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All charges levelled against Ruth Kelly using taxpayers money to make good an insured loss can be ignored as she is not just yer average left-footer, but a member of the Catholic hezbollah that Dan Brown loves to write about.
Apropos Mick Martin being labelled "Gorbals Mick", I notice Hazel Blears is now often referred to as the "Salford Chipmunk" in numerous blogs (admittedly the more Tory ones). Perhaps she’s got a thicker hide than our ex speaker.
I like the double dip myself .. claiming interest payments on a mortage that doesn’t exist….
As Bill Wiggins (Con) kindly informs us it’s an easy mistake to make when filling out the forms…he should know he made the same mistake 23 times and his Old Etonian mate Cameron believed him
Good to see the Old School Tie Network working.
They are just a load of traitors basically .. no wonder they all want on the EU gravy train, that’s even bigger get rich quick scheme.
It makes you wonder how long this has been going on and why it’s never come out before, doesn’t it. Is it like a code of silence type thing, once you’ve had your snout in, your in the club and tarred with it forever.
They know the salary before the seek candidacy as an MP, so it matters not a fecking jot how "important" their job is. Applying that logic would result in nurses getting paid ten times what an MP receives, but I can’t see them voting for that at the next public sector pay-rounds.
Hi Grasshopper:
You seem to be pretty angry at our beloved politicians, but lets face it mate, They are human after all (I Think)
Ever since Adam was a boy and through-out the ages , the mugs (Us) who allow these trough sloppers to govern over us have only ourselves to blame:
The whole Western system is set up for corruption by beaurocrats: Its the way things work and we keep on trying to grab that carrot dangling in front of us which they cleverley disguise as they drip feed the guillable public with promises they have no intention of keeping:
By the time voters suss them out its to late, they have already skimmed and creamed off the top of the cake, and the cake topping usually ends up in offshore banks:Thr French had the right idea with their revolution and the assistance from Madame Guillotine
When they said that heads would roll "THEY MEANT IT"Listening to the Now Show on the way home (whilst dodging the lakes, rivers and pools forming on the fine road system of the West Midlands) Margus Brigstocke made an interesting comparison. For all that people have got good and angry about the activities of bankers and MPs in recent weeks, has anyone actually done anything about it? Specifically, he compared it to what has happened in Iran, where people have gone onto the streets and faced great violence in order to express their will. Yet in this country, almost nobody could be bothered to vote in the first place. I’m sure Mr Dinnerjacket would happily swap the British electorate for the one he’s got at the moment.
So my question is this: in the face of the apparently complete breakdown of both our political and financial systems, has any one of you done anything towards improving/changing/protesting about the situation. (And no, I haven’t, other than voting in the recent elections). I obviously don’t include angry posts on forums or telephone calls to phone-in shows.
in the face of the apparently complete breakdown of both our political and financial systems, has any one of you done anything towards improving/changing/protesting about the situation
Complete breakdown of our political system – what, just because of the expenses row? – what profession doesn’t have people on the fiddle, there’s not a self-employed person in the country who pays the same proportion of tax/NI to earnings as PAYE earners, people buying hooky cigarettes/alcohol, downloading stuff from the internet, etc – it’s all fiddling and technically theft.
Complete breakdown of our financial system – pretty much the same boat as the rest of the world’s economies isn’t it, in deep recession but with ‘shoots of recovery’ coming through?
Good question Andrew and I can inform that yes me and my colleagues at work (six of us) held a meeting two weeks ago where we decided the following course of action:
# To claim in full the approx 15% of our salary paid by a well known charity (prior to this none of us had claimed it).
# To claim in full the £7.00 daily lunch allowance we are entitled to (prior to this none of us had claimed it).
# To claim in full the £24.00 dinner allowance we are entitled to if working later than 7pm (prior to this none of us had claimed it).
# To claim in full our 47p per mile car allowance (prior to this we would claim this occasionally but plenty of journeys were done without claiming it).None of us are actually pleased about taking this course of action but there you go – **** em that’s my view from now on.
I did say ‘apparent’ breakdown. Every time I have turned the radio or television on in recent weeks, if it hasn’t been Murray-nonsense, it has been Mr V.Angry from Somewhereorother venting his spleen about politicians or bankers.
