Loadsa luck, pal

The story is no doubt apocryphal - but it bears repetition nonetheless. Roughly a thousand years ago, the Conservative government was agitating, especially in Scotland, about the system of collecting local taxation from the citizenry. It consulted an international expert on such matters. Said expert examined the options then pronounced: "Tell me more about these rates. We do not have them in my country. They sound very interesting." Bit of a snag given that the object was to replace the rates. The rates were to be scrapped. Their very name had become a hissing and a byword to all right-thinking people. They were bad. They were an intrinsic evil. And so was born the poll tax. Now Iain Gray, one of the contenders for the Labour leadership in Scotland, says he will urgently convene talks, if elected, to find a method to replace... [read full story]