All those cheering at the success of the recent revelations by the Daily Telegraph at getting MPs to repay some of their handouts would be well advised to look at the small print.
The money returned is not going to go to the tax payer.
It will be going to a bank account controlled by the Commons fees office and used to pay future ‘legitimate claims’.
So for all the moral high ground currently being claimed by repentant MPs courtesy of the BBC – what is actually happening is that the money is going back into the same pot they will be dipping into next week.
Grrrrr.
Anna is the landlady of the Raccoon Arms. She lives in the Monbazillac area of South West France and still takes a keen interest in British politics.
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Grrrrr indeed. Like Victor Meldrew I Can’t Believe It …
Sadly, I can believe it. It is indeed, as Anna points out, a merry-go-round and the more it spins the sicker I feel.
I knew I was suffering from ‘outrage-fatigue’ but now my ears have begun to bleed and my will to live is slowly ebbing away.
At least you are still retaining your youthful good looks Gloria.
Tank you for those kind words janes.
Its no wonder some are so keen to pay some back, they know
they’ll get it again at a later date !
And who’s to say they actually are paying the money back, it’ll be like charity pledges, in six months time will hear the funds weren’t
returned at all . . . oh sorry my secretary forgot to do that for me !
They just rolled off my tongue Gloria.
This evening I heard that one Conservative MP had agreed to pay back around
Didn’t we all see simpering, currant-eyed Dolores Umblears waving a cheque in her tiny little fist, squeakily insisting that she cared what people thought of her?
How can telling HM revenue one thing and the commons expense
department another be ‘legal’ ?
If it was legal and you did nothing unethical why are you parting with nearly 14 grand ?
Quite so, Miss Mink, Quite so…….
She’s all fudge that’s why.
She looked like a leather pouffe on sunday, not the sexy biker chic
she obviously wishes she was.
Probably off to smash and grab a few ‘designer’ hand bags down
bond street, to help cover the cost of her capital gains cheque.
Can’t we just execute one of the cnuts? Pour encourager les autres?
I’m so used to the piggery by now that I’m not at all surprised by this.
Two tidbits…
Hazel Blears: she’s returned tax without – presumably – a demand from the Inland Revenue. All that will happen is that she’ll either get the cheque returned as an overpayment or it will be credited against any future tax bills she has.
Iain Dale reckons the Balls may cop it in the Telegraph tomorrow.
We live in interesting times.
As this continues, the relevance of Parliament and the system becomes less. It is seen for what it is – a means by which elected people look after themselves. How can they continue to believe that what is happening is acceptable to a powerless and watching public?
You know, I had to attend hospital again this week to see a consultant. Having waited 2 hours for the privelege, I was bloody furious. My temper was made evn worse when, after apologising for the delay, they are busy you know, and it’s my fault for attending this clinic, he allowed me 5 minutes of his time to describe my needs, constantly looking at his watch whilst he ‘listened’. He is amazed that I am furious and doesn’t understand – he, after all is doing his best!! By his behaviour he has alienated me even more. I now have to have a further scan, which will take another 3 weeks to arrive before having the privelege of seeing him again some weeks after that. It is not acceptable. But I’m the one in need here, made to feel a nuisance and having to put up with pain that could be remedied. The only one who gains is the consultant having achieved his flow through target of required and necessary human objects. This is unacceptable to me and is a prime example of the managerialism and self-attaining purposes that this bloody government and its public sector mirror images have become. Not accountable to anyone, merely deposits of vested interest.
Bomb the bloody lot of ‘em NOW
Strikes me that pay-back time is long overdue. What is so infuriating is that these hoons just can not see or accept that they’ve acted immorally. They have the ethics of a lamp post.
Blink – the Health Service takes so long establishing diagnosis and treatment it’s almost as if the system expects patients either to die or get better by themselves during the investigation process. Your situation sounds ‘painfully’ familiar I’m afraid.
Still, it cheered my up to be reminded of the ‘accidental shredding’ of a certain Tony Blair’s
I would find all of this hugely funny normally. But as I am having to pay for it, and people worse off than me are also paying, both directly and indirectly, other instincts are taking over.
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