The results from last week's Fun Online Poll were as follows:
Which is the better strategy for influencing Labour or Tory policies?
Join the party and agitate from the inside - 11%
Vote for another party whose policies you agree with - 89%
Which is what I have observed. I'm relieved that so many agree. Thanks to all who took part.
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I know that it is silly to match receipts from particular taxes with particular items of government expenditure, but it's sometimes useful to do so to put things into perspective.
Last week, the Transport Secretary insisted that the white elephant vanity HS2 railway line would come in on time and on budget at £55.7 billion.
Most are agreed it is a waste of taxpayers' money, of benefit only to a very few (the construction companies and some landowners) and nobody in his right mind believes it will be on time and on budget. In fact, we know it won't, because the original budget set in 2010 was £32.7 billion.
The Tories then went on the offensive and claimed that it would "cost" £100 billion to write off student debts, forcing the innumerate Labour education spokeswoman into an embarrassing and unnecessary climb down. That's the nominal amount of the outstanding loans, but they will be collected via a graduate tax and lots will be written off, so what's relevant here is the net present value of the tax receipts, let's call it £60 billion in round figures.
So you could argue, future graduates are paying 9% extra income tax on income above the £21,000 allowance in order to fund HS2.
Which I hope most would agree is completely bonkers.
So that's this week's Fun Online Poll.
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