Such co-operation is not going to be promoted by the vindictive action of the Spanish authorities in slapping renewed restrictions on traffic crossing the border between Gibraltar and Spain – action which is irrelevant to the problem of controlling drug-running between Morocco and Spain.
lt is nonsense to maintain that the health of the Gibraltar economy is intimately connected with the activities of smugglers – except in the negative sense that such activities damage the territory’s reputation and undermine business confidence. But often, as in the latest case, though Gibraltarians may be involved no offence is committed within Gibraltar’s jurisdiction

The problem is an international one which needs co-operation between all the countries in the area. Sir: Your leading article (12 April) calling for tough action against Gibraltar following the incident involving the regrettable death of a Spanish Civil Guard is attacking the wrong target. Gibraltar already has tough laws against drug-running and money laundering, and these are applied with full vigour whenever an offence is committed within the jurisdiction of the Gibraltar courts. They have no crossword to do and only speeches to read.If the United States had a patron saint, he would have been assassinated by now..

This can be proved by the fact that, when the waiter comes to your table and says, “OK, who’s the lamb chop?”, you say, “I am”.In the city, the top shelf in a newsagent’s has sexy magazines. In the country it has motor bike and gun magazines.When people try to baffle you by asking whether Chinese crosswords go from left to right or right to left, answer firmly: “Neither! All Chinese words are one character long! Therefore it is impossible to have a Chinese crossword!” This explains why Chinese commuters on the train are always staring into space. Nobody is ever brave enough to make a tomato ice-lolly.Even the worst painter can sketch his own likeness, but it is impossible for even the greatest composer to do a self-portrait.The opposite of a thank-you letter is not a begging letter.A bicycle mudguard could never be invented by a bicycle, as it makes the bike far muddier than it need be, and only guards the rider.The letter that comes first in a sentence is rewarded by being made a capital, but the equally important letter that comes last in a sentence is only kicked up the backside by a full stop.When cows cross a busy and dangerous main road for milking, it is the farm hands who wear safety orange jackets, not the cows.If you like the wrapping paper, but not the present which it contains, at least write a thank-you letter for the paper.Many a man who thinks he is talking about education is merely discussing his country’s school system.Many a man who thinks he is talking about religion is merely talking about his church.Many a man who think he is talking about politics is only talking about the next election.Many blacks in America prefer to be called Afro-Americans, but not many whites demand to be called Euro-Americans.You are what you eat. So what is a mobile now called – or is it no longer possible to make them because they no longer have a name? Would a telephone hung from the ceiling of an art gallery be a mobile? And if you hung a telephone from the ceiling of an art gallery and labelled it a “mobile”, and it then rang, would it be artistic to answer it, or would it be a mistake for which you would be laughed at by your fellow artists?Real flowers do not last as long as artificial flowers made out of paper or cloth, but at least you never have to dust real flowers.Lucky the patient who is looked after by a hypochondriac doctor.Ice-lollipops are always fruit-flavoured. Second, it is untrue even on the day when it is made.”I do not write for posterity,” said the author, before making his will.In the old days, a “mobile” was an art object hanging from the ceiling and going round in circles Nowadays it is used to refer to a mobile telephone. Anyway, here is another selection of Albanian wit and wisdom.

We grow hair on many different parts of our body, but we only complain of baldness on top of our head.
Breathing is not addictive, but it would be fatal to give it up.A weather forecast paints a wider canvas than any novel but it is bad art on two counts First, it tells posterity nothing. What is needed is not just new rules but a new ethic of tax.. Today I am bringing you more jewels from that great ongoing work, The Book of Albanian Proverbs Albanian proverbs are different from ordinary proverbs. Ordinary proverbs sound at first sight as if they are full of wisdom and insight, but generally turn out to be humdrum and banal, whereas Albanian proverbs, which sound a bit scatter-brained at first encounter, turn out on closer inspection to be profoundly meaningless I, personally, much prefer them. Only if we come to see paying tax as a duty or obligation – as many ordinary people do – will we make large-scale tax avoidance beyond the pale.

But can you seriously imagine the British public boycotting a company that had avoided tax?As long as we accept it is a sign of ingenuity to avoid paying tax, we must also pay the price. Closing loopholes and enforcing existing rules will help, but only a bit. It is proving increasingly difficult to police national frameworks of taxation in a world of multi-national companies and global capital flows.Where companies engage in other kinds of immoral behaviour – polluting seas or mistreating workers – consumer disapproval is a potentially powerful corrective. Although the economy is growing, and profits are swelling, companies remain desperate to keep costs down. For responsible company executives, reducing their tax liabilities has become just another cost- cutting measure.As for individuals, the rise of self-employment and temporary contracts combined with self-assessment means that more of them are in charge of their tax affairs and looking for ways of minimising what the state takes from them.The consequences are troubling: governments find it harder to make future tax and spending plans, the tax burden on the little people increases and pre-election tax cuts are harder to forecast with certainty.So what to do about it? The main problem is with highly sophisticated tax avoidance schemes run by multi-national companies. Tax cutting has been privatised.Yet this fashion for tax avoidance has serious political consequences.

As economists and Treasury officials search for an explanation for the unexpected shortfall in government tax revenue last year, it appears that new business strategies for avoiding tax may be a major contributor. VAT avoidance is certainly growing among both big and small companies, perhaps because the rate has risen so much over the past 17 years. But City analysts suspect that companies have increased their efforts to avoid tax across the board. Add to the little people most ordinary employees and companies with bad accountants, and Leona is probably right. Avoiding tax – legal manoeuvring to cut the tax bill – has become a British pastime for individuals as well as companies. When Labour’s transport spokeswoman Clare Short enthused this weekend about the possibility of paying more tax herself, she not only deviated from the party line, she also misjudged the public mood.