Let me know your favourite piece of Red Tape and I’ll forward it to Economia for their Red Tape special in May
The Times didn’t publish my letter about tax avoidance but they did publish Gareth Tarr’s, who said
As a chartered accountant I must say that the scandal regarding tax avoidance schemes is a rare case of positive PR for my profession. Rather than condescendingly being labelled as dreary “bean-counters” we are now described as clever and innovative.
Every cloud has a silver lining.
If you get a letter from Register of Business Information like this one ignore it. It’s a CON.
You do NOT have to register a business name with any organisation, least of all one which is just a “directory” and is based in Spain.
Hidden away, in the small print, is the cost of your entry – €997.00!
It isn’t every day I’m called a nutter by the “CEO of a small business” especially when I’m discussing tax!
And all I said was
South Lakeland District Council has upset a Kendal baker so much over their decision to ban A-boards on pavements that he has decided to ban the planning commitee which decided on the new rules.
As the shop is on the main route to the Council’s offices his sign will not go unnoticed! And because it’s on the steps up to his shop they can’t ask him to remove it as it’s not on the footpath.
Well done Simon and Julie. Perhaps more businesses should tell the council what they think of them?
Once a month, Nottingham University Business School publish the UK Business Barometer, an online business survey benchmarking key issues for smaller businesses.
The fact that it is aimed at smaller businesses makes it worth reading and as this month’s survey is
Social media – hopes and fears for 2012
My response was:
I come across dozens of business names every day; some obvious, some boring, some corny but very few which are genuinely funny.
Yesterday, when I was looking for a client’s office on Google I came across this one
Wash My Wheelie
Wonderful.
I know this is a joke but having seen the 
full range of accounting records over the years, ranging from none to a full, hand-written, double-entry system I’m just a little worried that somebody will think this is all that is needed to comply with HMRC’s advice on keeping records.
On a more serious note, HMRC have spent a considerable amount of time and money putting things in place to stop businesses being able to plead ignorance when it comes to bookkeeping.
Leaflets such as Keeping records for business – what you need to know have not been produced for our benefit. They are there so that HMRC can penalise businesses for poor bookkeeping.
The penalties are large (up to £3,000) so your New Year resolution may well have to be
I’m going to improve my books
P.S. Joke or no joke, I don’t want to see one of these tins ever. Least of all from a client.
This caught my attention when I was looking at TweetDeck earlier today
It’s a tweet (post) from The Coventry & Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership LEP. Forget the content and think about the message; or, more importantly how it was sent and who sent it.
The economic future of Cumbria has to be based on the internet. Our location demands it.
Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership LEP in its own words
provides a strategic lead in all activities contributing to the growth and vibrancy of the county’s economy
Take a look at their website and ask yourself
Is what they say reflected by what they do and, more importantly, how they do it?
Sadly the answer, in my opinion is no. I have compared Cumbria LEP with Coventry and Warwickshire LEP previously when I mentioned Twitter specifically. I have also criticised Cumbria LEP for sitting on its **** but nothing has changed.
Until the board members realise that their inaction is costing us and our children dearly in wasted opportunities Cumbria’s economic growth will continue to stagnate.
If you agree with what I’m saying you should do something to change things.
I have sent a copy of this to my MP, the chairman of my district council (who incidentally is a LEP board member) and to the editor of my local paper, the Westmorland Gazette and asked for their help in changing things.
Ringbinder theme by 
Themocracy
