IN: George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born 23 May 1971) is a British Conservative Party politician, who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Tatton from June 2001 until he stood down on 3 May 2017. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister David Cameron from 2010 to 2016. He has been editor of the London Evening Standard since May 2017. Osborne worked briefly as a freelancer for The Daily Telegraph before joining the Conservative Research Department in 1994 and becoming head of its political section.

He was appointed in September 2004 by then Conservative leader Michael Howard to the Shadow Cabinet, as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Following the 2005 general election, Howard promoted him to Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer at the young age of 33. Howard had initially offered the post to William Hague, who turned it down. Press reports suggest that the second choice for the post was David Cameron, who also rejected the job, preferring to take on a major public service portfolio (he was made Shadow Secretary of State for Education). Thus, Howard seems to have turned to Osborne as his third choice for the role. His promotion prompted speculation he would run for the leadership of the Conservative Party when Howard stepped down, but he ruled himself out within a week. Osborne served as campaign manager for David Cameron's leadership campaign, and kept the Shadow Chancellor's post when Cameron became leader later that year. When David Cameron was asked in 2009 whether or not he would be willing to sack a close colleague such as Osborne, he stated, "With George, the answer is yes. He stayed in my shadow cabinet not because he is a friend, not because we are godfathers to each other's children but because he is the right person to do the job. I know and he knows that if that was not the case he would not be there." At this time Osborne expressed an interest in the ideas of "tax simplification" (including the idea of flat tax). He set up a "Tax Reform Commission" in October 2005 to investigate ideas for how to create a "flatter, simpler" tax system. The system then proposed would reduce the income tax rate to a flat 22%, and increase the personal allowance from PS4,435 to between PS10,000 and PS15,500. However, the idea of a flat tax was not included in the 2010 Conservative Party manifesto. Each year between 2006 and 2009, Osborne attended the annual Bilderberg Conference, a meeting of influential people in business, finance and politics.
QUESTION: Was this idea opposed?
IN: Oingo Boingo was an American new wave band, best known for their hits "Dead Man's Party" and "Weird Science". They are noted for their high energy live concerts, movie soundtrack contributions, and their mixture of genre, which can be described as including ska, pop, rock, and world music. The band was founded in 1972 as The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, a performance art group. The band was led by songwriter/vocalist Danny Elfman, who has since achieved success as a composer for film and television.

The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, formed in late 1972 by Richard Elfman, was a musical theater troupe in the tradition of Spike Jones and Frank Zappa, performing an eclectic repertoire ranging from Cab Calloway covers to instrumentals in the style of Balinese gamelan and Russian ballet music. The name was inspired by a fictional secret society on the Amos 'n' Andy TV series called The Mystic Knights of the Sea. Most of the members performed in whiteface and clown makeup, and a typical show contained music ranging from the 1890s to the 1950s, in addition to original material. This version of the band employed as many as 15 musicians at any given time, playing over 30 instruments, including some instruments built by band members. While this Richard Elfman-led incarnation of the group performed live, it did not issue any recordings. As Richard Elfman's interest shifted to filmmaking, he passed leadership of the band to younger brother Danny Elfman, who had recently returned from spending time in Africa playing violin and studying percussion instruments. They gained a following in Los Angeles, and appeared as contestants on The Gong Show in 1976, winning the episode they appeared on with 24 points out of a possible 30. The Gong Show presentation included an accordion, a purple dragon and a gaseous rocket-man. Later in 1976, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo released a doo-wop styled novelty single about kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst entitled "You Got Your Baby Back". Both this track and the B-side "Ballad of the Caveman" were written and sung by Danny Elfman. They were featured in the 1976 Martin Brest film Hot Tomorrows; performing the songs St. James Infirmary and 42nd Street. The band appeared as extras in hallucinatory sequences in the 1977 movie I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. When the group began to move away from its cabaret style towards a more pop/rock format, Richard Elfman made a film based on the band's stage performance, Forbidden Zone, which was released in 1980 and filmed in black and white with a cast mostly made up of band members and friends. In one scene, Danny, as Satan, sings a version of Calloway's "Minnie the Moocher" with modified lyrics integrated into the plot of the film. In another, Richard sings the 1920s novelty song "The Yiddishe Charleston". The movie attained cult status and provided a springboard for the film and music careers of Richard and Danny.
QUESTION:
Where they influenced by anyone?