wtffashionshark

Hallo Readers, 

First of all, let us distinguish between tax evasion, tax avoidance and making a mistake. Tax evasion is deliberately seeking to get out of paying tax, knowing that it is due, by dishonest means; for example, in not declaring income or in falsifying the books. It is a criminal offence. Tax avoidance is deliberately seeking to get out of paying tax, or some of it, by lawful means; for example, in setting up a trust or investing in a scheme to re-invigorate docklands or some such. It is not a criminal offence, but if it proves to be non-compliant with the rules, His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs will pursue you to the ends of the earth, piling on interest and penalties until their eyes water. Making a mistake is not deliberate. It is based on a misunderstanding of the facts or of the law or both. It is not a criminal offence but again, if it proves to be non compliant with the rules, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs will pursue you too. The scrotes who daubed graffiti on Angela Rayner’s seaside home, calling her a tax evader, have no idea – and do not care – whether she is an evader, an avoider or has made a mistake. Oh, and criminal damage IS an offence. The clue is in the name.

So is Rayner an evader, an avoider or someone who has made a mistake? At this point, it is too early to say. We know that Rayner has access to three houses. The first is in her constituency in Ashton under Lyne and is held in trust for her children. It is not actually in her name, although she lives there when she is in Ashton under Lyne.  The second is her grace and favour residence in Whitehall by virtue of her being Deputy Prime Minister. It is not hers, and she does not own it – it goes with the job. If she loses the job, she loses the residence. The third is the flat in Hove, which she purchased for £800,000. It is hers, and it is in her name. When she acquired it, she paid stamp duty based on the fact that it was her only dwelling; had it been seen as a second home to the one in Ashton under Lyne, she would have had to stump up another £40,000. However, as far as HMRC is concerned, the Ashton under Lyne home IS her residence, even though it is not in her name. Rayner says she got advice from a local conveyancing firm, Messers Whoops and Whoopsie, in Sussex and was told that she could pay the lower rate. Messers Whoops and Whoopsie admit that they gave this advice, but they maintain that they were not in full possession of the facts. This sort of thing is probably outside the knowledge and experience of High Street firms like Messers Whoops and Whoopsie. After a weekend of fevered press speculation, Rayner went to a prominent tax KC who delivered the bad news that she was toast, legally speaking, and that she should pay up PDQ. The matter is now in the hands of Sir Laurie Magnus, the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, who will decide whether she fell short in observing those standards.

Of course the fact that most people do not know (i) the minutiae of the law of stamp duty and trusts (probably including Rayner, even though she is Secretary of State for Housing); (ii) what Rayner understood about the minutiae of the law of stamp duty and trusts; (iii) what Rayner told Messers Whoops and Whoopsie; and (iv) what Messers Whoops and Whoopsie told Rayner. Nevertheless, this has not stopped people spouting off, including politicians, radio gobshites and the Tory press, all of whom are frothing at the mouth with faux indignation  and a touch of bloodlust. Rayner has always attracted opprobrium. She is a woman. She is gobby. She is a leftie. She is working class. She had a child out of wedlock when she was only 16! She has no tertiary education. And she is in a position of power. That ticks more boxes than a DHL warehouse. How dare she have three houses at her disposal? How dare she buy a nice flat in a Regency Terrace in Hove? The same sneering stuff was heaped on her when she was seen at Glynebourne, rather than conforming to the stereotype of a Northern woman going to the Bingo and taking holidays in Ibiza. Although when she was seen dancing in an Ibiza club late at night, which is why you go to Ibiza in the first place, they covered her with ordure for doing that as well. It is only surprising that they do not demand that she goes everywhere with a pet ferret and a headful of curlers.

Should she resign? As WTF said above, it is too early to say. But would she have been treated like this if she had gone to Cheltenham Ladies College and Girton College, Cambridge and spoke like the Duchess of Devonshire? Of course she wouldn’t.

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Our review of the week’s shocking sartorial shite is all from the Venice Film Festival, where the great and good, and the not so good, of modern cinema paraded about in borrowed finery for the delectation of the cameras. Here is actor Jude Law in a perfectly good tuxedo, wonky bow tie and preposterous trousers.

Regular Readers will know that WTF hates a wonky bow tie almost above all things, but not as much as she hates those trousers. WHAT THE FUCK ARE THOSE TROUSERS? They make Jude look as though he has developed rickets.

 Next we have actor Naomi Watts, wearing Valentino.

The fabric is very pretty, although the colour washes Naomi out more thoroughly than a hot wash cycle in your brand new Bosch. But not only does the dress need a good hoick around the tits, it is utterly ruined by that stupid bow, as if a random bat was nesting on her. Even Batwoman did not wear a batbelt.

This is actor Emilia Jones wearing Armani.

It is right that we should pause to mark the passing of Sgr Armani, who died yesterday aged 91. This dress, which he probably did not design personally, is a bikini with Bridget Jones-like panties under a sheer floral-embossed curtain and a nasty central seam like a operation scar. And the shoes look like something your great aunt wore to your grandparents’ golden wedding. 

Introducing Idris Elba, wearing Eve of Winston.

He is dressed as a plumber. Why, WTF cannot say.

Now we have serial offender Emma Corrin, wearing Miu Miu.

Along with all the other things that WTF hates above all things, she hates the colour puce, particularly head-to-toe sheer puce worn with matching knee socks and red slingback stilettos. And she is wearing a fur shrug, like Sansa in Games of Thrones. Only Sansa was in The North when Winter Was Coming, not Venice in September When Summer is Here.

Say hi to WTF regular, actor Chloë Sevigny, wearing St Laurent.

Oh please. If Sir Bradley Wiggins shaved his beard and wore a tutu, this is what he would look like. Though her sandals are sizzling.

Meet German model Sofia Resing, wearing David Koma at the amFAR gala.

Vulgar, peek-a-boobie, cut-outs and Minge Moment. And she is carrying Big Bird as a handbag.

More yellow on the Red Carpet. Here is singer Halsey wearing Nichol & Ford.

What a stinker! WTF is holding her noise and wincing, as you do when a dog does a very smelly fart. It is more a case of Knickerless & Fraud. Boob-and-bellybutton-baring, groin-glimpsing, cheap and creased. It looks like bad banana art.

Finally, greet actor Greta Lee wearing Dior.

Yikes. That trailing ribbon makes her look like Long John Silver. And a ribbon is not a skirt, not even at all.

This week’s It’s Got To Go comes from WTF aficionado Ayesha from Stepney, who has taken against women walking around in knickers and calling them clothes. And she is not talking about these $5,600 knickers from Prada worn on a stick-thin model on a runway in a photoshoot.

No, Ayesha is concerned about something far closer to home, to whit women on the Windrush line or in Whitechapel High Street wobbling about in large and cheap-looking sparkly knickers while displaying a great deal of capacious bottom, arsecheek delineation and visible vulva, not to mention chunky, dimpled thighs. Ayesha is adamant about this, and WTF stands squarely behind her. Knickers are not clothes. They go UNDER clothes. It’s Got to Go.

OK Readers, that’s your lot for this week. Please keep sending in your top suggestions for It’s Got to Go/That’s Not Even A Thing, as well as your comments, which WTF much enjoys. You can follow her on @wtffashionshark.bsky.social. Let us meet again on Friday 19 September 2025  as WTF is on holiday next week. Be good x.