Archive for May, 2009

The Telegraph has it all, including a wonderful picture of Ed Balls looking like Hitler – minus the moustache.

In essence, they “flipped” their second home a three times, raking in a £1million property portfolio on the backs of the British taxpayer. They “accidentally” double-claimed twice, were referred to the parliamentary sleaze watchdog over the designation of their second home, claimed £600 a month for food (for a family of four), etc. This, despite being on a “basic” salary of £141,866 – each.

The greedy, class-a, copper-bottomed shits.

WHERE’S THE GENERAL ELECTION?

Hmmm, let’s see: if I go and burgle an old lady, get caught on the way home and then offer to repay said old lady, should I be let off?

I’m only asking, as that’s what many of the MPs are now doing. Having been caught with fraudulent claims (i.e. hands in the till), the guilty MPs want to show contrition and pay some of it back. I would prefer to see them deselected, have the whip removed, sacked, etc. Criminals do not get the right to avoid sentencing by paying it back, why should MPs?

“The Green Book, the spirit of which these expenses claims are apparently within, states clearly that the fundamental principles underpinning the allowance regime to which MPs must adhere are based on the concepts of honesty, integrity, selflessness, accountability, openness and leadership. Claims should be above reproach, must only be for expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of parliamentary duties and must not give rise or appear to give rise to improper personal financial benefit.” (H/T The Times). Since when does claiming for manure, moat-dredging, etc. constitute parliamentary duties?

David Cameron should have gone further and withdrawn the whip from pretty much everyone who ripped the taxpayer off. That said, the rules he is enforcing on his own party are a good start, e.g. no more claiming for food on the ACA.

I’m not going to comment on Gordon Brown’s apology as it was far too late. I was watching the PM being interviewed last night, and the interviewer mentioned a couple of times about the bill for cleaning he shares with his brother. The interviewer should have asked the following: “PM, with your salary, is it really necessary to make the taxpayer pay for your cleaning?” Why should MPs be able to claim for such things on top of their salary? I have to make do with my salary to get me through life, why can’t MPs? I mean, £400 a month for food as claimed for by single man James Purnell? If he ate that much, he’d be bigger than John Prescott! For comparison, our food bill is £240 a month for a family of three.

Also, rushing through changes in response to this scandal is probably going to lead to some new loopholes to be exploited, instead of resignations which I think the public want – I know I do.

Matthew D’Anacona put it best in his article for the Spectator: “the British polity had slipped backwards on the moral evolutionary path from a “guilt cultureâ€? (governed by moral conscience) to a “shame cultureâ€? (governed only by fear of discovery)” – very true.

Anyway, I’ve just started trawling through the Lib Dems claims, and they are just as bad. I think the Tories have come out of it the worst, due to the fact that they have “country estates” to maintain. It sounds bad, but people should realise that is the background of most Tories – rich, educated, large estates, etc., and there is nothing wrong with that. I would prefer to be governed by a party that is well-educated, have been a success in business (instead of being a career politician like most in the Labour cabinet), etc. That said, the hell if I’m paying for the upkeep of these places, it is totally wrong. Let’s hope David Cameron sacks a few who have made the most egregious claims.

Great post by Fraser Nelson at The Spectator, who quotes from Plato’s The Republic. I’ve reproduced the quote here (because I can):

