It could be on any desk in any country.

My two dogs had minor operations today. Both are doing fine and have just eaten heartily. I don’t mind the vet’s bill, but 20% VAT on top? It seems rather callous of the Government to penalise us like this when we want to get our pets well again.

Surely paying VAT on their food is tax enough?

VAT was 8% in the 1970s, then went up to 15%, then 17½% and now it’s 20%. Not only that, but the product range widened to include restaurant meals, takeaway food, confectionery, pet food, etc.

Now there are extra taxes on flights, insurance premiums, utility bills… it goes on and on, and all these are taxes on already taxed income!

And I dread to think what ridiculous lengths politicians will go to with their “green” taxes.

When does enough become enough?

————————-

So, how much is that doggy in the window?

Dogs are often bought for children and valued by the elderly and lonely, but don't expect the government not to fleece you any way it can.

Cost of puppy: £600

Cost of lifetime’s food @ £1 per day: £5,113

Cost of vet’s bills (vaccinations; estimated other): £800

The VAT element (@the 20% rate) of the total is £1,085.50.

And I haven’t included the cost of toys, kennels and grooming, which are at least a more legitimate target for VAT, if we must have it.

But no wonder the dog licence was stopped. The small amount wasn’t worth collecting. This VAT racket is in a different league.

Would it be inappropriate to call it organised crime? Well, we seem to have the Mafia running things.

But I digress. I bent down to reap the brown harvest and my fingers poked through the bag. Either my digits just stopped short of the prize, or just touched it and no more. I wasn’t sure and didn’t do the obvious test, I just took out another bag and, in almost gale force winds, managed to pick up the other bag and the booty.

You might be wondering how the sore knees came about. Well, I had been standing in the gutter to pick up Muffin’s pavement art and I stood up, took a few steps and tripped on the kerb. I was felled like a great oak. Time seemed to go slower than usual. Slow enough to prepare for the inevitable crash landing by letting go of the dogs’ leads and spreading my hands to cushion my landing. It is handy how time slows down. On my way down I also had time to recite a couple of Shakespearean sonnets and say “it’s a lovely evening” to a passing stranger. My final thought before hitting the ground was that I hope my specks don’t get broken, as I hate going to the opticians.

As I lay motionless on the ground, Muffin came over to lick my face while I carried out an initial damage assessment. Knees: both sore. Hands: not bad. Glasses: intact. I was wondering if I had landed on a jobby, but on getting to my feet, I realised that I hadn’t.

So, as I sit here now with slightly sore knees, I think about how much worse it could have been. Even now, I could have been crawling home with broken bones, squinting through cracked glasses and covered in poo.

Life could be a lot worse, so don’t let it get you down.

All dogs children in Britain will be fitted with microchips which contain their owner’s parent’s details, under cross party plans designed to track family pets children.

Owners Parents will be forced to install the microchip containing a barcode that can store their pet’s child’s name, breed description, age and health along with their own address and phone number.

The barcode’s details would then be stored on a national database which local councils could access in a bid to easily identify an owner’s pet a parent’s child.

Come on, you just know it’s going to be next, don’t you..?

Scary stuff from Ambush Predator.