Honesty of a leader

In a perfect world, the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party would be able to address Conference with a simple pledge on taxes - cut, cut and cut again. And yet David Cameron knows he can promise nothing.

We are a grossly overtaxed nation. Gordon “Prudent” Brown is now raking in an eye-watering £1,000 million per day in tax.

The higher rate of income tax, once reserved for pop stars and business magnates, now hits senior nurses, teachers and firefighters.

We may be an oil-producing nation but the prices at British pumps are among the highest in the world.

Buying and selling houses has become a bonanza for Mr Brown with stamp duty imposed at punitive levels on modest properties.

Inheritance tax, originally devised to part the aristocracy from their billions, now strikes despair into bereaved families everywhere.

And there is worse to come, including new taxes to penalise motorists every time they drive.

In theory, “Mr Sunshine” Cameron and his Tory team should be able to unpick this tangle of taxes and give money back to the people.

In practice, it is impossible to promise anything, for two reasons.

The first is that no-one has any idea what shape the economy will be in when the next General Election comes. Tax refunds promised today could evaporate in tomorrow’s rising interest rates.

The second factor is that as the Chancellor’s appetite for taxation has grown, so has his Old Labour instinct to create a massive public sector.

Gordon’s billions are paying for an army of non-productive posts for nit-picking jobsworths in Whitehall and town halls. Reducing the public sector to a sane level could take years.

That’s why David Cameron cannot promise to cut taxes. His party should rejoice in his honesty and applaud his common sense.

A yob by any other name

Yob is a simple term, understood by all. So clearly it has to go.

A senior policeman in London has apologised for the word appearing in an official report after a local politician described it as “alienating”.

This was followed by the usual politically-correct blather about the need to “engage with young people”.

Can’t you hear the sighs of despair in homes across the land?

Decent people live in fear of packs of feral, amoral young thugs. Now we cannot even call them yobs for fear of “alienating” them.

This is exactly what we have come to expect from an organisation which now calls itself the “Police Service”.

Oh, for the days when it was a force.

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