Barclays 'Bail-In'

I know I've had quite a few posts about UKUncut, but they really are a brilliant example of spontaneous and fun protest that can really get a story into the public eye. Their latest day of action aimed at Barclays, who were recently revealed to have effectively paid 1% tax on their UK profits, was a great success, with branches up and down the country turned into comedy clubs, libraries and all manner of other things.

The reasons they've taken to targetting banks were outlined in a brilliant blog post. And the anger is only fuelled further by the news that big companies, banks included, are soon to be handed a massive tax reduction as the government changes the rules on corporation tax. It's fairly obscure tax law, but it means that rather than the situation at present where a companies with profits overseas has to pay the difference between the tax rate of the other nation and ours, they soon won't have to pay anything at all. It's explained more here.

It just seems that no-one in government has the balls to make the banks pay for the mess they created, perhaps because as David Cameron told bankers, 'My father was a stockbroker, my grandfather was a stockbroker, my great-grandfather was a stockbroker. The city is in my blood'.