• Login
  • Register
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

Sir Keir Wants You to Think the Grown Ups are Back in Charge. But the Fact That VAT is Being Imposed on School Fees Mid-Years Means he Hasn’t Given the Policy a Moment’s Thought

by Mr Chips
13 August 2024 11:00 AM

If you’re going to introduce a radical Education Tax that is transformational for some households, then even if it’s a good idea (which it’s not) then you need to consider timing and transitional effects. In other words, Government should be thoughtful not only about what they are doing but how they are doing it.

Before the election, the Labour Party were indicating Corbyn’s Tax would start in September 2025. Labour candidates briefed voters to expect September 2025. The aggressive January 2025 release, announced here on July 29th is already causing predictable carnage and distress for parents who will be, or might be, displaced, and we want Starmer, Phillipson and Reeves to take responsibility for the situation they are causing and announce a delay.

This post explains the transitional short term challenges of Corbyn’s Tax, which (like the reaction to “swamp the comp” which I covered here) illustrate the lack of capacity, and operational inability, of the state sector to respond in the way our Government promised. Two relevant asides (1) comparison with the Soft Drinks Levy and (2) an article on Starmer’s opening notes as an “illusion of seriousness”; then I’ll tell you just how badly this is already going.

Please (1) help the Education Not Taxation campaign by telling your MP what you think of Corbyn’s Tax and its implementation; you can use the guidance here. (2) Subscribe to the Economics with Mr Chips blog and share widely. Finally, (3) sign the petition, and tick to receive updates.

(1) Case Study: the Soft Drinks Levy

The Soft Drinks Levy raises 18p/24p per litre on drinks that are high/very high in sugar content. In today’s money, that’s 8-10% on a bulk carton of canned Coke at Tesco. It’s a higher rate (on price) for large bottles or own-brands; a lower rate at higher-priced outlets. Incidentally I learned that Fanta, whatever else it contains, comes in under the sugar threshold, and that many drinks have been reformulated to do the same. As of 2022, 85 countries tax sugary drinks.

Starting in June 2014, the Government spent two years considering options, consulting and gathering existing evidence (which was already pretty robust), gaining further input from national and international scientists and industry experts. The tax featured in the March 2016 Budget, and then took two more years to implement in April 2018. So four years in total.

I’m not going to opine on whether the Levy has been A Good Idea or whether it has worked as intended. I want to talk about the timeframe. It is worth briefly noting that revenues were “hypothecated” i.e. reserved for activities promoting healthy living, and that lasted about two years before revenues (shock horror) disappeared into general waste Paying for Marvellous Things for us all.

Let’s do a side-by-side comparison between the Soft Drinks Levy and Corbyn’s Education Tax.

So on every economic dimension, these two goods/services are at opposite ends of the scale:

  • The last government took four years to tax at 8-10pc something we don’t want with the explicit objective of there being less of it, in a fast-moving market with heaps of competition and highly-responsive demand and supply, where supply chain can adapt easily consisting mainly of large corporates with vast IT budgets, and with a robust evidence-base including 85 countries regarded as success stories
  • This government is taking four weeks to tax, at 20pc, something we’d ideally like more of with the explicit objective of raising revenue (thus not harming quantity) in a market where switching brings huge cost, competition is weak and slow, alternatives are scarce and burdensome on the state, and neither demand nor supply are able to respond with speed or ease, causing a major implementation challenge to small and medium schools that are unlikely to have resources on-tap, based on one pathetic paper from a domestic think-tank, and with the sole international example of Greece and general mayhem

Who on earth thinks sugary drinks deserved an approach of “act with caution, do no harm, allow time to adjust” while for the Education Tax, disrupting kids’ lives, it’s a case of “just do it yesterday, never mind the cost?” What could go wrong?

(2) The Illusion of Seriousness

I liked this article in The Spectator which contrasted the theatre of Starmer’s victory speech…

As always, you have to work out what Starmer actually means – or wants you to think he means – with his current tack. “Unburdened by doctrine” is his phrase du jour, one that is just begging fate to make highly ironic. It fits very neatly with his head shaking, disappointed-in-you, you’ve let the school down, you’ve let yourself down 2024 persona. “Dear dear, here I come, everyone deserves respect and dignity and we must behave very nicely and everybody needs to calm down because look how reasonable I’m being.”

This is passive aggression elevated to an art form, pure vibes.