“We also have to make sure the guardians do not become like sheep dogs that turn into wolves and abuse their power to harm their fellow citizens. Therefore the guardians will have no private property, they will live transparently, they will be provided for out of taxes, and they will live together communally. First, none of them should possess any private property beyond what is wholly necessary. Second, none of them should have a house or storeroom that isn’t open for all to enter at will. Third, whatever sustenance moderate and courageous warrior-athletes require in order to have neither shortfall nor surplus in a given year they’ll receive by taxation on the other citizens as a salary for their guardianship. Fourth, they’ll have common messes and live together like soldiers in a camp. We’ll tell them that they always have gold and silver of a divine sort in their souls as a gift from the gods and so have no further need of human gold. Indeed, we’ll tell them it’s impious for them to defile this divine possession by any admixture of such gold… Hence, for them alone … it is unlawful for them to touch or handle gold or silver… In this way they’d save both themselves and the city. But if they acquire private land, houses, and currency themselves, they’ll be household managers and farmers instead of guardians – hostile masters of the other citizens instead of their allies. They’ll spend their whole lives hating and being hated, plotting and being plotted against, more afraid of internal than external enemies, and they’ll hasten both themselves and the whole city to almost immediate ruin.“

The Spectator’s Coffee House blog does an excellent job of covering what’s coming out of Westminster, well worth a read / RSS subscription.

Gordon Brown, despite having a grace and favour pad available to him as Chancellor (er, Number 11 Downing Street), moved his second home from a small flat in Westminster to his home in Scotland and then was able to “claim most of the running costs of the detached property in North Queensferry, Fife, including a gardener and cleaner, and carry out extensive repairs and redec­­­oration at public expense“. He did this on 17th Sep 2006, ten days after Tony Blair announced he would resign the following year.

What a thieving git – where’s my General Election?

EDIT: Gordon Brown claimed for some Noah’s Ark blinds!!! Why am I paying for Gordon Brown’s bedroom furnishings? How much does he earn? Can he not pay for them himself? I have to pay for everything out of my wages? GAH! NOW I’M MAD!

The article in the Telegraph lays it all out – MPs regularly changing which homes are their first and second homes so they can furnish both of them at our expense; an MP claiming £14,000 for a wet room despite not being meant to claim for anything that would enhance a property; MPs “doing up” properties and then selling them on at the taxpayer’s expense; MPs claiming back stamp duty, etc.

This, from the article:

Some also appear to take advantage of rules which allowed them, until recently, to claim up to £250 in any category without submitting a receipt, resulting in a rash of claims for cleaners, gardeners and repair bills which came in at £249 per month. And because MPs can claim up to £400 per month for food, with no need for receipts, some put in claims for precisely that amount every month, even during the recess when they are not expected to live at their “second� home.

Now, that’s really taking the piss – scads of claims of up to £249? It’s disgusting…

Seriously, the more I think about it, the more annoyed I get – and the happier. You see, when all this comes out, there’s going to be hell to pay.

Proof? Just claiming that people who want innocent folk removed from the DNA database are “against justice“

That view, and her appalling, bigoted view on positive discrimination (i.e. you must give a job to the woman / lesbian / midget even though they are far less qualified than others [especially if they're a man]) make her very dangerous.

Oh well, after the expenses leak this evening, maybe we’ll be shot of the shower sooner than we hoped.

Oh, happy day (or night):

Get yer unredacted MPs expense claims here

Highlights include “Justice” Secretary Jack Straw claiming 100% of council tax despite getting a 50% discount is just one example. Or how about Gordon Brown paying HIS BROTHER £6,500 for reimbursement of a cleaner – his brother is employed as a highly-paid lobbyist for EDF, incidentally (could they not afford their own cleaner?). Have a read, get mad

This is SO good, it’s beyond words I look forward to reading all about it tomorrow. Let’s hope the cheating gits (from all parties, but as usual, it’s mostly Labour skimming it) resign or are forced out. If Government was the private sector, the guilty would be sacked and had up on criminal charges!

Despite a European Court ruling, innocent people will be kept on the DNA database for 12 years

It really doesn’t get more Big Brother than that – although I’m sure Labour will find a way. They really are using George Orwell’s 1984 as a manual rather than a warning.

Let’s hope Labour get the kicking they so richly deserve at the upcoming elections.

I know the Labour Party like to follow the Stasi handbook, but even this is a bit too far:

Photo taken when Gordon Brown was visiting a school. H/T Guido Fawkes and Iain Dale. Made me smile