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Bad pressure group of the week

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    Bad pressure group of the week

    Tax Payers Alliance

    Rather like Migration Watch, this organisation seem to get a lot of publicity- they're routinely quoted by the BBC and have their link provided. So I followed it. And it seems they can't tell the difference between a poorly written report and a quote:

    http://tpa.typepad.com/campaign/2008/10/lies-damned-lie.html#comments

    It's the way they think they're so sharp that gets me.

    #2
    Bad pressure group of the week

    This one's good as well- see the last 3 paragraphs:
    http://tpa.typepad.com/campaign/2008/10/doing-the-right.html

    No doubt the writer is one of these who always says "everyone else in the EU just disobeys the regulations- we're the only honourable ones".

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      #3
      Bad pressure group of the week

      I've vented spleen about the Tax Payers Alliance (isn't taxpayer one word?) before.

      Every time that bastard spokesman comes on I want to smash the radio. Strikes me as someone who'd not pay any taxes and fuck anyone in need of Government assistance.

      I hope they all find themselves jobless and in severe health problems. Then we'd see how much they fucking whinged about the tax money spent on the NHS, Benefits system etc.

      Comment


        #4
        Bad pressure group of the week

        We have all sorts of those over here. One for every province, plus a national one.

        Generally, they only ever have one staff person - almost invariably under 30 (which usually accounts for the shoddiness of their reports). Young Tories on the make. It's never clear where their money comes from - but they manage to speak on behalf of "all taxpayers"!

        They were certainly in the vanguard of the Canada's nastiness of the 90s. Not a nice bunch.

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          #5
          Bad pressure group of the week

          I'm not sure they go for benefits as much as at council waste- jobs with silly titles, daft projects etc. There might be something to be said for that if they weren't thick and nasty.

          We should post up pictures of group social events in every country and decided which we'd least like to attend.

          I don't know how much influence they have here, AG. Beyond a reluctance that everyone has to pay taxes. How did it work in Canada?

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            #6
            Bad pressure group of the week

            They gained influence through media whoring, mostly. Anytime there was a story about tax or spending, they were very good at getting their "equal time" with government spokesmen. It had nothing to do with having a large membership base (they were noticeably cagey about answering the question "who are your members" - in fact, they tended to get their budgets from a few large donations from cranky rich people).

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              #7
              Bad pressure group of the week

              Since Tony Benn's being discussed elsewhere at the moment, I'd add that I'd apply his 'democracy test' to the spokesmen of these pressure groups too: Who do you represent? Where does your mandate come from? How do we get rid of you?

              Surely, as a 'taxpayer', I could get some people together to launch a leadership challenge against these cretins. The internal democracy of these organisations should be questioned.

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                #8
                Bad pressure group of the week

                Absolutely.

                Though I've a horrible feeling the leadership are less bad than the members.

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