…with the people he entrusts with high office. Lammy, who compared the European Research Group of Tory MPs to “Nazis”. Dodds, who doesn’t know what a woman is. Nandy who thinks convicted male rapists should be allowed to sign up for women’s prisons. Serious? Grown-up? Competence-not-chaos?

“The adults are back in the room” is the bum-clenchingly awful cliché of this vibe. But what does this actually mean? As long as the aesthetic of sensibleness, competence, ‘seriousness’ is there, you don’t have to actually be any of those things – just look as if you are.

We’re being taken for fools – or rather, we are fools, if we fall for Starmer’s soppy-eyebrowed, mellow tones. Remember folks, as I wrote here, this is Starmer the barrister at work. Barristers are required to have an “interesting” relationship with the truth in order to serve the cause of justice. Bringing adversarial sham to the office of Prime Minister isn’t so great for the cause of UK plc.

If everything looks right, and everybody is behaving reasonably on the surface, a government can get away with pretty much anything. The correct tone – the illusion of sweet reason – is all that you need, as you tear the place apart.

Implementing Corbyn’s Tax at any cost

Now to the point.

Labour have promised all independent school parents a “welcome at a brilliant state school”. It doesn’t matter, goes the tale, if loads of families are unable or unwilling to afford the fees + VAT, because there’s heaps of space in state schools. The state sector will serve you all with a smile.

(Of course it matters, because if loads of families switch then the tax raises zero or negative net revenue, but stop the awkward remarks, pay attention or you’ll be sent into the corridor, see?)

The Swamp-the-Comp saga already proved that Labour are scratchy about capacity issues. The “illusion of seriousness” is that independent school families are being purely selfish and snooty, and they aren’t handing state schools a saving of £8-12k per child because state school places actually exist. There is, physically, an empty chair in a school, near you, reserved, if only you’d be gracious enough to put your child in it.

The promise, the welcome, the brilliance, the place, the chair are all supposed to remain purely theoretical, a rhetorical device to prove what ain’t so. “Yes I know we promised you the place that you already pay for, but we didn’t think you’d actually WANT one. Shut up, stay where you are, and pay up.”

Now to the actual implementation, which started (for families) when Corbyn’s Tax became government policy on 19th July, with the King’s Speech, and the January 2025 timeline was announced only on 29th July. And no, we do not remotely agree that “we were warned” and all that rubbish, since Corbyn’s tax has been around since its election-losing inclusion, twice, in that Communist’s Manifesto. To the extent we were “warned”, we had several Labour candidates insisting that rollout would be in September 2025, presumably in order to swerve the sort of impossible questions I’m raising in this article.

I know who really has no excuse for issues caused in the implementation of Labour’s Education Tax….and that’s Labour. Read on.

How can families possibly respond?

Here’s a few issues facing parents wishing to switch:

  • Independent schools typically need a term’s notice to get out of paying fees. So parents unable or unwilling to avoid paying fees+VAT from January must give notice now before the autumn term starts, with just six weeks’ warning from the KS and four weeks from the timeline announcement. Nobody’s wriggling out of September’s fees, those are already committed.
  • Parents don’t know how schools will respond (and vice-versa). Some schools are committing to absorb the VAT by cost-cutting; that’s not necessarily sustainable and could be recognition they are in cut-throat survival mode; if this brings a few families across from St Custard’s to St Trinian’s, perhaps the former dies first? It’s all very well for Labour to talk of “cutting cloth” but we are talking a 15-20pc cost-cutting exercise in three months, in an industry that Labour say (with some justification) has no track record of cost discipline. A handful of schools indicating absorbing the tax absolutely does not prove that all schools are able to do so sustainably.
  • State schools and local authorities are barely functioning, being “closed for the holidays”. You might get the office to tell you have a place, or you might get fobbed off until September. If you want to meet the Head or pay a visit, forget it. Bournemouth is one of dozens of examples: “After you submit your application, we will send your request to the schools. Please note however that as they have now closed for the summer break, some schools may not respond until they reopen in September 2024.”
  • Other local authorities have their systems down whether for planned (believe it or not) maintenance or unplanned outages.
  • Other schools are refusing to offer places for January 2025. If you get offered a place at a state school for September, jolly well take it now. If that means you’ve lost the £££££ for September’s fees, tough. You’re a millionaire, remember, “one of the richest in society” according to Bridget Phillipson.
  • There is clear and consistent advice against mid-year and particularly mid-exam cycle moves. This is Somerset. Pretty much all local authorities publish similar advice:
    • “The attainment of pupils who make in-year moves is markedly lower than their peers, and lower among pupils who make multiple in-year moves. Only 27 percent of pupils who move schools three times or more during their secondary school career achieve 5 A* to C GCSEs, compared to the national average of 60 percent. Results in English and maths for children at Key Stage 2 dropped 12 percent following one in year move, 17 percent for two moves and 25 percent for three moves (2013 RSA – Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce report on in year admissions).”
    • “If your child is at a critical stage of their education (in year 10 or 11) it is likely that the school you wish to transfer your child to will not use the same exam boards as your child’s current school. If this is the case, any work your child has already done towards their GCSEs may not be able to be used. This could have a seriously damaging effect on your child’s exam results.”
  • There is particular jeopardy to around 100,000 non-EHCP SEN children (children with special needs who don’t have an Education Health Care Plan stating their independent school) for example where there is particular harm to children with autism and ADHD in moving them from schools where they are settled and comfortable. It’s all “in the greater good” see.Subscribe

