Brain drains and Nasty Nick Bateman

The results - even allowing for the fact that the anti-government lobby are more likely to respond to surveys like this - are worrying to say the least:
- 24 per cent of IT contractors are in the process of leaving the UK to find work overseas
- 18 per cent have left contracting to find permanent work
- 39 per cent have redrawn their contracts with clients to avoid falling under the jurisdiction of IR35

The Inland Revenue (IR) told us: "The answers are likely to over-estimate the numbers who have changed their behaviour in the ways described. However, as with all legislation, we will monitor the effects of the IR35 changes to ensure they achieve their objectives and do not have unexpected harmful effects on genuine business activities." (see http://www.silicon.com/a39540 for the full story).

The question is: will the IR be able to see the harmful effects if the last contractor to leave the country turns off the lights?

An IT contractor writes: "I read with interest your article which reported how 24 per cent of contractors are leaving or thinking of leaving the country. I am one of those. I left the UK two months ago and am now contracting in mainland Europe, and I did this because of the IR35 situation. I understand that some people are skeptical about the 'brain drain' effect of IR35. Well, it's very real. I would much prefer to have stayed in London, but now I find myself substantially better off living and contracting abroad, as do three other British contractors in my department.

"The UK government seems to think that it is in the national interest to alienate the very sector of the population that is in demand in every other country. Now, they'll get nothing at all from me, and I'd rather provide my IT skills to other countries in Europe. So they can put THAT in their collective pipe and smoke it."

Another reader had this to say: "As a 58-year-old, one-man limited company, not in the IT business, I find it hard to understand why I should be penalised under this very broad-brush government ruling... It initially cost me £400-600 to set up my own company and since then I have enjoyed a reasonable living, paying my taxes and National Insurance, collecting the obligatory VAT, spending approx. six hours a week on the required invoicing and documentation... If this IR35 goes ahead then I (and at least three other similarly aged, contract engineers) will have to reconsider the value of being self employed, as we estimate it will cost us approx. an additional £6 to £8k per year for the privilege of working.

"Average weekly income is £1,100 + VAT. Estimated outgoing on overheads... £350, leaving potential earnings of £750/wk less personal tax and insurance at the relevant rates... it does not leave much for the 'NI and tax dodging dividends' that the government perceives as a 'loophole' needing to be plugged. Going 'full time' at this stage of my career is not an option."

Whether or not you think the anti-IR35 brigade are greedy good-for-nothings who have been raking in the cash for years and deserve to pay their dues, our survey does show we have a problem, Houston.

If in fact you do think the legislation is hunky-dory, you'd better not vote Tory at the next election. The Conservative Party pledged on Tuesday to reform IR35. Its policy document reads: "New economy companies need the government to leave them alone so they can grow. We will simplify regulations for the IT industries by, among other things, reforming the tax on IT consultants known as IR35, which has created a brain drain of our brightest and most productive workers."

(To hear William Hague's views on this, see an exclusive silicon.com interview http//:www.silicon.com/a36687 )

Obviously, there are no specific details given about how the Tories would reform the legislation - it's easy for Hague to be vague in opposition. But the question remains: with IR35, is Blair being fair?

"UK companies are too impersonal, according to a new consumer study for Microstrategy", reads the press release headline. (Microstrategy is a personalisation software specialist. But then you'd probably guessed that.)

One of the survey's most alarming discoveries was that 53 per cent of 15 to 24 year olds would be happy to give away their private medical information in return for a 20 per cent discount on all products stocked at their chosen chemist. Only 22 per cent of over 65 year olds would do the same.

I guess that's proof that older can mean wiser. At a time when a major high-street bank can't even be trusted to keep its customers' details secure, the youth of today don't blink at giving up the most sensitive personal data imaginable to their local chemist. They clearly don't know the problems the NHS had ensuring the security of its network (NHSNet).

Forgive them: for they know not what they do... well, they bloody well ought to. Kids eh?

It's ironic that 50-odd years ago, Big Brother represented a hellish vision of a future in which technology enabled surveillance of your every move. People living in 1948 (the year 1984 was written) couldn't imagine that technology. Now, in 2000, we have it. And now, all people think about when they hear the words Big Brother is a ridiculous game show on Channel 4.

Here's an adaptation of Moore's Law: for every two-fold increase in the power of microprocessors, human intelligence halves.

Finally this week: the minister for children and education, Sam Galbraith, made a statement in the Scottish Parliament about this year's A-level results fiasco. We were sent a copy of the statement. One paragraph read, precisely, thus: "May I once again offer my sincere apologies to all those who have been affected by what has happened. This was not of the student's (sic) own making, or the teachers, schools and colleges concerned..."

So that'll be the minister for children and education misusing apostrophes.

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever." (George Orwell, 1948).

"What time is Big Brother on tonight?" (The Silicon.com Weekly Round-Up, 8 September, 2000).

We'll be watching you again next week...