

[Christina]

I think Greg Clark has shot the Conservatives in the foot with that silly statement.

If you share the proceeds of growth between public services and tax cuts, you too will be affecting charities.

Of course, by cutting taxes you enable the charitable to give more to charities.

[matt wright]

Clip of Brown poking his nose is very funny,

Matt

[Dave Bartlett]

Given that the RUMOR that John Major tucked his shirt into his underpants made him a national laughing stock, what will Gordon Brown's 'bogeyman' video do for Prime Minister Brown? Well done Guido :-)

[jungian shrink]

Whilst the film of Brown picking his nose and eating it is all very amusing there is a far more worrying side to it than that.

There is a strong taboo about performing such behaviour in public. Even very young infants know that it is not permitted to pick your nose in public and that some form of censure will follow from it.

The fact that Brown, an adult male, becomes disinhibited enough (while under pressure of his forthcoming budget speech) to not only pick his nose several times but also eat it and then wipe his fingers on his tie, while sitting next to the Prime Minister and being televised live by the BBC, IS A VERY WORRYING MATTER FOR THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY.

Such behaviour is the action of a man who is so emotionally unstable that he is unable to control himself while under pressure.

The fact that he did it while being televised suggests that Brown is DETACHED FROM REALITY. To some extent he appears to be living in a bubble, or in political terms, it may be better described as a BUNKER.

A bunker mentality is a common trait of many authoritarian megalomaniacs.

I am extremely concerned that such a psychologically damaged man is likely to become the next Prime Minister.

[Londoner]

CHARITIES

One thing that could be done would be to allow people making Gift Aid donations to tick a second box, next to the one saying you pay sufficent income tax to qualify, saying that you have sufficient income above the threshold for higher rate tax and that you will not apply for further Gift Aid relief through your tax return in respect of that donation. This would mean that the charity could then claim back direct the higher rate tax relief as well as the basic relief, thereby meaning that the higher rate relief benefits the charity, if the taxpayer so chooses, rather than the taxpayer. This would in practice more than compensate for the loss of rebates in respect of basic rate taxpayers and would also help many higher rate taxpayers who probably overlook claiming much of the higher tax relief.

HM Revenue would have to make it clear that they would do quite a lot of randon audit of this from charities' records to ensure that a lot of people were not claiming to be higher rate tax payers who weren't. If this was a big worry, then anyone, say, more than 10% above the higher rate threshold the previous year could be issued with a code no by the Revenue which would have to be given to the charity on request. By sending out cards with these nos on it would also remind higher rate taxpayers of the tax breaks in charitable giving.

This is such a good idea (modest aren't I?) that I think I'm going to send it to Greg Clark.

[whoops]

Tom Utley refers to nose picking in Parliament in today's Daily Mail. Whoever could he be talking about?

[Fed Up with Cameron]

Greg Clarke's press release ought to win a prize for hypocracy. Any cut in basic rate tax would take away money from charities and the party's proposal to abolish inheritance tax would also deprive charities of a major source of legacy income.

Either we are serious about tax cuts or we are empty populists. Which is it?

[Annabel Herriott]

I was out on Wednesday, so had left a tape in the video. Whizzed through it too quickly when I got back, but since reading your observations, Jungian, I put it on again, and watched carefully.
The man does not know he is doing it. Quite oblivious to everything except his nasal orifices. He didnt wipe the bogies onto his tie, he sneakily, in full view of the cameras, wiped it on the front of his shirt, underneath his tie. He also bites his nails to the quick.
This man has some sort of compulsive obsessional disorder. He needs cognitive therapy before he goes anywhere near either No 10, or the dispatch box.
What on earth is going to happen to us all once he does get into No 10. No wonder Blair dare not leave him to it. Imagine some poor Minister trying to concentrate on the matter in hand,(oops) trying not to notice that the PM is on another excavation job.