It’s a car crash

The Education Not Taxation campaign argues that a serious approach to improving state schools would #FindABetterWay than taxing schools that (1) generate large and wide-ranging social benefit (2) save the state system £8-12k per child per year with (3) substantial risks to the economy via feepayers’ labour supply and jobs.

Aside from that, the implementation of Corbyn’s Tax is a car-crash. Even if it was a good idea it should be phased in (like the Soft Drinks Levy) over some sensible period to (1) ensure children’s exams weren’t being trashed against government advice, (2) to give schools in both state and independent sectors a chance to adapt and (3) to give parents and kids an actual choice and an opportunity to move schools at an appropriate time.

It’s “as though” the Government is

  • ensuring the maximal harm to children
  • gouging parents unable to pay the tax in the knowledge they probably can’t / won’t switch schools mid-year
  • setting themselves up for a tawdry claim of success “look, nobody moved, like we said”

Either that or, more probably, they simply haven’t thought it through and are out of their depth. Which is crackers. “Parents have had years of warning” they say, we should have planned ahead for Corbyn’s Tax while Labour were in opposition. I don’t agree, but I do think THEY should have planned ahead.

The issues listed above aren’t exactly a surprise. They are issues of Government, a Government that didn’t plan ahead for a self-inflicted car-crash. The illusion of competence-not-chaos is shattered.

Mr. Chips is a pseudonym for an employee of a private school. He writes on Substack.

Tags: Education Not TaxationJeremy CorybnPrivate SchoolsSir Keir StarmerVAT

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

Junk Temperature Measuring Network Means the Met Office Cannot Prove There’s Been a “Dramatic Increase” in Temperature

Next Post

Should These Labour MPs go to Prison Too?

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

11 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Freddy Boy
Freddy Boy
8 months ago

Paul Thorpe interviewed Andrew Bridgen , it’s a real eye opener !

3
0
Freddy Boy
Freddy Boy
8 months ago
Reply to  Freddy Boy

Also was Dan Andrews regime a dry run for Starmers tyranny?

2
0
RTSC
RTSC
8 months ago
Reply to  Freddy Boy

Got a link?

0
0
Freddy Boy
Freddy Boy
8 months ago
Reply to  RTSC

Sorry for delay , it was on YouTube 👍

0
0
Monro
Monro
8 months ago

Israel and Ukraine are defending us too: why don’t Western moralisers recognise this?

‘I do not say the French cannot come, I only say they cannot come by sea’

Lord St Vincent 1803

England, Britain, as illustrated by the amusing graphic at the beginning of ‘Dad’s Army’ has, for centuries, since seeing off the Spanish Armada, understood the merits a forward defence strategy, even if, every so often, the gallant warriors of ‘Dad’s Army’ have still been required.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF6qElf9GJ8

What is the point of a ‘forward defence’ strategy?

‘In a modern strategy the Atlantic army must provide for the West a sense of security to a degree that will encourage it to act and react in respect to global events with confidence. That forecloses to (Russia) the options of intimidation, blackmail, and political leverage.’

Forward defence is not just about not having to fight a bloody war on your own soil but very much also about not having to fight a war at all; deterrence, particularly conventional deterrence.

Which country is one of the leading exponents of forward defence today?

That would be a country that means us no good: Iran

What do they think is really going on?

‘Iranian commentators have long fixated over the prospect of a new world order in which the hegemony of the United States is diluted through a shift to multipolarity in the three regions of the Eurasian world-island: Europe, through the efforts of Russia; Asia, through the efforts of China; and the Middle East, through the efforts of Iran. At the outset of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Iranian officials welcomed the attack as the opening of “a new front against American arrogance.’

