Some may remember previous articles where I touch upon taxation, and how I'm buggered if I'm letting those Westminster chimps get any more than is absolutely necessary. Hey, I didn't start this. Blame Nick. Well, we signed off our accounts today and our accountant saved us, legally, double his original estimate in the first year.
A result like this must, of course, be followed with a celebratory smokey-drinky, which is where I'm off to very soon. It was a Ruby and Sancerre on Wednesday, so perhaps Chinese and Elegant Frog tonight.
Talking of alcohol, you will notice I have a new widget in the sidebar.
It is rather self-explanatory, but the Pub Curmudgeon points out that the corresponding e-petition isn't gaining much traction. I'm sure we could add a few signatures to it, especially if the link is spread around a bit. The logo and HTML can be found here if you'd like to join in on a blog or other medium.
The interesting thing about this is that it perfectly confirms the futility of the e-petitions site. There is much grumbling about how the petition to amend the smoking ban had attracted far less support than expected considering the widespread dissatisfaction we all know exists, and anti-smokers took this as proof there wasn't dissent at all.
The minimum alcohol petition shows this to be misguided. It was crystal clear when Cameron announced the daft idea, that minimum pricing was derided by a huge majority of the country, from all political backgrounds. If the e-petitions initiative was working, we'd see the numbers sky-rocketing.
The lack of signatures on these petitions doesn't prove they are not valid campaigns, merely that no-one trusts the process itself; that no-one trusts the government to act on public opinion; and that merely harvesting public opinion from online sources is deeply flawed.
The campaigns aren't failing - politicians are. Probably purposely.
