The grinches that want to ruin Christmas for ordinary people
Posted by Christie Malry on December 20, 2010 at 9:51 am
The ukuncut campaign rumbles along. Last Saturday, on paper at least one of the busiest shopping days of the year, protestors once again disrupted shops across the UK, including Vodafone and Topshop.
This is unacceptable. I've explained before why the ukuncut cases against Vodafone and Topshop are unfounded. The case against Vodafone is so flimsy that even Richard Murphy won't validate their figures.
Given that their two specific cases are so pathetically weak, you might be wondering whether their general campaign holds water either. But, this being the season of goodwill and all, I recognise their right to protest. Yet, in these circumstances, their current methods are completely unsupportable.
Their chosen tactics don't hurt David Cameron. They don't hurt the coalition. Nor do they hurt HMRC. They barely scrape Vodafone bosses or Sir Philip Green. Nope. Instead they frustrate and wreck one of the final pre-Christmas shopping days for thousands of ordinary people. And they make work even more hellish for thousands of retail workers, as if their conditions aren't bad enough already.
To base an entire tax campaign on two utter howlers would be bad enough. But their methods betray the rank cowardice in the hearts of the ukuncut protestors. They know their figures don't stand up to scrutiny, so they're merely trying to be as disruptive to ordinary people as possible. This is a disgrace, and we should resist these selfish Grinches. They're not on our side; they are bullies who will do anything - even wreck Christmas for thousands - to get their way.
Written on my Android mobile phone. Article may be edited later.
don't be absurd. Christmas is not wrecked by not being able to enter a retail outlet on a given day. Meanwhile, companies employ accountants and lawyers to successfully and legally reduce their tax payments to HMRC (you know this) and it's quite legitimate for protesters to put pressure on the government in the hope our representatives in government will find a way to make it harder for companies to do that. I quite agree that the protesters are generally talking tosh about the details of Vodafone and Arcadia, but they are right about the big picture.
Hi Luis Enrique
1. If you work in the week, then Saturday may well be the only day you can get to the shops. So it's a selfish choice of day for that reason.
2. How does protesting at shops put pressure on HMRC? They should be protesting at HMRC and at Parliament, not at Oxford Street.
3. How does protesting at Vodafone and Arcadia, which are innocent of the charges being made, put pressure on the real tax avoiders?
I'm sorry, I can't agree with your 'big picture' argument at all.