No 10 Web site; IR 35 in the Top Ten
Announcing the Government's report on their own performance Tony Blair talked of the need for Education, Education and Education. Checking out the No 10 web site and the discussion forum entitled Speakers Corner, Education ranks 4th in the number of posts just ahead of....IR 35, which at number 6, is ahead of items such as Europe, Health and the Internet.
The posts on the IR 35 discussion forum run the full range of opinion and give the impression of ever mounting frustration. A recent post spells out a powerful argument from a personal viewpoint.
People ARE considering completely changing their jobs - the red tape involved in running a company is ludicrous, the Inland Revenue are constantly harassing and threatening you, ridiculous constraints are being placed upon businesses with new labour laws, and now IR35 comes along to cap things off. I am thirty four. I am sick of all of this. Where is the sense in forcing someone my age out of an industry where there is a skills shortage?
Many posters will be disappointed, that having introduced a discussion forum the Government refuses to engage in debate. Preferring instead to "lurk".
The webmaster of the site states:-
You can post your views on a range of Government issues in Speakers' Corner. We cannot respond to individual postings, but we do read all of them.
Thus begging the obvious question: Why put up a discussion forum then?
The technology is overkill, for what in reality, is no more than a guest book. These were popular a few years ago on early Internet sites. They allowed visitors to leave their comments, but no interaction between the operators of the site and the poster was possible. In communications terms; you can transmit, but cannot receive.
Some would argue that this would be an analogy for this Government with respect to IR 35.
Transmitting, but not receiving.
With a few days before IR 35 is again debated in the House of Commons, Contractors may care to transmit a few more messages.
It would appear that the No 10 Webmaster is a great fan of the "Septic tank" Radar operator at Pearl Harbour. It is possible however, that with a few more messages appearing on his screen, he or she might wake up and realise that a subject with more posts than Europe, Health or the Internet is worthy of passing up the chain of command.
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Andy White