Skinflint's Election Diary
On Saturday I visited Birmingham to listen to Mr Enoch Powell make what I thought would be a memorable speech against British membership of the European Economic Community. He suggested that those who saw Britain's membership of the EEC as the supreme issue had a duty to vote for the one party, Labour, that has given some sort of indication that they will renegotiate our terms of membership and that they will then put these new terms to the people. They do suggest a referendum, but knowing politicians as we all do, a general election at a time to suit themselves is all we can probably hope for.
Mr Enoch Powell's speech was a disgraceful act of disloyalty to his party and to those of his friends who thought that he stood for enterprise and against collectivism in all its forms. Mr Powell will no doubt say that he never told his supporters to vote for the Labour Party in this general election and that his speech should be read again. I have read it again and again and am sick of his clever semantics. He is at this moment a traitor to his party and almost all of the ideals for which it stands, and that is that.
Every harsh word I've said about Mr Powell is unreservedly withdrawn and I'll kiss the ground he walks on, if — in the event of a Labour victory — he takes up the post of Britain's 'renegotiator at large', as has been leaked by Mr Peter Shore.
Institute of Economic Affairs
The right-wing laissez faire and Powellite Institute of Economic Affairs (their top man, Ralph Harris, has been saying he's going to follow Mr Powell's advice and vote Labour on Thursday — shamefully) has published a useful pamphlet 'Government and the Land' (The Institute of Economic Affairs £1). The authors argue that land planning controls have been counter productive and suggest a return to a laissez faire land policy suggesting that the controls in existence since the war have produced an ugly urban sprawl which would have been no worse without planning. Though there is much in what they say I would not care to let the few developers that I know on the loose through 'white land' around London. The result would, 1 fear, be akin to the Great West Road and the Western Avenue, those by-products of an era before the war when Mr Taylor Woodrow and Mr John Laing made their fortunes buying plots at £50 a piece and putting up what they liked. Returning to the lEA booklet, it is a pity that they have overlooked the importance of' institutional money being the arbiter of value through the provision of mortgages or being the buyer of last resort. The direction and the control of these funds in return for their tax free status should not be inimicable to the objectives of the IEA. The institutional funds would be required to ration their investment as between domestic and commercial and industrial property and as between equities and gilt edged according to the current national interest. This should reduce values to nearer intrinsic cost and lower interest levels at the same time as raising the price of government stock.
Concorde
The interminable affaire (this is the way I suppose we should spell it) of the Anglo-French Concorde project drags on and on, with the most recent discussions between the two countries involving the installation of extra-fuel tanks for the tenth aircraft in production onwards.
Certainly one of the first tasks for an incoming British government will be to review — this must be for the fifth time at least — the Concorde programme. Apart from flight-worthiness which has proved overwhelmingly successful, the most satisfactory way to obtain customer acceptability would be to get at least two of the aircraft already built into the air on a commercial route with fare-paying passengers: one aircraft flying for Air France and another on a British Airways flight where a route might be found within the jurisdiction of the two countries and where noise level may be monitored without the intervention of so-called environmentalists who are suspiciously close in some cases to lobbyists for rival United States subsonic aircraft companies.
value added tax and the envisaged property taxes is usually blamed though I suspect that the real trouble within the accountaneY business is lack of staff particularly the junior quasi-professional help on which these firms have in the past been able to rely. The accountancy pupil paid a pittance or even paying for his apprenticeship has gone and 10 their place are new students who count on a useful salary from the very beginning of their studies. It is in this area, with ever rising costs, that the professional accountants are economising thoug.11 they conceal this from their clients. Thus the true cost of the accountant's economy is being felt by their clients who are obtaining financial figures too late to take proper action in forward tax-mititigating investment decisions.
Robert Maxwell
Let us hope that the electors of Buckingham return their Conservative candidate and not Captain Robert Maxwell, their one-tiMe Labour member. He gave me 5 to I that he would not only be selected by the constituency association but returned. I put down £5 which he quickly pocketed, signing his visitor's ticket to the Trade Union Congress with the figure £30 and some words in what appeared to be shorthand. I have been warned that it may be solve less than binding jest in SerboCroat.
Tonnes and pickuls
There are few benefits discernible from our membership of the European Economic Commun10 except possibly the standardisation of measures which is 100g overdue. North Sea Oil is discussed continually and we have estimates given to us based On barrels (forty gallons apparently) and also calculations based 00 tonnes (presumably something like a ton) and our old friend 111e I gallon (imperial or otherwise). t might be as well if a start WaS made in this limited area as wellaS in the commodity market it such aasb sbushelsurd m e aasnudr epsi co an kf uqi yY kf uqi yY
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