I’m calling bullshit

This is what Danny Alexander said yesterday morning;

“I think that people who are deliberately going out of their way to try and bend rules to dodge tax, are the moral equivalent of people who cheat the benefit system.”

Sorry, I’m calling bullshit! How can you possibly say that finding a legal way to reduce your tax bill is in any way equivalent to claiming money to which you are not entitled, by lying? Do all politicians think we’re thick or something? Is he suggesting that anyone not paying as much tax as they can are frauds and cheats? I’m with James Delingpole on this. All tax is legalised theft and earners have a sacred duty to stop as much money as they (legally) can from getting into the filthy hands of Big Government. In fact, could Danny Alexander be accused of libel? He’s compared people using legal tax avoidance schemes to people fraudulently claiming benefit. I hope someone sues him.

There is a story in the Sun today about “psychic” Karl Lang from Newport who has landed himself in court after a couple of women complained that he brainwashed them into stripping and performing sex acts, while schooling them in spiritualism. You may all be expecting me to go into a rant at this point about how all psychics are either deluded or fraudulent, but I am not going to. I could also make some comment about how stupid these women were. After all, this buffoon told them to take their clothes off and gyrate to increase their spiritual abilities, and they did it? I don’t have much sympathy for them. But even that isn’t the story. No, the story here is more personal.

When I saw the picture,. I thought I recognised the guy, and when I read that he was from Newport, it occurred to me where I knew him from. Back in 2006, just after I returned to UK, I did a bit of freelance work, including a few months contract at Panasonic in Newport. There I met a guy called Karl who claimed to be a spiritualist healer. He also played guitar as I remember. It’s him, I swear it is. I seem to remember actually quite liking the guy until I found out he was making money as a healer. I suppose I should mention that the trial is still in progress and that Karl has denied everything.