Interesting, stuff.

How to stand in a by-election
 How to see exempt artwork


The Export Credit Guarantee Loan Scheme is run by the Department of Trade and Industry, ensuring that exporters to Iraq are paid when Saddam Hussein defaults on his payments.


When a defence company sells to a foreign country they send a bill for x pounds. If the country does not pay then the British government makes up the lacking payment to the arms companies.
Basically, taxpayers fork out to cover Saddam's bad debts (Saddam Hussein defaulted on £652 million).
Undoubtedly a large proportion of that money was spent on arms. So we paid for Saddam Hussein to fight our troops.  the number for the DTI department  is: 0171 215 5000 – ask for the Export Credit Guarantee Loan Scheme.

There are other countries that have defaulted on payments including Nigeria (a country with a human rights record to die for). They defaulted on even more money than Saddam . To find out how much phone the above number and ask.

Fancy being elected?
To stand for election the deposit is £500. You have to have an election agent and an address within the constituency which mail can be sent to.  You also need ten voters to nominate you . If you want to stand for Parliament phone the local council who will put you in touch with their people who oversee the election. These people are VERY helpful to small fringe candidates. You need to get your nomination forms signed before the by election is called as you only have a limited time to get the forms in once the date is set.
 
Once you are standing the Post Office is legally bound to deliver election manifestos to every house in the constituency. Mark Thomas paid £600 to have his printed up and got it delivered to 32,000 households free of charge.

In the end he got 122 votes, beating the National Democrats (ex National Front) and the Natural Law Party. John Trickett won the election for Labour; he was chosen in reference to a local candidate who just happened to be leader of the local NUM, Steve Kemp. Full Result.

He left the telephone number for the Houses of Parliament. Channel 4 got a complaint from the Sargeant at Arms at the House; obviously giving the telephone number of Parliament is a very bad thing especially in a democracy, where you might wish to phone your own MP and make them do something on your behalf. You can get the number from directory enquiries, but just in case you don't want to pay 43p to find out, the Houses of Parliament is on 0171 219 3000.

Artwork that the rich are not paying tax on. Tut tut
The Conditionally Exempt Works of Art List enables you to visit works of art that have been made exempt from inheritance tax. You have a legal right to write to anyone who has an item on the list and they have to let you see the work.
You can get information on the list from the Inland Revenue on 0171 438 6692
Nicholas Soames is exhibiting his three tier mahogany buffet table in May at Christies in London. Why not come and see it? It only costs a stamp (and a small charge to view it - in this case £2.50); he is entitled to charge as each letter you write to him is dealt with by his solicitor which must cost him a small fortune Hhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!! What if we all wrote and asked to see his three tier mahogany buffet table. How much would that cost him? As much as the inheritance tax he is deferring? Anyway if you do want to see Nicholas Soames three tier mahogany buffet you could write to him c/o the House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA.