People and events

STRAWS IN THE WIND seem to be moving shakily towards the prospect of a tax on books. Official noises are being made about ‘bringing the UK into line’ with EEC countries by VAT‐ing books—taxes range from 5% in France to 15% in Denmark. There was also a veiled hint in Mr Denis ‘Soak‐em’ Healey's speech to the Labour Party's Blackpool conference about extending VAT to a number of zero‐rated commodities.