The pigs head thing was Lord Ashcroft and Isabelle Oakshot? Genuinely never heard anything about Cameron son death - that sounds vile. (View Post)

Spot on. The best you can say for the disaster that was austerity, Osborne et al is that had Labour won in 2010 they probably would have made a similar mistake, albeit to a lesser extent. (View Post)

Sometimes people choose to earn less in the civil service because they find the work interesting/meaningful or they want to serve the public. When I worked in the civil service I knew many such peopl… (View Post)

Sorry I wasn't clear. The 25% was share of income tax paid, not share of income. Your figures look right to me and OWID is a great source. (View Post)

I think it's broadly similar, slightly lower in France, Germany (more like 25%), and I think that's more because their middle earners pay more not that top earners pay less. (View Post)