Let's Talk about Tax as a Force for Common Good -– or We Lose the Debate.

I am concerned about tax fairness. We should make rich people and businesses pay the fair share, a larger share than now, which they can easily afford. Then we can reduce taxes for the middle class and aid the poor better. We can also invest more in making society work better for everyone.

Various Sunni anti-Assad groups say they have made progress towards reestablishing communications with Aleppo. These groups include al-Nusra, which was until recently part of al-Qa'ida.

Al-Nusra has broken formally with al-Qa'ida, but surely has the same Islamist ideology as before. Does that make any difference? It might become friendly with the West, in which case it would resemble Salafi Arabia: still oppressive to anyone ruled by it, especially women, but no longer directly advocating terrorism. This would remove one obstacle to US support for coalitions including al-Nusra. Whether such support in general is a good idea is a different question.

It has the option of rejecting terrorism against Shi'ites in the region. This might show Sunnis in Syria and Iraq a preferable option to PISSI.

In Los Angeles skid row, constant harassment by thugs keeps down some kinds of crime, but means street vendors can't have their addicted wives come work with them (thugs pick on them too much).

Many models of diesel cars emit far more emissions than the official tests indicated.

The Tories have eliminated grants to help poor people to go to university, replacing them with larger loans. For the moment, graduates will only have to pay those loans if they get a sufficient income. But why wouldn't Tories change that too in a couple of years? The Tories are lower than vermin, and we've seen that they implement changes step by step so that each step is small.

The result could be a stratified society like the UK of 150 years ago.