A plague on all your houses (of Parliament)

The expenses scam report lumbers on. I can't believe the prevarication and political speak of the leaders.

Gordon (God bless him) said...."If they have misbehaved"....."will be told they can not stand at the next election".
What's wrong with firing them now? and.... Is it misbehaviour or a criminal act?

The Lib Dem leader prefers to suggest that "the people" should take any action (that's a good way of putting off any decision - typical LD).

Cameron said MPs who have made mistakes must say so. That's like asking Eichmann if his main task was one of logistics.

He (Cameron) said: "I think the best thing to do, is to get out with your constituents, to explain all of the circumstances of why we claimed what we claimed, why we did what we did".

(Hold on a minute- that smacks of business as usual doesn't it?.) He urged MPs to "hold up your hand if you made mistakes and got things wrong, and to start to rebuild trust in the political system, and in that link between the constituency and the MP".

Shouldn't he be saying "If you got things wrong then do the right thing - resign and relinquish your pension rights before I fire you and ask HMR&C to investigate you.

A Revenue and Customs spokesman has said that it is a "general principle of tax law" that accountancy fees connected with personal tax returns were not deductible. So how have they got away with claiming these fees? Are they going to be allowed to get away with it? Is it one law for the rich and one for the rest of us? We wouldn't be allowed to just repay any dues, we would also have to face a criminal charge.

My earlier recommendation (that second homes should not be allowed and that a cruise ship should be moored alongside Westminster to house PM's during the week should now be amended to read "A Prison Ship etc. etc.").

Voting only encourages them

What do you think about the media coverage of the scams on MP's expenses?

Most of their claims should have been headed "Once upon a time" and they had the cheek to criticise the bankers!

If we don't or can't prosecute them then they should all, at the very least, loose their jobs and their pensions.

In any commercial organisation they would have been fired for gross misconduct.

It's about time we reduced the number of MP's anyway. the trough just isn't big enough for all their grubby little snouts.

Do away with their second homes and, during the week, make them all live on a prison ship moored outside Westminster. So they will be apart from their families! Tough, they shouldn't have joined at least they have a job which is more than can be said for the soon to be 3.5M+.

But it's not just the top brass who are at it.

What about District and County Councillors?

How many sign-in to several meetings per day (and stay just minutes) to get the attendance allowances and mileage between home and office?

How many buy cheap day returns but claim first class?

When travelling to meetings, how many take a passenger in their car (another Councillor) to save costs to tax payers as opposed to travelling alone?

How many pay a friend to do a job on a "charity" community service?

Are their expenses audited? Not on a regular basis.

Some Councils only have a Benefit Office Fraud and Audit team.

They don't regularly audit Councillors expenses and will only do so if a fraud is "spotted".

Who is going to spot something if there's no check?

One person I talked to used to work for a District Council and when asking the boss if they could audit the Councillors expenses they were told "Not if you want to keep your job".

Yes - they're all at it.

Let them get away with it then you're just as guilty as they are.

Come the revolution!!!!

First Sail of the Season

Went for a quick blast up to Felexistowe (well, close to) under sail for the first time this year.

Wind a bit too light for any real speed. Maybe better tomorrow.

Will add photo(s) as soon as I can get some decent ones.

Waiting to hear how 'G' got on in Krokow over the weekend on a mates stag do.