So...anybody ask for any of this?

[DiscoStu]

What do we want?

When do we want it?
In the first budget of the next parliament!

Who do we represent? 4.5 million!
How many people have been consulted? Erm....

[TheFaQQer]

Who do we represent? 4.5 million!
How many people have been consulted? Erm....

That's unfair.

The six board members were chosen by the thirty CC members who were chosen by 425 members.

Anyone who suggests that the board and CC aren't representative of the membership are clearly wrong.

[Pondlife]

Oh, you don't get me , I part of the union limited company that provide insurance products and contract reviews. Til the day I die.


Altogether now. From the top.

[TykeMerc]

That's unfair.

The six board members were chosen by the thirty CC members who were chosen by 425 members.

Anyone who suggests that the board and CC aren't representative of the membership are clearly wrong.

Indeed, that's a mandate to be proud of!!

Oh, you don't get me , I part of the union limited company that provide insurance products and contract reviews. Til the day I die.


Altogether now. From the top.

Doesn't flow very well, but it's a valid point.

[mudskipper]

That's unfair.

The six board members were chosen by the thirty CC members who were chosen by 425 members.

Anyone who suggests that the board and CC aren't representative of the membership are clearly wrong.

So if you didn't vote, you can't complain.

[OwlHoot]

Reading the relevant articles, it looks to me like this whole Freelancing Limited Company (FLC) idea originated with and is being pushed by a Labour (?) activist called Philip Ross.

This professional busybody (so he seems) is also campaigning for "garden cities" with the declared fundamental requirement that :

all land in the city is owned by the community for its residents which locks the asset value to the community in perpetuity.

which sounds not far removed from communism, and is totally at odds with the British tradition of private freehold ownership.

In fact, the latest entry on a related page titled New Garden City Movement looks like a letter of encouragement from a Chinese academic! The whole thing, even the anodyne name of the movement, sounds positively creepy.

In fairness, he claims on his linkedin page to have opposed IR35 when it was first discussed or introduced (not sure which). But something tells me the extra tax it entails was not among his grounds for opposing it, although without reading his Freelancer book he touts, one can't be sure.

[jamesbrown]

Reading the relevant articles, it looks to me like this whole Freelancing Limited Company (FLC) idea originated with and is being pushed by a Labour (?) activist called Philip Ross.

Yes, it's definitely that. See Recommendation 2 on p18 of the document, co-authored by Ross, that is linked from the CUK article (where it is called a FLTD, and apparently modelled on a Community Interest Company):

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwGK...hjN2NjT00/edit

A document which brings you such gems as:

"A consequence is that freelancing by virtue of IR35 is considered to be an illegitimate profession. To get by, limited company contractors had to either accept this taint and pay the tax, or pretend or act like a more traditional small business. They would fret over the substitution clauses in their contracts, which said that someone else should be able to fill in for them. This may mean trying to find multiple and concurrent clients, opening an office for the sake of it, producing an additional product, or seeing some others so they look like a business, not a freelancer."

We're all just pretending. I wonder if this guy has anything to do with IR35Buddy

[tractor]

...

Reading the relevant articles, it looks to me like this whole Freelancing Limited Company (FLC) idea originated with and is being pushed by a Labour (?) activist called Philip Ross.

This professional busybody (so he seems) is also campaigning for "garden cities" with the declared fundamental requirement that :



which sounds not far removed from communism, and is totally at odds with the British tradition of private freehold ownership.

In fact, the latest entry on a related page titled New Garden City Movement looks like a letter of encouragement from a Chinese academic! The whole thing, even the anodyne name of the movement, sounds positively creepy.

In fairness, he claims on his linkedin page to have opposed IR35 when it was first discussed or introduced (not sure which). But something tells me the extra tax it entails was not among his grounds for opposing it, although without reading his Freelancer book he touts, one can't be sure.

At the outset of Labour's proposals for IR35, Philip Ross who was IIRC an active member of the Labour Party AND a freelancer, was a very active and again IIRC effective part of PCG from the outset and a very outspoken critic of IR35 and NL's largesse over the matter. I don't think his support for our way of working or his motives were or are ever suspect. FTAOD.

My memory fades in and out between vodkas but I am quite confident it is accurate.

That is not to say that I agree with this proposal, nor the way it seems to have been injected into the mainstream political debate.

You have to remember that we are going back almost 20 years here and whilst some of you young pups are no doubt the best in your field, it is possible you were still in shorts and caps at the time

[TheFaQQer]

So if you didn't vote, you can't complain.

You presume that everyone knew that there was an election going on - many didn't until it was too late. Bundling the election papers in with Freelancing Matters was clearly a mistake, as people missed it. The irony is that when people have since suggested posting them out separately as in the past, they've been told that it is expensive. I'll wager it would cost less than Saatchi charged (and the stationers, of course. And the branded mug and mouse mat suppliers...)

Also, it's worth asking why there was such a discrepancy between the number of people who visited the election site, and the number who voted. Maybe none of the candidates were palatable enough to earn the vote? Who knows.

Finally, if IPSE are claiming the mandate of 4.5 million people, they might need to find some more people to represent them.

Anyway, I voted

[jamesbrown]

branded mug and mouse mat suppliers...

Yeah, what about that IPSE coaster? My PCG coaster is so yesterday