Author Archives: Ray Harper

Government mandate and democracy

Governments always claim they have a mandate for their policies as specified in their manifesto. (They will also claim a mandate for policies conjured up subsequently for which they do not have a mandate!)They do have a mandate as seen from definitions in dictionaries, etc. However these mandates are not democratic mandates since a majority… Read More »

Scottish Government Immoral change of Student Grading System

The initial grading of Scottish students gave grades that were 1% higher than previous years, so fair and slightly generous. The results were particularly criticized for marking down students from deprived areas. However, teacher grades for those areas boosted performance by 20% compared with previous years, presumably because the teachers tried to compensate for the… Read More »

The Meaning of the Brexit Referendum

What did the Brexit vote to leave the EU mean? Leave completely? Hard border between UK & EU (including for Northern Ireland), out of Single market (European Economic Area) and Customs Union. The fear was/is that a hard border brings a return to ‘the troubles’. Bombs, death and destruction. I do not remember it being… Read More »

The Money Tree (Part 4)

Continuing the reasons for not increasing taxes on the wealth from the previous Money Tree blog. Reason 3: It is socially divisive such that the rich resent the poor who are benefiting from their work. However, I would think that the reverse is more pertinent that the poor and middle class resent the rich who… Read More »

The Money Tree (Part 3)

Following from the previous The Money Tree blog we are now looking at reasons for not increasing taxes on the wealthy. Reason 1: High taxes reduce investment, thus reducing the support for businesses/entrepreneurs, increasing unemployment and decreasing growth. This is related to Reason 2 – High taxes are a disincentive to individuals to make money.… Read More »