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0030438724000322

Which is the foremost contemporary and powerful enemy of this country, having recently murdered a British citizen on British soil and, earlier this year, sponsored a terrorist attack in East London?

Russia.

The enemy of our enemy is our friend, Mr Lammy.

It doesn’t get much simpler than that.

Last edited 8 months ago by Monro
0
0
Monro
Monro
8 months ago
Reply to  Monro

Postscript:

‘Iran…..act(s) in concert with organised criminal entities, conduct assassinations and kidnappings abroad, and participate(s) in the international drug trade.

In the last 15 months, (the) MI5 Director and (the) Counter-terrorism Policing lead have identified 12 to 15 cases of Iranian plots within the UK against British citizens or Iranian dissidents.

These statements are in line with those of the Director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, pointing to more intense Iranian intelligence activity in the past two years.’ July 2023

https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/the-iran-question-and-british-strategy/#contents__accordion

Last edited 8 months ago by Monro
0
0
CGW
CGW
8 months ago
Reply to  Monro

Oh dear, are we now going to get daily updates on how Iran is planning to take over the world?

It may be difficult to understand that the rest of the world, outside Europe, is pretty fed up with US hegemony, meaning you either do as we (USA) tell you and take your loans from the IMF, etc., or else your country will be undermined by our NGOs, eventually leading to a voluntary or involuntary change in government.

It is interesting that the development of a multi-polar world – USA, Russia, China – is almost entirely due to Joe Biden’s terrible presidency. The very dubious 2020 election results, his completely open southern border, the politicization of the judicial system including the frenzied and continual attacks against his main political opponent, the dubious business concerns of his immediate family, his refusal to provide funds to Ukraine unless the chief prosecutor was fired (who happened to be investigating corruption in Burisma, the company employing Hunter Biden), his probable destruction of Nord Stream, as well as his sanctions against Russia resulting in a world-wide ‘dedollarization’. BRICS has pretty well exploded with applicants during his presidency.

Well done, Joe Biden!

3
0
Monro
Monro
8 months ago
Reply to  CGW

Of course many countries are disenchanted with the U.S., particularly within the EU and, most particularly, France.

Mr Trump was no more popular than Mr Biden.

But, in a Middle Eastern popularity contest between China proxy, Iran and U.S. proxy, Israel, this country and its government should be clear that Iran, intent on the destruction of Israel, is no friend of Britain.

‘2023 – A terror suspect escaped from Wandsworth prison in London while awaiting trial for offences, including; collecting information useful to the enemy, alleged to be Iran; eliciting information about members of the armed forces likely to be useful to a person preparing an act of terrorism; and perpetrating a bomb hoax. The individual was later recaptured and is currently awaiting trial. Prosecutors have claimed that the individual passed sensitive material to Iranian intelligence

On 22 December 2023, another individual was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for attempting to collect information useful to a terrorist. The individual conducted hostile reconnaissance at the headquarters of Iran International, a dissident Iranian television station, in West London. Reporting suggests that the individual recorded security arrangements at the venue on his phone as part of a plot to conduct a terrorist attack.’

Unless Iran conducts further criminal activities in this country, it is unlikely that I will comment.

My comments, in any case, simply reflect, quote the views of experts in any particular arena.

With regard to Iran taking over the world, that is certainly its intention with regard to the Islamic world:

‘Iran considers itself the Islamic world’s natural leader, and seeks to export the Islamic Revolution first to areas with major Shia populations like Iraq, Lebanon, and parts of Syria, and then to the Islamic world more broadly.

By uniting the Islamic world under the Iranian banner, Tehran hopes to preserve the Islamic revolutionary regime indefinitely. Insulated by a buffer of friendly Islamic states, and directly or indirectly controlling the majority of the world’s oil reserves, Iran would be immune to long-term economic pressure.

This Iran, likely armed with nuclear weapons, could expand conventional and advanced military capabilities to expand its influence in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean.

A united Islamic world under Iranian leadership, meanwhile, would be a bona fide great power, the first Islamic great power since the Ottoman Empire, and the first Middle Eastern actor capable of projecting power beyond the region since the early 19th century.

An emboldened, empowered Iran would be able to negotiate with Russia and China, the other Eurasian authoritarians, on reasonably equal terms.

It would also be able to extend its influence throughout Eurasia and even gain allies in the Americas, likely first turning to Venezuela and Cuba, and then to other Latin American states hostile to the Anglo-Euro-American international system.

