The Superiority Complex

Politicians, on the whole, are an arrogant bunch.

They lie. They cheat. They make promises in their manifestos which they never intend to keep - stand up Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown - then when the time comes to deliver, they turn around and tell us that because they know better than us their manifestos no longer apply and they won't be fulfilling those commitments. It's not just Labour and the Lib Dems, I have little doubt that Cameron too will break promises once he is elected.

They claim for ridiculous items on expenses in order to increase their income, because they think they are worth more than the sixty-odd grand they are paid per year, when most of us would dearly love to earn half their salaries. Then they force us taxpayers to subsidise their drinks in the houses of parliament, while the rest of us plebs have to pay ever bigger duties on alcohol. No wonder our pubs are dying. Still, as long as the bars in the Commons are still going, who cares about the great unwashed?

Politicians have a superiority complex. They think they are better than us.

How to Avoid Taxes on Booze

The government makes a fortune on alcohol taxes. For 1 litre of vodka 40% ABV the duty is around 8 quid.

We don't have to put up with this, it takes no more than 20 minutes to knock up a gallon of very nice white wine (plus a few weeks to ferment). That's about half a dozen bottles. The cost is about £1.30.

I like to have a few drinks maybe 3 or 4 nights a week, and by brewing my own I save hundreds of pounds every year in duty alone. Money that used to go to Gordon is now earning interest for me in building society accounts. On top of that, there's no VAT or expensive brand-name advertising to pay for, so I'm saving a good 4-figure sum in total, every single year.

All you do is dissolve a 1 kilo bag of sugar in water, then let it cool and pour into a sterilised demi-john. Add a 1 litre carton of cheap orange juice, a teaspoon of yeast and a teaspoon of pectolase from Wilko. Top up with cold tap water and leave for a couple of months.

Believe me, it's as good as anything you'll buy in the supermarket and you're paying 20p per bottle instead of £2.99. Best of all, the chancellor isn't getting his hands on your hard-earned money.