Peter Rhodes on taxation, the future of TV and who's ashamed of the working class?
My eye was caught by a prediction by one think-tank boss that one in three pupils would fail English and Maths GCSE. And wot abaht the other four?
The axe descends again. Having handed out some whopping public-sector pay rises, robbed the elderly of their winter-fuel allowances and deprived the rich of their inheritance tax, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is turning her glistening blade to council-house tenants.
Her plan is said to be a 10 year “formula” which will increase social-housing rents by more than the rate of inflation. And how will this news go down in the terraces and tower blocks? When you vote Labour you expect a government that, in the words of the acidic Labour chancellor Denis Healey, squeezes the rich “until the pips squeak.” Not one that squeezes tenants to feed the train drivers.