In short, then, Iran’s long-term strategic objective is great-power status.’

Sir John Jenkins, Air Marshal Edward Stringer, Harry Halem

0
0
CGW
CGW
8 months ago
Reply to  Monro

You seem to be looking for enemies under the bed, seeing everywhere countries we must militarily discipline and prevent from conquering the world.

Iran is no friend of Britain, you maintain. Should it be? Is Britain a friend of Iran? Hardly.

How about we just stop parading around the world, pretending we are God’s gift to mankind, and simply develop friendly relationships with all the countries we come across? That means not preaching our way of life to them, not forcing them to do this or that, but just lending a sympathetic ear and helping them develop. Because that is what China and Russia do and it is obviously very successful.

All USA does (and UK trots along like an obedient poodle) is apply military might whenever its current leader thinks anyone needs a lesson in discipline.

You will argue that China and Russia take advantage of other countries but it works both ways. And offering assistance to anyone who needs it is a good way of developing a business relationship.

Do I think Iranian religious zealots are ideal leaders? No, but the fact is they are governing the country so they are the people our diplomats should be addressing. And helping Iran means helping the Iranian people, who possibly suffer as much from their leaders as we do from ours.

2
0
Monro
Monro
8 months ago
Reply to  CGW

You asked about Iran taking over the world.

They certainly do want to take over the Islamic world, in the view of some regional experts.

I have no need to look for enemies.

Iran has, just last year, had agents in Britain arrested for scoping out acts of terrorism.

Russia has recently conducted acts of terrorism in Britain, killing one British citizen on British soil.

Both are totalitarian fascist dictatorships intent on destroying this country and our way of life, plain for all to see.

The only way to prevent that is through the strengthening of our national defences.

That, in my view, bears endless repetition.

We know what to do. We’ve done it before. It works.

0
0
blunt instrument
blunt instrument
8 months ago
Reply to  Monro

You don’t, by any chance, manage a hedge fund like Labour’s biggest donor, with investments in arms manufacturers?

2
0
Monro
Monro
8 months ago
Reply to  blunt instrument

Ukraine has been invaded twice in ten years. Israel has been invaded. Red sea shipping is being interdicted from Yemen. Wars smoulder on in Syria and Iraq. Iran is on the cusp of possessing nuclear weapons. China rattles spears at Taiwan and terrorises the South China Sea. Mali, Bourkina Faso, Sudan are aflame. Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia are at daggers drawn. Venezuela is on the brink of civil war…..and so on and so forth…..

No need to talk up defence stocks….

0
0
Lockdown Sceptic
Lockdown Sceptic
8 months ago

Friday morning Rackstraw Rd & Acacia Ave, 
Owlsmoor Sandhurst 



601
9
0
Monro
Monro
8 months ago

David Lammy has cost Britain a crucial ally against Putin

Intelligent and integrated foreign affairs and defence strategy saves lives and money. Foreign policy debacles like the Falklands and now Ukraine are extremely expensive.

‘The costs of the war in Ukraine so far could fund the equivalent of 175,000 US troops on NATO’s eastern front for 40 years which would deter Russia from threatening NATO allies and attacking its neighbors.’

‘By 2013, the last US Army tank departed Europe, something celebrated as an “historic moment” Just a year later, in another historic moment, American Army tanks returned to Europe after Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine.’

CEPA June 2022

‘Words matter as Foreign Secretary, especially when opining on conflict.‬ Contradicting long standing UK policy in a vanity blog is totally inappropriate…’

Alicia Kearns

Investment in an active and informed (through enhanced overseas intelligence) foreign policy, allied to a sound, efficient and cost effective defence spend on deterrence, conventional and the rest, although expensive in the short term, saves money (and, more importantly, blood) over the long haul in a number of different ways.

‘Loose talk (and a tight purse) costs lives’

0
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
8 months ago
Reply to  Monro

I doubt the US cares much what Lammy says about anything. They have their own reasons for what is happening in Ukraine – reasons you have mentioned often.

4
0
Monro
Monro
8 months ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

‘What is happening in Ukraine’ is that Russia has invaded, twice.

I make no apologies for labouring that point.

No idea or interest in the U.S. view of Lammy.

The taxpayer here, however, should care that they will have to pick up the tab for his incompetence in alienating allies in Europe and the Middle East.

1
0
CGW
CGW
8 months ago
Reply to  Monro

I make no apologies for labouring that point.

