Amid all the global noise now about tax havens, the BBC remains a timid follower of the story, at best, raising serious questions of the extent to which the BBC is fulfilling its mandate to be, in the words of its Director General, ‘unflinching in holding power to account.’ Is the BBC afraid of the City of London?
The unstated story about Apple and taxes (How one Irish woman made $22bn for Apple, 29 May) is the problem of determining where value accrues in a digital transaction. If I import a novel in a country that charges duty, VAT or sales tax, the postal service may intercept it and charge me the taxes R&D; Trading in 61 stocks described as "empty shells" was shut down Monday, as part of regulators' aggressive plan to sweep away dormant stocks often targeted by fraudsters Shelf companies ripe for fraud
If you're under attack, create a diversion. David Cameron and Nick Clegg have been floundering as the spectre of Westminster sleaze has returned to haunt them. Four years after the MPs' expenses scandal engulfed British politics, yet another alleged scam has been exposed. First a Tory MP and then a clutch of greedy peers were caught on camera apparently agreeing to take cash from journalists posing as representatives of foreign companies. "Make that £12,000 a month," grinned Jack Cunningham, Tony Blair's former "enforcer". Born to Party; Power and the ego of certain misleaders is beset by a paradox that remains as mysterious today as it was a century ago the depth of World Bank corruption
