LadyCentauria wrote:Mornin' all.
Well, what charmers the Tax Payers' Alliance are. </sarcasm> I didn't think I could be surprised by anything they come out with but this... words fail me:
Mr Wild said the Tories could not wait until a year before the next election to make the necessary cuts to the winter fuel allowance, free bus passes, the Christmas bonus and other pensioner benefits.
The cuts should be made "as soon as possible after an election for two reasons", said Mr Wild.
"The first of which will sound a little bit morbid - some of the people... won't be around to vote against you in the next election. So that's just a practical point, and the other point is they might have forgotten by then."
He added: "If you did it now, chances are that in 2020 someone who has had their winter fuel cut might be thinking, 'Oh I can't remember, was it this government or was it the last one? I'm not quite sure.'
"So on a purely practical basis I would say do it immediately. That might be one of those things I regret saying in later life but that would be my practical advice to the government."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34439965
Vile.
They were on radio2 (jeremy vine show
) arguing against young doctors views, & pop up regularly on radio news/current affairs providing same function.
Some information about their funding on:-
http://powerbase.info/index.php/Taxpayers'_Alliance
Most of the known Taxpayers’ Alliance funders also donate money to the Conservative Party, these donors include Anthony Bamford ,
Robert Edmiston , Stuart Wheeler, Christopher Kelly , Patrick Barbour ,
Rocco Forte and Tony Gallagher . Two of them, Stuart Wheeler and
Patrick Barbour, donate to UKIP and one, Tony Gallagher , has given donations to both the Labour Party and the Conservative Party.
Also interesting about providing 'churnalism',
cheap copy for the press,though sounds familiar so may have read this on ftn previously?
Paul Lashmar, an investigative reporter and lecturer in journalism at University College Falmouth, told the Independent that there was 'a direct relation between the rise of the TPA and the pressures news organisations'. He argued that:
'Journalists are often now so overstretched that a lot of work that used to be carried out in the newsroom is carried out by groups like the TPA. You don't see extensive research anymore whereas it used to be commonplace in Sunday papers to have exercises where, for example, you would ring around every MP for their opinions as the TPA has done numerous times'.
Lashmar went on to say that:
'What you see now is journalists who are grateful for news which is almost perfectly packaged to go into the paper with a ready top line. In that sense, journalism is becoming very passive. It is a processor of other people's information rather than being engaged in actively seeking out and determining what the truth of a situation is in an energetic and inquisitive way.'
Transparency rating 'E', for who funds them:-
http://whofundsyou.org/org/taxpayers-alliance
Independent article on Labour eurosceptic group having links to TPA:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 93998.html
Labour for Britain is co-chaired by MPs Kate Hoey, Kelvin Hopkins and Graham Stringer, while the millionaire party donor John Mills acts as its secretary. A number of prominent new supporters are expected to be announced at the Labour conference in three weeks’ time.
The group’s website says it will push for “changes which ensure that our laws are made in London rather than Brussels”. It continues: “Labour voters want to see reform and the Labour Party should champion their wishes.”
However, its origins indicate it has connections well outside the Labour fold. To the surprise of senior party figures, its website is registered in the name of Matthew Elliott, the chief executive of Business for Britain and the founder of the Taxpayers’ Alliance. It is registered at 55 Tufton Street in Westminster, the same address as Business for Britain and the Taxpayers’ Alliance.
(Morning)
Well said Jasmin. 
