to have gone off gary barlow today because i learnt he was a ...

[Owllady]

Tory

Another vote for Compo from me.

The idea that we should feel sorry for a rich bloke tricked by those nasty financial advisers is an interesting one, but not one that really holds up to scrutiny, I feel.

its not only the fact that hes rich A lot of people are easily blinded by the celeb culture we live in today too.

We'll I don't think ANYTHING his financial advisors may have advised him deserved some bastard troll hacking his twitter and saying his stillborn daughter will be rotting in hell.

So my thoughts are firmly with him and his wife tonight.

Why do people feel the need to hoard so much money anyway? Boring.

Oh, softly, really? How awful

Yes really Something, was upset when I read it earlier. He's a bloke not some idol. A bloke who made a mistake and has political leanings towards a main stream party. Does he have to be so destroyed? I was never a fan but I won't be his judge and jury either.

softly that's bloody disgusting

Small business underpays tax by a few grand - hounded by HMRC to pay up or face prosecution.

Multimillionaire dodges millions - slap on the wrist. "Let's do dinner and sort this little pickle out shall we?"

No excuse for awful troll on twitter. Sickening

Yes. I have always wondered this. How much better can you live on 60 million than you can on 50 million? What can you not buy with that 50m that makes you want to go to considerable lengths to avoid paying your fair share of tax?

I'm not a particularly political person but it does seem that Conservatives are the one group of people that its ok to openly hate and vilify on MN. THey're a mainstream political party who have been in power for much of the last 30 odd years so clearly a significant proportion of the country are voting for them.

Isn't what he's done perfectly legal though? The Government should, perhaps, do something to close tax loopholes, rather than persecute those who legally take advantage of them.

Yes it's legal but when it's a blatant tax avoidance scheme, it becomes a grey area. The public don't like it. Government must be seen to be having A Stern Word to appease the masses. Loop holes stay open because parliament and their chums quite like that way. Makes money hoarding so much easier.

JohnCusacksWife, they'd be fine as a political party if they hadn't chucked out all the actual conservatives by about 1989. They're a pack of dangerous radicals with an anti-british foreign ideology, out to wreck everything the people of this country have built since 1945. They haven't had half what they deserve.

And that's before we even mention their delightful Welfare Reform Bill... Kind of ironic that the charities that Gary has raised money for, such as Sports relief, are left to pick up the pieces...

Quintessentially - come off it. He'll have been told "I can reduce the amount of tax you pay, it's totally legal, you don't need to know the details and I charge a very reasonable rate."

I fear that a very large number of public figures use these schemes. Taxpayer confidentiality means we only get to hear about those few that don't get away with it.

I assume you didn't grow up in a mining area then? Didn't see your hometown turn from a functioning community into a ghost town with no jobs, an ageing population and drug and alcohol problems. I did. I will neither forgive nor forget what Thatcher and her party did.

Just seen the report on BBC news which highlighted the difference in Cameron's reaction to Jimmy Carr and Gary Barlow.

Talk about you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours!

Compo I remember seeing it all on the news in 1984 I was 10/11 and it was one of the first news stories I paid attention to.
A couple of months back there was a prog on itv1 about it. They interviewed the miners wives who used a big hall which had a basic cooker and 2 urns and contributions of food which was a lifeline to those families who were going without food.
These women were the real iron ladies IMO.

Cameron's response to Carr was playing to the gallery. As I just said I fear this sort of thing is extremely widespread. Advisors purport to offer totally legal tax reduction schemes, their clients agree and don't ask questions and happily pay the advisor 10% of the amount dodged.

Too right darkest!

The scary part is that the "financial adviser" will do whatever he/she can to make the tax liability appear high, to push commission up...

Me too. If I find out Robbie is a tory as well I will be seriously upset. That said I doubt Robbie has had a political thought in his head - ever.

I've always thought he was a smug wanker.

Same here Salazar without an ounce of humility.

at musical Michael Owen.