If so many economists and retailers are so certain that VAT is to be increased, how come the politicians forgot to mention it during the general election campaign? With a budget deficit of £165bn, however, it seems just too easy not to squeeze spenders a little harder.
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Prudential Plc (LON:PRU) had the chance to reform rights-issue underwriting fees with its £14bn share issue but has instead chosen to bribe big investors with their own expensive money. It is a missed opportunity.
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Who will be the heroes of the next revolution? Political idealists? Trade union activists?
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Strong profits from Britain’s banks may indicate a return to normality but surely it shows they are overcharging their customers. Shouldn’t the competition concerns about retail banking be extended to corporate and investment banking too?
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The government statisticians’ forecast that the UK population will rise from 61m to 71m by 2033 gives 10m more reasons why the pension age needs seriously reforming. Lifting the retirement age to 68 by 2046 is far too late.
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Before Lord Myners was a minister he wrote a report expounding the important of investors using their corporate votes.

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The figures to look for in the Pre-Budget Report are not next year’s but the five-year forecasts. It’s not the cost of coping with recession that will shock us but the cost of paying for it in years to come.
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When the TUC and the big unions ally themselves with the CBI and large companies, - backed by big banks from, both sides of the Atlantic - we should either be very worried or concede they have a strong argument.
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Despite appearances, the government’s early-autumn mini-budget is not aimed at reviving the housing market but with rescuing the economy – just as last September’s actions were not about baling-out Northern Rock but saving Britain’s banking system.
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Woolworth has emerged as the latest pension fund with a business attached but giving away the operating assets is no way out of the problem.
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