Labour plan to charge VAT on private school fees.

So Starmer has finally come out with a policy instead of sitting on the sidelines.

Actually I agree with him on this point, to a certain extent.

Most private schools have charitable status and Starmer is now planning on removing this.

I am not against private schools far from it but why should they enjoy charitable status and receive tax payer benefits when they don't actually help the public.

Most pay lip service to their charitable work and will roll out the odd poor kid from the council estate whose getting a freebie, it's not enough.

Private education is a personal choice but so if flying business class or eating in expensive restaurants. If you can do it good luck but don't expect the rest of us to subsidize it.

How should the Tories respond? Well for a long time I have complained about organizations that enjoy charitable status and don't deserve it.

For example there are many "charities" that are really left wing political campaign groups, then of course there are the dodgy rich people who use them as an unfair tax break.

It's time to redefine what charitable status is.

I don't have an exact definition but for example I would insist that annually charities publish what percentage of their income is spent on good works and any that fall below a threshold should lose it.

I think the public would be shocked if they knew how little of their hard earned money actually goes on good causes and how much goes on salaries, lavish lifestyle and offices in Chelsea or Mayfair.

None of this is likely to happen, both parties have too many vested interested so if Labour get elected they will pick on private schools and let the rest off.

Unfortunately this is a dick measuring content only in this case it's whose party is not as terrible as the other lot. Hardly a vote of confidence.

Where is the man of vision and principle.

This question was always a hard one for me as I feel the arguments on both sides of the aisle have legitimate points of worth.

So at various points I've been on both sides of this topic.

So being someone who believes in natural law I have to go back to first principles. In that case it's the acknowledgement that hierarchy will always be with us and that default equality results in more harm than good.

So I want the brightest minds doing the hardest jobs within the national talent pool that's available. That should be independent of money or status.

So I would go back to the original aims of grammar schools....I would set regulations so the sharp elbowed middle class couldn't fill all the spaces; if the working class child was bright enough they were going independent of means.

I think for many years the grammar system was used to extend advantage for those with means to gerrymander the system.

So I believe in a grammar school system that operates on the IQ system not the class system. But again, that is not an invite for progressive ideologies like CRT and all the rest of it.

It is purely an education device for ensuring the brightest minds are doing the hardest jobs for the betterment of both themselves and for society in general.

Edited by Stirlingsays (30 Nov 2022 8.11am)

This question was always a hard one for me as I feel the arguments on both sides of the aisle have legitimate points of worth.

So at various points I've been on both sides of this topic.

So being someone who believes in natural law I have to go back to first principles. In that case it's the acknowledgement that hierarchy will always be with us and that default equality results in more harm than good.

So I want the brightest minds doing the hardest jobs within the national talent pool that's available. That should be independent of money or status.

So I would go back to the original aims of grammar schools....I would set regulations so the sharp elbowed middle class couldn't fill all the spaces; if the working class child was bright enough they were going independent of means.

I think for many years the grammar system was used to extend advantage for those with means to gerrymander the system.

So I believe in a grammar school system that operates on the IQ system not the class system. But again, that is not an invite for progressive ideologies like CRT and all the rest of it.

It is purely an education device for ensuring the brightest minds are doing the hardest jobs for the betterment of both themselves and for society in general.

Edited by Stirlingsays (30 Nov 2022 8.11am)