David Bates Financial Adviser

In these recessionary days, Spain is a difficult place to work as an “autonomo” worker. Contract jobs are hard to find. The thing to remember is that whether you earn anything or not you have to pay €265 to €300 a month to Social Seguridad, just for the privelige of getting out of bed in a morning. If you fall behind because of loss of earnings the consequences can be drastic.

The authorities know virtually everything about you including that you have a car. They can, without taking you to court, issue a notice ordering you to give up such assets as payment for the outstanding payments. If you do not receive this due to the incorrect address being used, you will get a knock on the door from the Guardia Civil, who depending on the officers turning up at your front door, can be quite aggressive.

If you are in this situation, you should complete a modelo 37 and suspend your social security and autonomo. This stops the addition of further bills to what you owe already.

If they take your car it is likely it will be worth far more than the debt, but you won’t get any change when they sell it.

Don’t say you have not been warned

As a 21 year old bank clerk in Alperton, near Wembley,in 1974, I was asked to count votes in the Brent East constituency at the first general election held that year.I found the atmosphere bery intimidating. The lasting memory was of some bery nasty personal attacks on the Tory candidate, by Labour party members and officials, which gave me the opinion, that whatever the policies Labour adopt, there is always a “fight dirty” approach at General Election time. 1974 was a time when there was a hung parliament, and I regretted going against my instincts and for the only time ever, I voted for the Liberals.

So, why do I raise this now? Having seen Gordon Brown roll out the only arguments that LABOUR can muster, in a hideous attempt to cover up their 13 years of bungling failures: namely have a go about Lord Ashcroft, Inheritance Taxm and the spurious accusation that the Tories will cut public sector jobs in the NHS, police and schools. Labour also keep telling lies about what David Cameron is supposed to have said.

Even worse was that awful Party Political Broadcast by Eddie Izzard, who I had grown to admire for his charity 43 marathons. OK he was acting out a script, but it was so full of bitterness, malicious insinuations and untruths,that were quite frankly an insult to the intelligence of people in the UK. Scaremongering about a return to the Thatcher years, by the “children of Thatcher” , quote,is not the way to win the hearts and minds of the people LABOUR need to keep them in power.Why can Labour not accept the world is not the same as the bad old days of 1974?? There were only just computers in banks,there were no mobile phones, no internet. There was no Twitter or Facebook and we had three TV channels. LABOUR’s campaign is panning out to be that of the gutter, borne out if desperation and lack of ideas on how to spin even more complex tissues of lies and illusion. Gordon Brown is simply not credible, and I wonder if his lackies really believe the rubbish they wheel out on Newsnight.

I have said it before. When will our politicians be honest? I believe Nick Clegg and David Cameron are far more honest than Gordon’s Gang. Peter Mandelson talks about “the veneer behind the veneer” when speaking about the Tories, but where is “the substance” he talks about from Labour?? Labour are the party of empty broken pledges, always have been always will be.

On the day that started with my seeing Alistair Campbell, at Leeds Railway station, about to board the train I got off,the first historic live debate took place. Stage managed and controlled as it was, it did show the strengths and weaknesses of the three participants. If Nick Clegg was a Tory, the result of the election would not be in doubt. He was convincing as a person, but the Liberal Manifesto is flawed. David Cameron was not as good as everyone expected , but I think he will come back, more strongly next time. I thought he managed to avoid taking the debate down to the level Gordon Brown did at times,by not rising to the bait that Gordon offered. Gordon Brown trotted out the same old claptrap as he has over the past two years, ignoring questions about the reason why all of a sudden Labour are talking about tackling manifesto promises from 1997. He chose instead to debase the discussion by intriducing snide comments about Lord Ashcroft and clear misrepresentations od current Tory thinking, and by being obsequious towards Nick Clegg and the liberals.

I really think that Gordon is so convinced he will lose the overall majority that he WANTS people to vote liberal.

If this was a boxing match then round 1 was shaded on points by the liberals, with the Tories 2nd and Gordon trailing miserably behind.

The most signposted date for the General Election has been called and Gordon Brown is now facing his destiny. Surely to be the first non elected party leader and Prime Minster to be consigned to history as the man who sold Britain’s gold reserves, robbed pension funds, racked up massive debt. Here is a man called a “comulsive liar” by a panelist on BBC Question time. A hung parliament is being suggested. I just wonder which politicians will be first to the gallows, as some people wish to see all politicians “hung” for the recent bad press they have had. The country needs someone to trust, who will do what they say, instead of re-inventing policies every month to make it look like they are doing something.

Argument of the week was over NI contributions, where labour contradicted themselves by saying they are not adding to the burden this year on business, and are not making public sector savings, yet say they are already doing it.Confused??
The Tories generally carry out their manifesto pledges, Labour just talk about doing things. In my experience of governments over the past 40 years, since I was able to vote, the Tories get things done, Labour completely destroys the economy, whether there is world recession or not.

Roll on May 7th, when all the staged campaigning and nonsense is out of the way.

Should politicians simply talk up the economy, when the truth is that it is still suffering and has a long way to go, before we can truthfully say it is growing?  A General Election is looming large on the horizon, and the points scoring process as started. Labour, via Lord Peter Mandelson, are accusing David Cameron, and the tories of putting down the British economy, when they should be talking it up. In the past this has happened, 1979, for example. A beleagured Prime Minister , James Callagahn claimed inflation was only at 8%, as Labour grappled with the winter of discontent, like a paratrooper trying to take the air out of his parachute on landing and put it back in its pack, or like King Canute trying to order the sea to obey him. However hard he tried the reality showed up. Britain was not prepared for how bad things REALLY were ,as interest rates soared after the election to tackle the parlous state of the economy.

We all know there are very difficult days’ ahead, more difficult than any of us can remember, so I say to all politicians ADMIT the truth, don’t pussy foot about dismissing opposition comments that are the stark ECONOMIC TRUTH. Britain is in a mess, Britain, as it has been proved , was “not best placed to come out of recession quickly”.  Gordon Brown is having to eat his words more and more, he is just not to be believed on anything, as he struggles to save HIS job, and not the country.