If it is true, it is interesting, for the dour Belfast man is generally known for being a tetchy, grumpy so-and-so; while the members of U2 - Bono in particular - are known for their vocal, and very public, devotion to helping eradicate poverty in the Third World...
Now U2 will point out that they are not tax dodgers, as the no-doubt libelous statement (left) proclaims.
Indeed it looks like Bono or The Edge might even have been out with the paintbrush overnight in an attempt to erase the graffiti, spotted on Dublin's Benburb Street.
But we must tread carefully here. Here is a group of leather-trousered philantropists who chased an ex-employee through the courts for a hat.
U2's decision to move part of their operation to Holland, when a cap (not a hat) was put on the amount of money rich artistes could avoid tax on in Ireland, was morally wrong.
At least it should have been morally wrong by the standards of people who preach to governments' on how more of their tax take should be spent on eradicating Third World poverty, while denying their own exchequers of their contribution.
Give me tetchy and grumpy any day - much easier to stomach than posturing, holier-than-thou, pop star hypocrites.
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5 comments:
speaking of greed- I was awayor busy over xmas, so missed' Anglo the musical- it just takes a few muppets to destroy a country' in Grand Canal Theatre.I saw a welcome ad today- it's back from 10th Jan- 2nd Feb. Reviews on poster were:' thoughtful and mind provoking', 'I laughed and laughed','worth it for the puppet sex alone'.....yes I will be there for sure.
I think James Joyce said in Dubliners, he was writing a chapter
in the moral history of his country- maybe i am a bit of a philistine re fiction- I just found Dubliners a picture of Dublin and the time and people with frozen lives- I suppose i just think you can do so much more damage with satire and comedy: after all didn't the election campaign of FF mole Sean Whatsisname start going down once he said he'd recieved a 'brown envelope' on TV and people began giggling.Anyway Anglo the Musical is partly written by Paul Howard of Ross O Carrroll Kelly fame. Interestingly he grew up in England till he was 11- often takes those from outside the country to see all its comic potential.
Yes, Anna... sometimes humour is the best weapon - both for parody and for self-survival through it all
We had the perfect storm of a stupid government and opposition that created and maintained property-based tax dodges and "incentives" and lowered capital gains tax instead of taking compensatory action when we joined the euro, we had banks with no regulation from a Central Bank that seemed to be on a permanent lunch break, and we had stupid class of investors, both corporate and "ordinary" individuals who thought that asset prices could only appreciate, and borrowed all around them and now are being bailed out by those of us who did not get involved in the madness.
Where are all the "more Boston than Berlin"-ers now, I wonder?
I saw some graffiti about bono before xmas on thomas street. although I couldn't see the last line it read like this
Bono is a berk
He's never had to work
He doesn't pay his taxes
could someone complete the last line
If it's a 1,1,2,1 rhyming scheme it's easy enough, Aine. The last line could be:
"He's a pompous, shortarse jerk."
If it's a 1,1,2,2 it's a bit trickier.
How about:
"But about poverty he waxes" ?
Cumbersome, I know.
All that TAX lucre could easily provide much needed irrigation schemes for many people in Africa.
But as they are Irish they would rater talk than walk.
Bono should spend his time asking the ruling elite of Africa WHERE ALL THE MONEY GOES.
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