Over and over and over again …

4
0
blunt instrument
blunt instrument
8 months ago
Reply to  CGW

Makes you wonder it he’s being paid to do it. 🙂

Last edited 8 months ago by blunt instrument
2
0
Monro
Monro
8 months ago
Reply to  blunt instrument

There is a great deal of uninformed bigotry on here.

I provide an alternative view, as sceptics do.

If you are looking for an echo chamber, of those there is no shortage.

This site, however, is for daily sceptics.

0
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
8 months ago
Reply to  Monro

I tend to treat what politicians say as largely theatre. My suspicion is that they also view the whole thing as theatre. They are all professionals at spin.

5
0
Steve-Devon
Steve-Devon
8 months ago

“Running an electric car is twice as expensive as a petrol one” 
Ah well I can only guess that the forthcoming October Budget will fix that anomaly and it is unlikely to be by electricity becoming cheaper!

9
0
Mogwai
Mogwai
8 months ago

This is bizarre. I thought it was bad enough that Germany were bribing migrants to go home by offering them 1000 euros rather than just booting them out, but then when Sweden came out with their offer of 31,000 euros *per person* I thought this is absolutely crazy. However, when you consider what the annual wage is in somewhere like Afghanistan or Syria, wouldn’t you expect more people to jump at the chance and accept this overly generous bribe?

”Despite being offered €31,000 to remigrate by the Swedish government, polling shows that very few migrants would accept the offer.
As Remix News previously reported, the Swedish government is making a significant monetary offer of 350,000 Swedish kroner to foreigners living in Sweden to voluntarily return home. It is also important to note that this amount would be paid out per person, which means a family of four could receive €124,000.

Still, these foreigners are so desperate to live in Sweden, a majority White country, that the vast majority of them said they would reject the offer, according to a poll conducted by the website Alkompis.
The poll showed that 77 percent of those questioned in the survey said that they were not even interested in the increased amount, and only 15 percent said that they would be interested in the offer. The others are uncertain.”

https://rmx.news/article/very-few-migrants-interested-in-swedens-remigration-offer-worth-e31000/

3
0
Mogwai
Mogwai
8 months ago

A very good new short film ( 15mins ) by Matt Goodwin, ‘How To Stop An Invasion’. He’s absolutely right, the government could stop this if they really wanted to, after all, look at the feats the Tories were capable of during the scamdemic, and how people realised they didn’t have actual rights at all, just privileges that could be taken away on a whim. It’s the government’s responsibility, at the end of the day, they’re hardly powerless, but they don’t want to stop the mass, relentless immigration, that much is apparent to anyone who isn’t a complete muppet;

https://x.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1837003034632540179

Last edited 8 months ago by Mogwai
6
0
Jon Garvey
Jon Garvey
8 months ago

“Why LSE is the Sunday Times University of the Year 2025”

Ostensibly a change from the late 1960s, when students chanted:

“Free, free, LSE
Free it from the bourgeoisie.”

4
0
Mogwai
Mogwai
8 months ago

Can a ‘woman’ be charged with ‘indecent exposure’ if she flashes her penis in public?? I swear to God, Germany is done for. When your country embraces the woke mind virus *plus* uncontrolled immigration from countries where people hate you for many years, your country naturally goes to sh*t over time. One does not need a PhD in Sociology to have foreseen this happening. Stop the world, I want to get off;

”A trans-identified male from Troisdorf, Germany, is facing charges after attacking multiple women in two disturbing incidents involving knives and exhibitionism. But a debate is now raging in court as legal experts weigh whether the man, who identifies as a “woman,” can be charged with exposing his penis, a crime only males can be prosecuted for.
The man, 56, is scheduled to stand trial in Bonn for threats and grievous bodily harm related to two incidents, one from 2021 and one from 2022. Due to Germany’s strict privacy laws, the man’s full name has not been released, but he will be referred to as “Klaus” for the purposes of this article.

In August of 2021, Klaus followed a woman home and attacked her while she was at her front door. Klaus is alleged to have grabbed her from behind and held a knife to her throat while he wrangled her boots off. The woman fought back, suffering cuts to her neck and hands, and was able to send her attacker fleeing thanks to her loud cries for help. Klaus was wearing women’s clothes at the time of the attack, and is said to be a women’s shoe fetishist.
The next year, in December, Klaus exposed his penis to two women on a train. The regional court in Bonn must now decide whether this was a sexual offense, as Section 183 of the German Criminal Code only imposes a fine or a prison sentence to men for exhibitionistic acts. Because Klaus is legally considered “female,” he may avoid this charge entirely.

