And, I have to say, quite a successful one, perhaps unexpectedly given where we started from. Speaking strictly as a freelance contractor of course, I thought it appropriate to round off 2010 with my slightly biased view of how the year has gone. So here goes with a very personal summary of the key events.

The main one, of course, has to be the replacement of Gordon the Glum with a real person. You may not like CallMeDave but you have to agree he’s an improvement on his predecessor: OK, not if you’re Ed Balls or Piers Morgan of course, but who listens to them anyway…?

We’ve gone from a Government that was totally and utterly convinced they knew best how to spend your money to one who was perfectly happy to let you spend it how you wanted. Of course, there wasn’t all that much to spend and they were going to have to hang on to even more of it than before. But let’s not be picky; at least we know why they’re being so mean.

So let’s look at the good things…

ICTs and the abuse thereof. Something I may have mentioned once or twice before? Leaving aside the wider question of uncontrolled immigration, there is a clear intent by HMG to cut down the number of workers coming in to the country to undercut the local workforce. Of course we are never going to stop companies using the cheapest labour they can find, that’s all part of capitalism and globalisation, but at least someone is trying to make it a bit harder to get us to train them how to do take our jobs away and kill off the industry at its source. Which, ultimately, has to be a good thing?

We still labour (geddit, geddit…?) under the Damoclean threat of IR35 of course. I never shared the conviction of some that a Tory government – oops, sorry, a Coalition led by the Tories – would instantly delete IR35 from the statute book. That was never going to happen; there is a political justification for IR35 that, while utterly barking, is not going to be reversed in any meaningful way.

Obviously the establishment of the OTS, and its very clear directive to look at IR35 as a priority was highly welcome. Even more welcome was the PCG gaining an influential seat on the Consultative Committee of the OTS looking at small business taxation. An organisation with 20,000 members and a 10 year lifespan gaining such access and respect at that level is something that simply cannot be underestimated. The OTS is working to some impossible deadlines, but fingers crossed, progress is being made.

The job market certainly seems to be picking up. I’m seeing hugely more jobs in my scope that I saw this time last year. Of course, 95% of them I won’t bother going for because the hirers are demanding impossibly tight lists of skills, industry knowledge and qualifications. The agencies are still incapable of challenging them and offering alternatives. For example I’ve been tracking a discussion on LinkedIn about how to use shared services and/or outsourcing to save money in Local Government. Good idea and one that may well work. Sadly, the consensus is that it won’t happen because the hirers put Local Government knowledge well ahead of any business experience that means you might actually understand how to do it properly. You see the same thing in Finance, which is a real shame since that’s where the work is. And don’t get me started on Security Clearance.

Oh, and I nearly forgot. St Vince of Cable has shown himself to be every bit as incisive, astute and intellectually superior as I always thought he was…

Personally it’s not been a bad year. I’ve worked most of it and actually banked a profit, which is nice. There is certainly reason to be optimistic about next year. The PCG continue to make great strides forward which is a source of pride, even from my marginal input to that progress. And I’ve had some nice comments about this blog, which proves that at least people are reading it, even if they don’t agree with me.

So roll on 2011. I think it could be an interesting year. I’ll see you there…

Alan Watts can found at LinkedIn.
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Image: 20101022-IMG_9603 by Dhammika Heenpella

Now here’s a problem. I try to write about things that have happened during the week that might affect us freelancers. Usually I manage to find something worthy of comment, but this week it’s going to be a bit tricky.

It’s because the Election is on a Thursday that I have a slight problem. I normally write these words of wisdom on a Thursday, you see, which means that as I sit here with voting still going on, it’s a bit tricky to find something to talk about that will still be relevant on Friday morning.

There’s not been a lot of news either, if you discount Nigel Farage’s plane crash or the Labour candidate in Bootle losing the end of a finger when bitten by a dog (which all goes to prove everyone’s a critic). There have been some interesting surveys around. One of these shows that over 50% of contractors would vote Conservative. So perhaps there are a lot of people that agree with my views on why I hate this Government.

So I’ll wait a little longer until the exit polls are published and see what they think will happen. In 2005 they were spot on in predicting the result. Then again, the previous four were miles away from the reality. I’ll return to that point a little later

Meanwhile I’ve started hunting the next contract. Tricky operation, with limited internet access at work (I use my own mobile internet link, but we’re in a bit of a black hole where I work) and obviously I can’t keep calling agencies up from there either. Not that agents ever seem to answer the phone these days, it’s a constant litany of “He’s away from his desk” and answer phones. Actually they are well named, answer phones, since that’s all they do. If only someone would invent a Call-you-back-right-away phone, we might get somewhere.

So, the initial exit poll is in. Have to say it’s a bit inconclusive; a swing away from Labour (or, more likely, away from Gordon) but showing the Lib Dems’ share going down, which seems a bit unlikely. And all of a sudden they’re talking about voting reform rather than economic recovery. Good to know the politicians understand what’s really important…

Anyway, no real decisive conclusion. So let’s wait until a few real counts are declared and see what that tells us…

Hmmmm… interesting. Two declared, both safe Labour seats. Both big swings to the Tories. Perhaps IR35 is doomed after all? Fingers crossed!

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Image: Crossing my fingers… by Erica_Marshall

I was reading up on the House of commons Finance Committee’s debate on the BN66 case – that’s the one about retrospectively taxing people who thought they had joined a valid scheme and suddenly found they hadn’t – and came across a seriously disturbing comment from one Colin Breed, who is, it turns out, a Liberal Democrat Shadow Minister for the Treasury.

I quote: “I say at the outset that we accept entirely the need for the Government to legislate against tax avoidance”.

Now forgive me for being an optimist, but I thought avoidance was not only an entirely legal activity, but was actively condoned by Parliament, most famously by the then Chancellor when separate taxation for man and wife was introduced. He said, in the House, that every taxpayer is at liberty to arrange their taxation affairs in the most efficient manner.

In other words not paying taxes you don’t owe is entirely legal but not paying taxes you do owe isn’t. How hard is that to understand?

So just what is Mr Breed on about, I ask? Has he been brainwashed by Brown’s continual re-interpretation of reality? Is he genuinely unaware of the difference between avoidance and evasion? How many other supposedly senior MPs demonstrate such woeful ignorance?

Or is he saying that anyone who doesn’t pay the maximum taxes they possibly can is doing something wrong? In which case when will they outlaw ISAs, or pension funds? Or even the basic tax allowance…

More to the point, how can we hope to get some kind of validity in the tax system if the people making the laws – or in Breed’s case, rubber-stamping the laws – do not understand the subject they are nominally in charge of protecting?

This upcoming election looks increasingly like a fiasco in the making. Not only is the majority of the public largely indifferent to who they’re voting for and why, the people we’re electing also look like refugees from Fred Karno’s army. It really doesn’t bode well….

Put it this way. If I get faced with another five years of Gordon telling me it’s all about fairness, I’m leaving.

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Image: Mad emoticon by wstera2