Should prostitutes pay taxes?

Conservative MP thinks prostitutes should be exempt from paying taxes. Not sure she realises it, but in arguing against the new laws which would allow the authorities to keep 25% of the proceeds from a police raid that is more or less what she is saying. And the Lord is on her side. (No, not any of those ones). She says it will make sex workers more likely to end up working on the streets, and put their lives in danger: even, it is suggested, drive some to their deaths.

I don't want to see the criminalisation of women in such a situation, although I've blogged on here before about the action I'd like to see taken to reduce kerb-crawling and on-street prostitution. But I can't see why anyone should be exempt from paying taxes*. I wonder if Nadine thinks they should be prosecuted for not filing tax returns instead? (Not trying to score points here - I'm genuinely interested in where this line of thinking logically takes us).

*I'm sure there are plenty of other places you can blog about corporate tax evasion/ avoidance, not least on the Guardian website. But let's not get onto that here.

1984

Have been catching up with other people's blogs from while I was away. Tom Harris has been sent a copy of 1984 in the post. So have I, but with a slightly different covering note. (No contact name, no signature, very brave of them). Whereas Tom got a slip saying "Young man, This is a reminder that this book, contrary to what your leader might think, is NOT an instruction manual, but a warning. REMEMBER - WE are YOUR masters." I got a letter:

"Kerry

I have been asked to send you this by the LPUK [Libertarian Party UK].

We presume you have read it in the past but we feel our country might benefit if you read it again - this time understanding that it was intended as a warning to society and not an instruction manual for Government.

We would be grateful if you would consider the impact of legislation on individual freedom before sponsoring or voting for any more laws to prohibit things. Laws to criminalise prostitution would fall into this category.

Anyway, we hope you enjoy the book."

I think I know what, if he was writing 'Down and Out in St Pauls and Easton', George Orwell would have made of businessmen in BMWs paying drug-addicted teenagers £20 a time for sex on their way home from work. Freedom? For who?

My week - Thursday

Thursday: 9am start for the Bill Committee, where we managed to polish off remaining clauses in about 40 minutes. Then DIUS questions, where as a supplementary to a question about the credibility of scientific research I asked about animal testing, i.e. OK, it's great that the UK is a pioneer in scientific research but let's not take our eye off the ball in terms of trying to find alternatives for animal tests wherever possible.

Then it was Ed M's statement on climate change, and another opportunity to bob up, this time to ask what the new Department would be doing to encourage people to lead more sustainable lifestyles. Have to say, was very impressed by Miliband/ Ed Junior. He's obviously got to grips with his new brief really quickly, but wasn't afraid to admit there were some things he hadn't got his head round yet.

As for the statement: the UK will be adopting an 80% target on emissions (and amending the Climate Change Bill to this effect); will come down hard on the energy companies if they don't sort out their pricing (and in particularly their over-charging of poorer people on pre-payment meters); and will support feed-in tariffs for small electricity generation. All good stuff. Obviously adopting an 80% target and meeting it aren't the same thing, but it will be binding.

In the afternoon I recorded a piece for the ITV's The West This Week politics programme, on prostitution. (Although they don't seem to have put it on their website yet, and this link is for last week's programme). Bit frustrating in that the panel included a sex worker, Angelina, who wasn't on the streets, wasn't on drugs and claimed to be very happy in her job, which she had been doing for eight years. So she was there to defend prostitution, but what she was talking about - though not quite Belle de Jour - was a million miles removed from the drug-addicted women who work the streets of east Bristol, or the victims of sex-trafficking (on which subject, excellent article in last week's Guardian magazine).

Briefly popped into a Score4Africa reception in the Lords, organised by the Foreign Policy Centre, and collared Kwame Kwei-Armah, former Casualty actor. Eventually got home at about 10pm, and stayed up till 1am doing research for the next day's speeches...