Friday 2 June 2017

This is the sort of reaction I expected...

The Sunderland Echo covered a Press Assocation write-up about YPP. It was a bit of a hatchet job and the fox hunting bit was taken completely out of context, but hey, all publicity is good publicity:

From the comments:

Tobster:

That's why the voting age should be raised to 21 or they bring back the property criterion. The latter means that only those who own property and therefore have a stake in society are allowed to vote.

Psychlops:

So as a renter, who couldn't afford to buy property... I'm to be denied a vote?

As a renter I don't have a stake in society?

Gee, thanks...

15 comments:

James Higham said...

You're famous now - LVT made it to a public forum.

Lola said...

You'll know you've made it when the Daily Mail writes about you as " The YPP headed by Mark Wadsworth 51, who lives in a £650,000 house in Essex..."

Mark Wadsworth said...

JH, I don't want to be famous, but thanks.

L, chance would be a fine thing.

Rich Tee said...

"all publicity is good publicity"

The man who coined that phrase was carnival promoter PT Barnum, he was referring to clowns and bearded ladies...well, the latter would burnish your transgender credentials :-)

Lola said...

Thinking about it, using the same logic, you could say that the only people 'entitled to vote' are those that 'pay' tax....(i.e. no state employee can vote, or those on benefits...)...incentives matter y'know...:-)

There. That'd be a great wind up!

mombers said...

I regret not having picked up the fox hunting thing in the manifesto :-( Reversing the smoking ban was removed once I pointed out that more than 80% of people don't want to go back according to the polls at the time. Fox hunting is a lightening rod and any mention of it is going to be picked up on by a journo and distract from the important stuff

Lola said...

Mombers. Yes. Agreed.

mombers said...

Why is 'property' used so often when 'land' is a more accurate word? Your clothing, your household possessions, your labour, money in the bank, shares in a pension, these are all property.

Mark Wadsworth said...

M, it is the 1984 technique, change the meaning of a word and you change how people think. I try to refer to "land and buildings" if that is what I mean.

Lola said...

MW and M. I use real estate when talking to clients. They ALL think 'property' is land and buildings...

MikeW said...

Lola,

I'm with the Greeks. Only those who stand in the phalanx can vote :)



You'll know you've made it when the Daily Mail writes about you as " The YPP headed by Mark Wadsworth 51, who lives in a £650,000 house in Essex..."



YPP Press release:

Mark Wadsworth, founder of the YPP, is delighted to find that his family home is worth £650,000, according to some recent tabloid estimates. He has reaffirmed today that he is determined to spend the rest of his political career fighting to pay a 4% Land Value Tax on his Essex house. But, at the same time, have his national insurance, vat and income tax reduced in line with this yearly payment to HMRC. Fair minded readers may be interested to know that this progressive shift to 'good taxation' is at the beating heart of the YPP manifesto.

I would then write some snotty remarks about the capacity of Daily Mail journalists to grasp this point, but that's just me.

Bayard said...

MW & M, once the meaning's changed it's too late, if you go on using the old meaning it just gets confusing, like the rules for Business Property Relief, which doesn't apply to property-owning businesses. Try using "gay" in its original meaning and you'll get some funny looks, too.

Striebs said...

Phillip Hammond is my mothers local MP and she was unimpressed when she talked to him when he was knocking on doors .

Some good points in the comments pointing out that rates were based on rentable value and that Churchill championed LVT .

Anyone know Phillip Hammond is A) ignorant of LVT , B) understands it and is against it because he himself was a carpet bagger who made his millions out of pwoperty or C) should I just put his crass comments down to it being election campaigning ?

Mark Wadsworth said...

S, I think b and c. What do you think?

Striebs said...

Mark W ,

You are probably right .

I'd hope it was C) only and not B) because in the event of a Conservative victory that would leave a remote possibility that the chancellor might consider something close to LVT .

People really do think the housing market , construction and development has been the engine of the economy . I've seen the stimulating effect out in Israel with the constant stream of newcomers . Eventually the music has to stop .