Mark Steel - a not funny idiot
As Tim Worstall puts it:
Mark Steel: IdiotQuite. This is what Mark Steel, idiot, writes:
New Labour certainly keep their promises. Before they were elected, they promised to reform the loophole that enables the super-rich to avoid paying tax, by claiming "non-domicile tax status". And now, 11 years later, they’re still promising to do it.Steel is, of course, not alone. I have read the same sort of 'NonDoms pay no tax' thing so many times. But as Tim writes, this is complete nonsense:This ruse involves living in Britain while not being an official resident, and is one of the main ways in which the richest 54 billionaires in the country have paid on average 1 and a half per cent tax.
If you are not resident in the UK you do not pay tax at all in the UK. Non-doms are resident in the UK which is why they pay full UK tax on their UK earnings and full UK tax on earnings from other countries which they bring into the UK. But because they are resident but not domiciled they do not pay UK tax on money that they earn in other countries and do not bring into the UK. If they were not residents we would call them non-residents: the fact that we call them non-domiciles rather than non-residents might be the smallest of clues to the fact that they are not "living in Britain while not being an official resident".Steel isn't just an idiot. He's also one of that breed of lefty comedians who aren't remotely funny.
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Ray
February 13th, 2008 5:56pmCan anyone name any 'lefty comedian' who is remotely funny?
verity
February 13th, 2008 7:44pmRay beat me to it. That's why they call them 'alternative' comedians. They are an alternative to being amused.
Austin Barry
February 14th, 2008 12:56amMark Steel has been a long time member member of the Socialists Workers Party. He was also born in Swanley, Kent. Consequently, his hold on sanity must be tenuous at best. I wouldn't worry about him.
ignotum per ignotius
February 14th, 2008 4:50amI followed your final link, which is to an article wherein you describe the reception his stand-up routine typically receives: This is usually met with sympathetic, knowing laughter from an audience that goes to hear the "comedian" only because they know and share the politics. I used to listen to his show on BBC Radio 4 (without any great enthusiasm, it must be said), and I find your characterisation to be pretty accurate. This age of dumbed-down "Infotainment" is tailor-made for trendy Leftist mountebanks. They can find endless opportunities to drip a Marxist historical narrative into the increasingly dim public consciousness, all under the guise of 'comedy' --- safe in the knowledge that their audience is less likely to scrutinise their fashionable assertions than to go and regurgitate them down the pub. ...And judging by the single comment the linked article received, this strategy's working a treat...
Umbongo
February 14th, 2008 3:46pm"He's also one of that breed of lefty comedians who aren't remotely funny" which includes Jeremy Hardy, Marcus Brigstocke and Sandi Toksvig. All of them - including Steel - suck at the generous teat provided by our state broadcaster.