ZACK Polanski has taken a swipe at Andrew Neil after the former BBC journalist branded his interview with an economist a "word salad of drizzle".
Green Party leader Polanski interviewed French economist and co-founder of the Paris School of Economics Thomas Piketty about how a wealth tax should be applied in the UK.
The expert stressed that the UK should make sure "people pay in proportion to the years of residence that they have spent in the country".
After Neil shared a clip of the interview on Twitter/X calling it a "word salad of drizzle", Polanski hit back at him saying: "Listen to a right-wing commentator the BBC gave far too much airtime to for decades vs an actual economist and co-founder of the Paris School of Economics.
"Answers on a postcard…"
Polanski travelled to Paris to interview Piketty for his Bold Politics podcast in which they spoke about how to build a fairer economy.
On wealth tax, Piketty said: "Let me be clear that individual countries like Britain or France can very well have a progressive wealth tax right away. They don't need the permission of their neighbours or the United Nations. They don't need to wait for world unanimity.
French economist Thomas Piketty explains to Zack Polanski that how a local wealth tax should Include an exit tax, adding rich should pay their fair share in proportion: "Let me make very clear that individual countries like Britain or France can very well have uh, uh,… pic.twitter.com/jusX8tWShi
— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) August 9, 2026
"The only thing they need to do is to make clear if you have made your wealth in Britain for many decades [...] you cannot simply walk away at age 50 or 60 years old and say 'okay, bye bye, I don't pay tax anymore'.
"The first thing you need to do when you set up a wealth tax in Britain is to say even if you go away, you keep paying.
"The way the Americans do it is by saying as long as you keep US citizenship, you pay even if you're in Switzerland, wherever you want. I don't think this is the best way.
"I think a better way would be to make people pay in proportion to the years of residence that they have spent in the country.
"Once you have said that, I think all the arguments about tax evasion sort of fall down almost immediately."
Earlier this year, economic expert Laurie Macfarlane tore into Neil for writing "specious drivel" about Scotland in his column for the Daily Mail.
In a piece reflecting on the devolved and local elections across the UK, former BBC journalist Neil wrote that "multi-party democracy has done Wales and Scotland no favours".
He went on to describe Scotland as "rudderless" and "increasingly shabby", adding its towns and cities "are gripped with an urban squalor unrivalled anywhere else in Western Europe".
Macfarlane laid out how Scotland's productivity growth has been double that of the UK since 2008, while Edinburgh now has the highest GDP per capita of any UK city.
