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The Telegraph is rightly celebrating a decade since the Parliamentary expenses scandal was uncovered, after a hard fight against both the Speaker Gorbals Mick and the Parliamentary watchdogs, who used every trick and turn available to stop us getting the information. That wasn't all that was going on - in London, albeit a year earlier, we were getting ready to elect Boris. Forgive me for recycling that post; it has echoes.
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The Telegraph is rightly celebrating a decade since the Parliamentary expenses scandal was uncovered, after a hard fight against both the Speaker Gorbals Mick and the Parliamentary watchdogs, who used every trick and turn available to stop us getting the information. That wasn't all that was going on - in London, albeit a year earlier, we were getting ready to elect Boris. Forgive me for recycling that post; it has echoes.
It's strange, I can't wait to cast my votes on Thursday. My ballot card is pinned ready on the notice board and I'm eager for the off. I can't recall when I've ever enjoyed an election so much - perhaps 1979 was the last time. Then, after nearly a decade of Vic Feather and Len Murray and shots of Congress House in virtually every news report the same feeling for a need for change was in the air.Oh, and as for Parliament - we only jailed three. It wasn't enough.
In retrospect, the 70s and the Thatcher years were where the rot started. In 1974 Anthony Crosland told local government 'The party's over' - meaning the expansionist Client State fuelled by the economic boom of the 60s was over, a theme echoes by Keith Joseph in the years that followed. When Thatcher came to power in 1979, the central State expanded its powers beyond levels that had not even been seen during the dark days of the war, at the time the only measure to rein in the trots in the town halls, but ironically the foundation for Zanu Labour's Centralist control freakery from 1997.
Gordon Brown is even less capable than Jim Callaghan of steering the ship of state. As he attempts to tighten his grip on every aspect of citizens' lives, as he tries to convince his dying party and an angry nation that he's in control, the more control slips from his chewed fingers. Damned with faint praise by his own backbenchers, held on his back foot by the media, it's not now a question of if he goes but when. In fact, his Jonah abilities are so acute that I'm convinced every high-profile appearance he'll make between now and Thursday will knock points off the Labour votes - Livingstone must be praying he'll stay out of London.
17 comments:
Ahhhhh,,,, Len Gollip, There was nothing about turntable underlooking that he didn't know.
Apols this got caught when I reverted comments
Michael has left a new comment on your post "Ten Years On ..":
It is certainly a stark reminder of the mendacity of MPs at that time. Your post is a good memory jogger, especially as all this happened when nearly all businesses were suffering under the Blair/Brown years of cheating, lying and general unpleasaantness, and we saw the beginning form of the 'elite' class pompously displayed in the open, instead of hidden behind 'rules' they made up themselves, for themselves.
I wonder if all the homes that Yvette and Ed Balls flipped were the ones where they were going to house all those illegal immigrants?
No, I thought not...
The culture of gaming expenses rules for maximum returns was endemic in all walks of public and private sector life where they were claimable. It was even encouraged, as a bribe by management, at one place in which I worked, as a sweetener, for picking up otherwise unattractive jobs.
Posts were also sold as "the pay isn't up to much, but the expenses make up for it" and so on. Especially where - as in the case of MPs - pay rates were frozen, for PR reasons, for years on end.
However some people clearly took the mick and were rightly nailed.
But I don't think that anyone need take pious lectures, from tax-dodging cash-in-hand traders, or from those with speed camera alert IT, on how appalling rule-breaking of any kind is.
PS, the number of offences committed by, and the amount of money defrauded by the Tories greatly exceeded that by Labour MPs, but only the latter went to prison.
Now, what does that tell you about the judiciary and the Establishment?
Cheesy - the difference between Public and Private expense fiddling was that the Private fiddler was SACKED and, possibly, sued in a Court of Law for their transgression (dependent on the level I suppose). I know that MY expense accounts were properly scrutinised and and discrepancy picked up on.
Our grasping politicians have not had anything like the punishment they deserve meted out to them for 'mistakes' let alone blatant THEFT.
.... and extrapolating from the expenses theft, we're having our Country (certainly our democracy) stolen from us without so much as a media utterance to 'call it out' for what it is.
The pols can have their moats - just leave the keys to the country with US.
To avoid a single poster swamping the board, I'm considering a limit to the number of comments per post - 3 comes to mind, but I'm open to suggestions.
OK I'll transfer my remaining 2 to anyone except Tearful Ted.
Standby by for name changes in 3....2........
"Ten Years After" ?
Dave, I worked in both sectors.
In either, wherever a flat-rate expenses system was used, people, understandably - and legally - made money, by staying in hotels cheaper than that rate, or illegally, by sharing cars, and then claiming mileage for individual ones, for instance.
If a fully-receipted reimbursement system was used, then there was less fiddling, but people would use more expensive hotels etc., and end up costing more net.
Receipts are no guarantee. Remember Janice Atkinson and her sidekick? The words "iceberg" and "tip" spring to mind.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1733763/expelled-ukip-aide-admits-expenses-fraud-after-being-caught-out-by-sun-investigation/
Your new troll & I may share a name, but no opinions at all.
Ed, the only opinion that I have given here is that no one need take lectures about obeying rules, from tax-dodging, cash-in-hand tradesmen and the like.
So you would say that we should then? Why?
The rest of what I say are simple matters of fact, which you can check at your leisure, and on which I give no view.
Tax dodging isn't theft. It could be argued that the taxation is the theft as it takes without consent (and, indeed, very shortly if Treason May gets her way, without representation either) and with malice if you dare to withhold.
I celebrate each and every opportunity to pay cash-in-hand until such time as our Government learn that it is OUR money they casually 'throw away' on pet projects least of which is a political union I have no wish to be part of.
Don't get me started on 'green' and 'HS2' etc etc.... the list is enormous. Starve the beast.
Tax evasion - as opposed to minimisation - is an offence. It's clearly defined as such, but yeah, they're only facts as ever eh?
OK, whatever. Let's not take any lectures on law breaking from TV licence non-payers, speed limit breakers, dog foulers, or fly-tippers then.
Three comments is more than enough in my opinion although some topics do get a /conversation' going more than others.
Re Feedburner, I have had two other sidebar gadgets 'go' recently, maybe old HTML that can be 'secured' to the https or something, odd coincidence.
Re expenses etc, the fact that most of the theives are still there speaks volumes.
I see that you and I are going to have to stump up another £200 million, to cover the cost of replacing the flammable cladding, fraudulently fitted by the private sector to tower blocks.
That's on top of the countless billions cost us by Carillion, Interserve, KPMG etc.
Kinda puts it in perspective.
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