Great minds think alike?

[fpb]

Certainly some minds do, although I am not sure whether I would characterize them as great. In order not to raise national taxes, Messrs. Blair and Brown have stealthily caused local taxes (based on property value) to grow by as much as 300%. And now news comes from Italy that Mr.Berlusconi and his unlovely government, who claim to be cutting national taxes, have had the bright idea of reforming the area categories that underlie the ICI (Town Tax on Real Estate, Imposta Comunale sugli Immobili), which is going to result in increases of up to 400% in local tax. What is really hilarious is that both groups probably imagined this to be a wizard wheeze that nobody would see through.

Comments

Given that my name has been mentioned (part 2)

[tybalt-quin.livejournal.com]

As I said in the LJ entry that some anon so kindly linked you to, I am very happy to have a genuine discussion about PFI, its benefits, its disadvantages and what it means in the long term. My experience in the field could even answer some queries that you may have in how the scheme operates in practice. I notice that you quoted Private Eye as a source of some of your information. George Monbiot wrote a book about PFI in Britain a couple of years ago. I can get you the title if you're interested. In it, he examined some of the PFI deals from the earlier years and set out why they were ineffective and I think you might find some of it interesting. I am not making this suggestion out of any sense of "superiority", but rather because I think it is something that you might actually be interested in reading.


Whatever you may feel about me personally, I do resent the accusation that I am corrupt. I am not - either financially, ethically or morally. To make that accusation is groundless. I also object to seeing you play the victim here when I was informed of your taking my name in vain again a couple of months ago (a comment on the Diana Memorial Fountain, if memory serves). I made no comment then as you were plainly sounding off and, given my well documented opposition to the Labour Government, the comparison between myself and the Secretary of State for Culture was actually quite amusing to me. I am making a comment here because I noticed that you're happy to snipe at me on your own ground, but are unwilling to do so on mine and, as the saying goes, "If Mohammad won't come to the mountain, then the mountain must come to Mohammad".

Finally, I am obviously aware that there have been strong disagreements between you and several people on my LJ Flist. I have not, at any time, participated in them (other than to respond to a comment you made on Narcissa Malfoy's LJ a week or so ago). I also note that we share several friends on LJ - your friendship with them doesn't bother or affect me and I trust that my friendship with them doesn't bother or affect you. Even if you don't like me very much, I would at least hope that we could be civil to each other. We're both grown-ups, we're both intelligent and we're both articulate.

My offer to discuss PFI is genuine. If you'd like to do so, then we can discuss it here, on my LJ or via email. I think that it's something we could both learn something from.

tybalt-quin

PS - In posting this I do in fact find that I owe you one apology. I had been under the impression that you'd banned me from commenting on your LJ (and had said as much to a couple of other users). I obviously now find that this is not the case, and so apologise for the inaccuracy. Of course, it is entirely possible that this was an error on your part.

Re: Given that my name has been mentioned (part 2)

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I am constantly invited to intervene on other people's LJs and groups. I never do so. For this I have two reasons: first, not to encourage people; and second, because as this Lj is open to all and sundry (I never f-lock anything), I consider that I have given enough space to anyone who wants to discuss anything with me. As you see.

Of course I do not tell people who they should friend (though I have heard that some people do). And as you had not written to me before in your own name, I had not had the opportunity to bar you (not that I will do so this time). I consider that I have been treated extremely shabbily by the FA mods and as there is still a month or more of the suspension that you imposed on me (with people publicly and openly hoping that it would prelude to a final expulsion), you can hardly expect me to forget it. But I have already deleted another post where I mistakenly named you as the author of these items, and I apologize for forgetting to delete this entry.

As for your friend, I would have discussed the matter with him/her, instead of losing my temper, if s/he had shown any respect for my views. Unfortunately, his/her tone was, from the beginning, that of the superior being annoyedly imparting information to a lesser creature; and, whatever you may say of me, I hope I have never treated people as ants with that particular kind of sneer on my face. That is an English habit, not an Italian one. I have said what I think of his/her manner, the typical manner of the English boyar, and I see no reason to repeat myself. You should have informed him/her about my temper, but, of course, you are not responsible for his/her manners.

Re: Given that my name has been mentioned (part 2)

[tybalt-quin.livejournal.com]

I saw a cut and paste of the original entry you'd made about me and I made a snarky response on my own LJ, which I am now more than happy to remove given your apology (for which I thank you). I also apologise for my own response in advance.

I am not going to comment on the situation between you and FAP. There's bad blood (a poor choice of phrase but the only one I can think of at the moment) and I don't think this is the place.

D. is, I'm afriad, a rather hot tempered Brazilian (if you'll excuse the national stereotype). He's not a bad bloke - I've known him since uni (we were on the same course) and you know, he actually hates Labour with a passion that even you'd find surprising. I probably should have warned him about your temper, but I didn't think he'd comment. Perhaps that's something I should have anticipated.

I'm going to be honest here (at the risk of causing offence, which is certainly not what I mean to cause). There are times when you completely bloody infuriate me. The last exchange of emails between you and me also (and with apologies for the phrase), completely got on my tits because I was really trying to be polite and civil in an unpleasant situation and felt scorched for my pains.

Like I said, if you want to talk about PFI, I'm happy to engage. I also think you'd enjoy the Monbiot book (although it looks more at the first wave of deals and the situation is a little different now). If you don't want to, then that's fine. We can agree to disagree.

t-q

Re: Given that my name has been mentioned (part 2)

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Monbiot is rather extremistic for my taste - he has more than a smidgen of the conspiracy theorist (it may be that the articles of his I used to read in The Guardian don't show him at his best). And as for PFI, I do not actually like to discuss it, because it is something that I cannot change or do anything about. I feel very strongly that, in embracing a Tory agenda, Blair has betrayed his electors; but it also means that there is no real opportunity to change matters in any significant way. The effective and cloying coalition at the top means that we plebs will be fed PFI whether we want to or not. Just consider this: Ken Livingstone was elected with an overwhelming majority (I am speaking of his first election) on a platform opposing the partial or total privatization of the Tube; only to have it forced down his and every Londoner's throat by a brooding, vindictive Scot who has no more to do with London than George W.Bush with downtown Baghdad. This is an insult to democracy, and one of the many reasons why I am violently prejudiced against PFI. To have it defended in my own LJ in such a high-handed manner (and with a crying spelling mistake in the first few lines) was not designed to rub me the right way.