Reblogged this on Global Clarity.

This is in line with the Tory party’s adoption of a radical Liberatarian – Anarcho-Capitalist stance, based on the ideas of Rothbard. As I’ve mentioned before, Rothbard wanted even the courts to be privatised, and believed that competition between different, privately owned and managed courts of justice would result in greater justice and the adoption of their judgements, even by individuals and organisations who had the most to lose from them. He seemed to believe that even criminals would rationally adopt the decisions of the fairest courts, as it would be in their interest to do so and so gain the court’s protection from other criminals. I think it’s fairly obvious that this is a fantasy, but that hasn’t prevented a sizable. or possibly just vociferous chunk, of the American Republican Right adopting his ideas.

As for a private police force, this idea was on the cards as far back as Margaret Thatcher’s last administration. C,. 1990-1992 I remember reading an article in the Daily Mail on how Britain would be run if women ran the country. Remember that the Daily Mail was originally founded as the newspaper for the wives of the men, who read the Telegraph, and has always tried to cultivate a female readership. This is despite the apparent general misogyny, expressed in the paper’s hostility to working mothers, its publication of bikini photographs of teenage girls with highly sexualised captions, and its enormous emphasis on women striving for unattainable standards of physical beauty. The Mail’s article was based on how it believed politics would look if the majority of MPs were women, with another female prime minister and the majority of the cabinet also women. The Tories were clearly trying to win over the female vote by saying that women would make better politicians as they had an instinctive understanding of politics and economics through running their homes and planning the family budget. This, at least, was the opinion of Virginia Bottomley, who announced that this fantasy female administration would introduce private policing by specially hired security firms, rather than a state police force.

If you really want to see the ultimate end-point of this kind of Anarcho-Capitalism, try reading one of Stephen Baxter’s SF novels. There’s one set in alternative reality in which NASA decides to launch a manned mission to Mars, as per Von Braun’s original plans, rather than go to the Moon. In this alternative world, Britain is an Anarcho-Capitalist state, in which even the nuclear deterrent has been privatised. Brent council leases theirs from Uzbekistan, I believe. Actually, considering the way much of our defence industry has been privatised and sold to the Americans, even that may not be far from the truth.

…bit concerned about the limited company/umbrella company reference made in the advert, seems to point to IR35 which HMRC are trying to clamp down on.
Basically as an employee you can only claim expenses that are incurred “wholly, necessarily and exclusively in the performance of the employment” (Section 336 Income Earnings & Pension Act 2003) whereas as a “self employed” individual you can claim much more in the way of expenses with an overall loss to the exchequer in terms of PAYE income tax and primary and secondary national insurance contributions.
Here’s some interesting information about umbella companies;

“Working in recruitment within the temporary contract market, we’re sure that you will be aware of how useful Umbrella Companies can be.

However, you will probably also be aware that there are several hundred operating in the UK that aren’t compliant with current legislation. As an agency, if you use a non-compliant company you could leave yourselves wide open to financial penalties from the debt transfer legislation. You may also have been advised that underpayments of PAYE tax is the liability of the umbrella company, however it is a personal tax and therefore the contractor will be liable.”

The question that needs to be asked is this … If it were not for the existense of the Ltd company/umbella company would the individual simply be an employee of the main company? I know what I think and I think the Met Police and Boris Johnson are on VERY dodgy ground!