Take That News

The X Factor judge Gary Barlow has said he has closed his music label Future Records because he has too many commitments, including his home life.

All of the artists signed up to the Take That star's Future Records are to be taken over by the label's parent company Universal.

Barlow, whose fourth child, Poppy, was stillborn in August, told The Sun: "It's been a very difficult decision but it came down to time. I've had a lot going on recently and I want to spend more time with my family."

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The publicist for comedian Jimmy Carr has told PRWeek that he has been advising Carr on how to handle the tax avoidance affair. The Corporation chairman Gary Farrow spoke of the decision to issue an apology:

You’ve got to deal with it and take it on the chin. We’re working around it. It’s going to plateau out - he hasn’t taken drugs and he hasn’t been caught with a hooker. He hasn’t broken the law.

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Labour leader Ed Miliband told ITV1's Daybreak today that "we need to change the law" surrounding legal tax avoidance.

Mr Miliband said that the Prime Minister was in "hot water" after he criticised comedian Jimmy Carr for tax avoidance.

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Tax expert Richard Murphy from Tax Research UK has told Daybreak that "there's no excuse" for tax avoidance and that celebrities who have been using schemes to do so "made a choice to cheat".

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Comedian Jimmy Carr faced merciless teasing from his 8 Out Of 10 Cats team-mates after dominating the headlines this week over his tax affairs.

During tonight's recording, team captain Sean Lock waded in by telling Carr: "We all like to put a bit of money away for a rainy day, don't we? But I think you're more prepared than Noah."

And broadcaster Georgie Thompson chipped in: "On the plus side, at least you've been in a top 5 list of something."

8 Out Of 10 Cats is on Channel 4 at 10pm tomorrow.

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The Prime Minister has a bit of a track record of saying what he thinks in interviews, which is refreshing but occasionally lands him in trouble. I suspect there were some of his advirors who were thinking "oh no" as he made those comments about the comedian Jimmy Carr.

Certainly talking about morality, as opposed to legality, always opens a can of worms.

It also didn't look great when he refused to be drawn on the tax arrangements of his friend Gary Barlow, regardless of whether or not they are similar to those of Jimmy Carr.

We are likely to get months and months more of these kinds of accusations flying around about Mr Cameron's friends and colleagues and their various tax arrangements.

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The anti-austerity campaign group UK Uncut has said that individuals and corporations who it claims are avoiding paying tax are "clearly acting immorally" and urged the Government to clamp down on the practice:

The government must make Vodafone, Phillip Green, Amazon, Google, Barclays, Goldman Sachs- and all the other mega-rich individuals and corporations raking in massive profits- pay their fair share in tax. They must invest the money they raise in our public services, stop the cuts, and protect our jobs, pensions, welfare and other public sector goods and services. And they must do it now.

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