Bring back the poll tax

Following the abolition of the rates, we had the community charge or poll tax. That helped to bring down Margaret Thatcher. In 1991 John Major introduced the council tax and the bills have been rising steadily and sometimes not so steadily each year.

In London my bill contains precepts for the local council, the police and the London Assembly. As I have pointed out before the London Assembly was sold as costing the average Band D payer about 3p a week or £1.50 a year. It currently costs me more than £300 a year for what I believe is an unnecessary layer of government.

The poll tax was described as unfair because the duke in his castle pays the same as the widow in her hovel.

At first glance this may indeed seem unfair. But the council tax pays for the local council and the services it provides. If the duke pays double what the widow pays, does that mean that his bins are emptied twice as often? If he is burgled, do the police double their efforts to catch the criminals? If his castle catches fire, does the fire brigade turn up twice as quickly? If his children go to a local school (unlikely I know) do they get a better education? If he is ill, does the doctor come out or does he get seen in half the time at the local hospital? (Again, unlikely I know because he would have private education for his children and private health care for his family.) What do you think?

It could even be argued that those who have private health care or send their children to private schools should receive a reduction in their council tax because they are not "using" all the services.

The reason council tax bills are so high is because they have to pay for all the unnecessary staff hired by councils.

If local councils spent their, sorry our, money on schools, hospitals, the police, and keeping the streets clean, bins emptied and paid councillors an allowance (as they used to), council tax bills could be slashed.

Hungry? Forget your principles

Earlier this week French police banned an organisation called Solidarity of the French from handing out pork soup to homeless people because, they claimed, it discriminates against Jews and Muslims.

On Tuesday the ban was overturned but on Friday 6 January the Council of State, France's highest administrative court, confirmed the police decision.

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe said: "This decision clearly establishes the discriminatory dimension of such an operation, from which people of Jewish or Muslim faith are de facto excluded."

How many Jews or Muslims are actually living on the streets of Paris? From my experience both those communities tend to take care of their own.

Now, thankfully I have never been homeless but I would imagine that if I was living rough and someone offered me free food I would be grateful for whatever they gave me.

People in certain positions cannot afford to be choosy. The choice is simple - eat it or go hungry. I know which I would prefer.