If the consensus is that it is not good, but basically, all down to human nature, then that might explain why people are not doing anything about it. I was in that camp myself. But then, there was the continued talk about Lords reform, the new speaker choosing not to wear the silly costume, the suggestion that there might be a ban on MPs having second jobs and so on. Perhaps this really is a time for a complete reform of the entire Parliamentary system (if necessary up to the monarchy). And if it is, should we really be leaving it up to the same politicians we were all slagging off a week or so ago?
Oh, I forgot to add we are also entitled to one full and one half service on our cars per year and a ‘premier’ (whatever that is) breakdown recovery.
Anyhow, in my view, and I have to be careful having been guilty of an extreme level of naivety in the past of not going too far the other way and become too cynical, in the short to mid-term most people who haven’t up to now will adopt a similar attitude to myself and my colleagues – there is nothing else we can do.
Personally I have been shocked and left speechless by the blatant (probably criminal) profiteering and also the pettiness of some of the claim – in equal measure.
What I would like to see above all is for the full workings of our democracy to be taught to as a compulsory subject in schools and colleges. All of us need to become empowered with the facts of how our society works and not simply rely on the self-interested facts purported by either politicians, interest groups and/or the media – but I strongly suspect this won’t happen because they don’t want us to know and this will never change.
On a final point, although not a royalist myself I would have no problem if the Queen as Head of State were to step in and sort this bunch of chancers out by dissolving parliament and forcing a general election.
So my question is this: in the face of the apparently complete breakdown of both our political and financial systems, has any one of you done anything towards improving/changing/protesting about the situation.
Having grown increasingly disenchanted with the way the British banks operated, both domestically (credit at punitive interest handed out like confetti) and internationally (little or no concern for who and what they were financing) I’d been mulling the idea of opening an account with the seemingly – if self-proclaimed – ‘ethical’ Co-Operative Bank for sometime anyway, and the ‘crunch’ was the kick up the backside needed to induce action rather than thoughts. So all my savings accounts have gone their way in the hope they will use my money er…ethically.
No more than just a small gesture but the smallest of gestures multiplied up do make a difference: the Co-Op tell me business is booming.
Other than that I’ve just maintained the tradition of British stoicism in the face of adversity by implementing the customary two fingers thrust at all points of the compass and getting on with life.
we must cultivate our garden
.. Andrew, this is an on-going, long standing rip-off or the highest order .. I can remember people advising NHS workers to opt into a private pension scheme, like it would be insanity to do otherwise .. I get sick of trying to wise people up .. most folk are just mugs.
Dodging the rip-off (or getting in on it) is a requirement of having a stable financial future, for yourself, see the scam for what it is and skirt around it.
It’s no good taking to the streets .. fat policemen on double time will just club you, or give you an on-the-spot-fine, for being a dummy. We’ve been through all that before. The Iranians have had it, imo, muslims are a bad lot when they get into government, they will kill everyone who opposes them, because god is on their side .. you know what the third world is like!!
.. you either wise up or ur fked, on a personal financial level. It’s really up to the individual, I would rather retire at 60ish with a nice wedge and a £30/hr consultancy, than complain after the event and wonder what life was all about. I wont be shelf stacking at asda when I’m 70 .. rest assured ..
Have just seen this on the BBC News website:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8141396.stm
The thin end of the wedge!!!
Some MPs will have nothing to do at all if they can’t fiddle their expenses, those MPs will now be working full time that any tightening of the rules is scuppered before it’s even debated.
Can you believe that now the Legg report has come out and he has recommended some retrospective changes that mean that once ‘legitimate’ expenses claimed under the old corrupt and discredited expenses system need to be paid back that some MPs are creating a backlash against it and threatening a legal challenge??!!
Incredible! I would like to say incredibly short sighted with a General Election just around the corner but can we be sure in this time of intense political apathy and disillusionment that the elctorate will take the time and trouble to make sure they don’t elect self serving and corrupt MPs.
I would like to have confidence in the government to make the Legg recomendations stick but certainly wouldn’t bet on it.
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