The uncertainty is the result of Germany’s recently-passed gender self-identification law, which is considered by many to be the most relaxed legislation of its kind in the world. In 2022, well-known criminal defense attorney Udo Vetter warned about the impact the law would have on criminal proceedings, writing on social media that: “Section 183 of the Criminal Code only applies to men. If a man uses self-ID to become a woman, he can no longer commit a criminal offense for exhibitionism.” 

https://reduxx.info/germany-violent-transgender-shoe-fetishist-could-avoid-charges-of-exposing-his-penis-to-women-because-hes-legally-female/

5
0
Dinger64
Dinger64
8 months ago

“We’ll stop taking free clothes, say Starmer and Rayner”

Too late she cried! Your values are revealed

3
0
Dinger64
Dinger64
8 months ago

“I took cash for clothes too, admits Rachel Reeves”

What the f#@k is this? a fecking desperate charity shop or a party of leadership (he said gagging!)

3
0
Dinger64
Dinger64
8 months ago

Kier Starmer- Wardrobe by Waheed Alli

Victoria and kier, the poor mites can’t afford their own clothes, give the prime minister a pay rise, I cannot bare the thought of them having to live in poverty, why!…I’ll donate some of my cast offs too!

Last edited 8 months ago by Dinger64
2
0
Jon Garvey
Jon Garvey
8 months ago
Reply to  Dinger64

Presumably they have to put on a good show to all the other world politicians who are fitted out at other people’s expense to impress the other grifters whose clothes come from corruption. Can’t be seen to be second rate con-men.

1
0
Dinger64
Dinger64
8 months ago

“Britain is spending beyond its means”

Never!? Well slapper my thigh
(Not spending it on the right things of cause)

2
0
blunt instrument
blunt instrument
8 months ago
Reply to  Dinger64

The politicians are spending beyond the people’s means. Beggaring us is the main part of The Agenda. So they can’t have us getting anything worthwhile for our money.

1
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
8 months ago
Reply to  blunt instrument

“The politicians are spending beyond the people’s means.”

Correct. And at some point the country will be declared bankrupt and effectively we will be sold to the IMF, BIS and the Blackrock mob.

1
0
For a fist full of roubles
For a fist full of roubles
8 months ago

Is Starmer’s decision to refuse cash for clothes an admission that he did wrong or simply to distract from all the other things he will still continue to accept bungs for.

5
0
Heretic
Heretic
8 months ago

“Jess Phillips: I’m ‘apoplectic’ domestic abusers were freed without tags”

Well, I’m apoplectic about this:

Teenager jailed for 18 months after McDonald’s fight still in prison 18 years later under indefinite jail term (msn.com)

“A desperate mother has spoken of her anguish after her teenage son was jailed for 18 months but is still trapped in prison 18 years later under a cruel indefinite jail term.

Luke Ings was handed a controversial imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence for robbery and a fight in McDonalds aged just 17.

The jail terms were scrapped in 2012 amid human rights concerns, but not retrospectively – leaving almost 3,000 people languishing in prison with no release date.

His devastated mother Samantha, 57, said Luke, now 36, is trapped with “monsters” inside maximum security HMP Wakefield, which is home to some of Britain’s most serious criminals, HAVING SPENT HIS ENTIRE ADULT LIFE INSIDE.

She fears unless the government takes urgent action he will not survive amid soaring rates of suicide and self-harm among IPP prisoners.”

2
0
Heretic
Heretic
8 months ago

“Jess Phillips: I’m ‘apoplectic’ domestic abusers were freed without tags”

Well, I’m apoplectic about this:

Teenager jailed for 18 months after McDonald’s fight still in prison 18 years later under indefinite jail term (msn.com)

“The jail terms [created by Lord David Blunkett], were scrapped in 2012 amid human rights concerns, but not retrospectively – leaving almost 3,000 people languishing in prison with no release date.

His devastated mother Samantha, 57, said Luke, now 36, is trapped with “monsters” inside maximum security HMP Wakefield, which is home to some of Britain’s most serious criminals, having spent his entire adult life inside.

She fears unless the government takes urgent action he will not survive amid soaring rates of suicide and self-harm among IPP prisoners.”

“IPP sentences do not fall under the government’s SDS40 early release scheme, which is expected to see 5,500 prisoners walk free by the end of October, despite more than 700 IPP prisoners having served at least 10 years longer than their minimum sentence.”

