Many thanks to Paul and Martin for their earlier comments following on from which is this particular story - national in perspective but with a genuine local angle. This story is written by Paul who, alongside Bernard, is standing at the North Lincolnshire Council election in the Broughton and Appleby Ward. Check out their facebook page and subscribe to their email newsletter by searching facebook for "Bernard and Paul for Broughton 2011". Website coming soon! And you'll read about it first on visitscunthorpe.com. The media have been very quick to highlight the unseemly behaviour of a few activists in the student protests recently but, alongside these, another group have been taking direct action against tax avoiders, such as retail tycoon Sir Philip Green, who by their own actions are forcing up our tax bills. A weekend of action in 23 different towns and cities by a group known as UK Uncut resulted in the closure of several shops including Top Shop�s flagship Oxford Street store. Curiously UK Uncut has found an unlikely ally in the form of the Daily Mail who covered Saturday�s protest in graphic detail. City Editor Alex Brummer drew attention to the group and highlighted question marks about the tax residency plans of Kraft (which owns Cadbury) and the tax affairs of Sir Philip Green who owns Topshop. In an article titled �This plunder of our heritage�, Brummer wrote: �Tax avoidance (organised by expensive teams of accountants) is perfectly legal. Yet it comes at the expense of millions of hard-working people who are not in a position to exploit such loopholes and have to bear the brunt of subsequent cuts in public services and increases in their own taxes�" He continued that �it is outrageous that the Government has failed to ensure big business shares the load, and has not demanded assurances from foreign buyers of major British firms (such as Kraft) about their future tax residency plans." In the absence of proper official scrutiny of such important issues, pressure groups such as UK Uncut are campaigning against those companies like Kraft and the Arcadia Group, owned by Sir Philip Green and whose portfolio includes Topshop and BhS, which it claims are escaping their tax liability to the Government. Interestingly and somewhat paradoxically, Sir Philip Green was chosen by David Cameron to help advise how the government machine could reduce expenditure.