Same old, same old... blah blah blah

I keep reading comments, from various Labour MPs, that they will not serve in a Cabinet under Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister.  Personally, I think that's incredibly foolish of them to say so, and assumes that they are going to be asked to so serve!

The earliest that a GE should happen would be 2020 and those Labour MPs who are currently griping may lose their seats then, if the voters in their constituencies are as disillusioned with their performance as appears to be the case in many areas. Perhaps if I say Welfare Reform Bill and abstention, it might prick a few consciences!

But something else I have not heard mentioned anywhere is that, with the current resurgence in politics, amongst both the young and the not-so-young, disillusioned electorate, there is a strong chance that there will be a raft of new candidates standing on a traditional Labour values platform, who do win seats and who would be more than pleased to serve in a Corbyn-led Cabinet.

The pinky-blue Labour MPs need to think long and hard about where their true allegiances lie, about the harm they are doing to the people of this country, and whether they are truly representative of Labour values.

We need an Emergency Interim EU VAT Suspension from UK Gov't!

At last week's EU meetings it was made very clear that there would be no immediate help coming from the EU for low-turnover businesses being hit by the new EU VAT rules on cross-border digital sales.

Despite accepting that there has been unfortunate and unforeseen consequences for low-turnover businesses, and that something needs to be done to put things right, the EU mandarins have said it is not going to be considered until the end of the Summer, 2015, at the soonest, and no action will be forthcoming until 2016 at the very earliest.

FOR MANY BUSINESSES THAT IS SIMPLY TOO LATE!

Already businesses are struggling and failing to comply with the evidence requirements for cross-border sales. Add another year to the mix and many more will have closed their doors or stopped digital sales totally.

We have been told that there is something that the UK government can do to help, but we need YOUR help to make it happen.

It is called an Emergency Interim EU VAT Suspension, which basically means the UK government agree to suspend the new rules until such a time that the EU gets its act in order and provides a permanent fix for the mess it has made for micro-businesses.

What we need is for everyone to write to their own MP - you can use this site https://www.writetothem.com/ to contact them by email if it is easier than emailing them directly - and ask your MP to demand an Emergency Interim EU VAT Suspension on behalf of the thousands of small UK businesses that are suffering under this scheme.

Also, if you are a member of a Trade Association, please ask that they lobby the government for the same suspension. The EU VAT Action campaign has this to say about who to lobby and how,

If you are a member of any kind of trade of business association, please write to their Chair today to ask them to support the call for an immediate interim ESC to remove the burden of these rules from micro businesses. Please ask them to contact:

• PM David Cameron
• David Gauke (Financial Secretary to the Treasury, who would have to propose this legislation)
• and Jim Harra (HMRC Director General of Business Tax, who would need to propose this to David Gauke).

Please copy your request to your MP and ask them also to lobby David Cameron, David Gauke and Jim Harra.

Please also ask your industry body to contact any colleagues they have in other industry organisations and trade bodies, to urge them to do the same.

The more people who raise the issue with their MPs the better the chance we have of getting the Emergency Interim EU VAT Suspension, so please do this and help the thousands of us who are struggling to comply with the unintended consequences of this unfortunate EU legislation.

More details can also be found on the EU VAT Action website here .

You can't hack the #EU #VAT problem with a grand in an afternoon!

Tech solutions are not the way to deal with poorly thought out #EU #VAT rules on cross-border sales that are hurting low turnover businesses. #vatmoss is still a #vatmess and is coming to all cross-border sales soon, not just digital as now.

Don't think that this isn't your problem, as if you sell anything outside of the UK it will be your problem soon. Even if you are currently below the UK VAT registration threshold. There will be NO THRESHOLD on cross-border sales unless we fight for one now!

Read the latest article on the ongoing #VATMOSS is a #VATMESS saga on the EU VAT ACTION web site, " Why The Hope For An EU VAT ‘Simple Tech Solution’ Has Become The Emperor’s New Clothes – And Time Is Running Out To Save Micro Businesses"
http://euvataction.org/2015/05/14/eu-vat-tech-solution-hackathon/

"One site to rule them all..."

If, like me, you have cause to visit any of the UK government's websites you will find there has been lots of changes recently, and many of the separate sites for different depts have all come together under one umbrella  .gov.uk domain, from which much of the old useful info has vanished and lots of arty farty new stuff has appeared.

The first impression was that I had landed on one of those ubiquitous domain parking pages full of spurious links and advertisements for dubious pharmaceuticals or gambling setups. Who thought that was a good design for the UK government portal?

Scrolling down past the parking page section, I found a notice on the front page that says,
The websites of all government departments and many other agencies and public bodies are being merged into GOV.UK. 

Well that's not quite true, as revealed on the page mentioned above, where it says the following have merged: 

• All 24 Ministerial Departments
• The offices of the PM and DPM
• 9 of 22 non-Ministerial departments (are these not government departments?)
• 144 of 349 Public Agencies and Bodies (it should be 145 but perhaps they have mislaid one somewhere...)
• 71 High Profile Groups (go read the list if you really want to know who they are!)
• 12 Public Corporations (ditto)
• 3 Devolved Administrations (Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales)

So when it says all government departments are being merged, what it really means is 35 of the 48 have merged (well that's almost 73%, which is pretty close-ish!) and the rest are not going to do so. As various wise men have observed over the years, there are "lies, damn lies and statistics".

However back to super-gov...
I quite often popped over to various of the old sites to look something up, and there was always lots of useful info on each of the dedicated domains. Sites like the Charity Commission, DEFRA, Dept. of Work and Pensions, OFSTED, all had helpful easy to find pages, which were designed to suit the data presented. Now we have a one-size-fits-all supersite that looks like a social media wannabe. All it lacks are the avatars of each Minister down the right hand side and the option to Like or Poke a Minister (oooerrr missus!) and the job's a good'un!

It has sections for Popular on GOV.UK (apparently student finance, driving theory tests and renewing vehicle tax comes in there;  Most Active (student finance, driving theory tests and renewing vehicle tax figure in there too!);  or if you are bored and want something to read that's allegedly better than watching paint dry you could check out GOV.UK blogs - Search the list of GOV.UK blogs, and find one to match your interest.  Here you can find such delights as, "My visit to Manchester: how the Civil Service is becoming more innovative, collaborative and efficient" (presumably by going to Manchester); "How digital inclusion can support wider policy outcomes" (clearly not written by the Plain English Campaign);  or even "Knocking down the Towers of SIAM" (I thought it had been renamed Thailand years ago, and just why are we knocking their towers down anyhow?!)

I suspected it was just me being older and crotchetier than usual, not liking change and new looks and all that, but it seems I am not alone in my scorn for the new setup. The Register (whose strapline reads, "Biting the hand that feeds IT") also seems to think it's not fit for use... and they have been gathering interesting evidence that all did not go according to plan!  If you'd rather read something consdierably more interesting than a gov.uk blog why not make yourself a cuppa, grab a biscuit, and read the nightmare story of how not to create a government website! http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/18/the_inside_story_of_govuk/?page=1