BEN’S BLOG: ‘Ralph Topping – Out of order’

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]o this week, Blog, the government have gone to the bookmakers, for yet another handout. Coming up with a tax increase, on top of the 15% Gross-Profits Tax, the 10% Levy, and the 23% Corporation Tax. AND, if you’re self-employed, you THEN, in the unlikely event that there’s anything left for you, pay standard income-tax, before ACTUALLY getting to touch any of the money with your own dirty mits.

The government don’t approve of roulette machines. They keep telling us this. They spread gambling addiction and ruin lives (correct). But then they want an extra 5% of the book, by putting the tax on them, up from 20% to 25%? Well, surely you want them in society, or not, don’t you? Does it make them okay, and people not addicted anymore, if Lord Snooty, George Osborne, gets an extra earner out of them? Bookmakers are such an easy target, Blog. They have thousands of shops all over the country, that they obviously can’t just move, and this latest tax-rise really is an A-class showing of hypocrisy.

The most odd comments of late though, seem to have come from chief William Hill corporate wage-slave; Ralph Topping. In response to the oncoming Point-of-Consumption Tax, he’s told the mugs down at the stock-market: Don’t worry, don’t worry, the weaker opposition will get shaken out first and then we’ll be fine again. The ‘weaker opposition’, Ralph? Do you mean the ‘weaker’ bookmakers, that have actually got a pair of balls between their legs, get licenses in their own name, and play the punters with their own money? Are those the ‘weak’ people you’re referring to? As opposed to those ‘strong’ people that do it with someone else’s money all of their lives, Ralph? Please have some respect for the independent-bookmakers in this country, that actually bring the game a bit of colour, class, and character, rather than just silly computer-apps and low-grade television adverts!!

To be fair to Topping, he was one of the few wage-slaves that tried to stick it up the Betfair Bootleggers in the early days, but he’s certainly out of order here.

In other news:
The government are now softening up in terms of punishments for those who don’t pay their TV-licence. Err, why’s that then? Well, of course, Blog! God forbid, anyone living in the once Great British nation, actually has a RESPONSIBILITY they must act upon, in return for their myriad of ‘entahawmints’!!

Over-and-out, B x