Last edited 8 months ago by Heretic
2
0
blunt instrument
blunt instrument
8 months ago

“We’ll stop taking free clothes,” say Starmer and Rayner. “Buy us something else next time.”

1
0
blunt instrument
blunt instrument
8 months ago

“Why is he so bad at this?” He’s like the rest of the WEF/Common Purpose brigade. Promoted for their adherence to The Agenda, not for competence.

2
0
blunt instrument
blunt instrument
8 months ago

Great video on New Culture Forum today, discussing the newly released figures on the economics of mass immigration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMhLUiqrHco

1
0

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

DONATE

PODCAST

Episode 36 of the Sceptic: Karl Williams on Starmer’s Phoney Immigration Crackdown, Dan Hitchens on the Assisted Suicide Bill and Tom Jones on Reform’s Local Council Challenge

by Richard Eldred
16 May 2025
0

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

Spy Agency Report on the Alleged “Extremism” of AfD Turns Out to Be So Stupid That it Destroys all Momentum for Banning the Party

16 May 2025
by Eugyppius

Trump’s Lesson in Remedial Education

16 May 2025
by Dr James Allan

Were the Arson Attacks on Starmer’s Properties What the First Few Volleys in a Future Low-Grade Civil War Would Look Like?

17 May 2025
by Steven Tucker

News Round-Up

17 May 2025
by Will Jones

Civil Servants Threaten to Strike Over Trans Ban in Women’s Lavatories

16 May 2025
by Will Jones

Were the Arson Attacks on Starmer’s Properties What the First Few Volleys in a Future Low-Grade Civil War Would Look Like?

21

Worldwide Embalmer Survey Reveals Striking Rise in White Fibrous Clots Following COVID-19 Vaccination

11

Why We Politicise Science

11

Civil Servants Threaten to Strike Over Trans Ban in Women’s Lavatories

33

Spy Agency Report on the Alleged “Extremism” of AfD Turns Out to Be So Stupid That it Destroys all Momentum for Banning the Party

28
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Can Monkeys Teach Us About Fairness?

17 May 2025
by Noah Carl

Why We Politicise Science

17 May 2025
by James Alexander

Were the Arson Attacks on Starmer’s Properties What the First Few Volleys in a Future Low-Grade Civil War Would Look Like?

17 May 2025
by Steven Tucker

Trump’s Lesson in Remedial Education

16 May 2025
by Dr James Allan

Spy Agency Report on the Alleged “Extremism” of AfD Turns Out to Be So Stupid That it Destroys all Momentum for Banning the Party

16 May 2025
by Eugyppius

POSTS BY DATE

August 2024
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  
« Jul   Sep »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

POSTS BY DATE

August 2024
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  
« Jul   Sep »

DONATE

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

Spy Agency Report on the Alleged “Extremism” of AfD Turns Out to Be So Stupid That it Destroys all Momentum for Banning the Party

16 May 2025
by Eugyppius

Trump’s Lesson in Remedial Education

16 May 2025
by Dr James Allan

Were the Arson Attacks on Starmer’s Properties What the First Few Volleys in a Future Low-Grade Civil War Would Look Like?

17 May 2025
by Steven Tucker

News Round-Up

17 May 2025
by Will Jones

Civil Servants Threaten to Strike Over Trans Ban in Women’s Lavatories

16 May 2025
by Will Jones

Were the Arson Attacks on Starmer’s Properties What the First Few Volleys in a Future Low-Grade Civil War Would Look Like?

21

Worldwide Embalmer Survey Reveals Striking Rise in White Fibrous Clots Following COVID-19 Vaccination

11

Why We Politicise Science

11

Civil Servants Threaten to Strike Over Trans Ban in Women’s Lavatories

33

Spy Agency Report on the Alleged “Extremism” of AfD Turns Out to Be So Stupid That it Destroys all Momentum for Banning the Party

28
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Can Monkeys Teach Us About Fairness?

17 May 2025
by Noah Carl

Why We Politicise Science

17 May 2025
by James Alexander

Were the Arson Attacks on Starmer’s Properties What the First Few Volleys in a Future Low-Grade Civil War Would Look Like?

17 May 2025
by Steven Tucker

Trump’s Lesson in Remedial Education

16 May 2025
by Dr James Allan

Spy Agency Report on the Alleged “Extremism” of AfD Turns Out to Be So Stupid That it Destroys all Momentum for Banning the Party

16 May 2025
by Eugyppius

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

  • X

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In

© Skeptics Ltd.

wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment
Perfecty
Do you wish to receive notifications of new articles?
Notifications preferences