TPA – An Astroturf Guide

This blog got a significant name check today from Clifford Singer at The Other Taxpayers’ Alliance, which, while not being bankrolled like the TPA, is liked by far more Facebookers, possibly because it makes more sense, and appeals to ordinary folks, rather than tabloid journalists. I’m very grateful for the mention.

Anyone subsequently stopping by Zelo Street will see that a range of topics is discussed here, but yes, the so-called Taxpayers’ Alliance, an Astroturf lobby group dedicated to demonising Government – any Government – along with public works and public service, receives a generous amount of attention.

Partly, this is down to the TPA being a clearly malign body, and partly because their output of “reports”, press releases, and other copy is riddled with false assumptions, padded out with excessive detail to deter overworked hacks from examining it properly, and backed up with questionable or downright fraudulent figures.

Zelo Street took particular interest in the TPA’s work on welfare reform, which was a thinly veiled attempt to lower the poverty line. The group’s so-called “Research Fellow” has also urged abolition of the minimum wage: this blog’s analysis can be seen HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE (it’s divided into bite-size chunks).

More recently, the TPA’s apparent hypocrisy over the upcoming Royal Wedding was examined HERE and HERE (also featured at Liberal Conspiracy – my thanks, as ever, to Sunny Hundal).

And a variety of dodgy TPA output has been found wanting HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. On this subject, Zelo Street is strictly Blairite: tough on the TPA, and tough on the causes of the TPA.