tea and cake and the BNP

Imagine how awfull it is to be digesting your tea and then having to sit through a party political broadcast by the BNP.
In these dangerous times we live in,democratically speaking it preturbes us that despite our belief in free speech we have to listen to this kind of thinly veiled hatred.
If it is true that the events of the last few weeks have provided a vehicle for extremists and their views to literally hijack the euro vote it may well be worth voting to try and stop them.
The difficulty is if we are going to oppose the major parties in protest over the expenses scandel then where can we find a suitable candidate.

justice equality and fruit

fascinating conversation on this mornings R4 Today about the transition from hunter -gatherers to settled farmers.
Apparently hunter - gatherers had a true egaliterrean existence based on find and share and that the conversion to farming has created disease in the food chain ,led to world wars and possibly in cahoots with global over population.
Hunter -gatherers also were the first pioneers of GM crop manipulation.
seems like an essential read.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8057000/8057040.stm

Should i stay or should i go

Well i was going to write about my admiration for michael martin in the face of some hostile and unprecedented abuse an demands to go but he's now jumped ship.
He had to some time soon but his defiance was probably out of loylaty to gordon brown.

I cant help but feel though that he has been made the fall guy and taken the heat for others corruption,yes he was totally wrong about focusing on the way the expense claims surfaced but that was out of loyalty and self preservation.
Some of the mud throwers should also carry the heat and hopefully will.
Its strange that i feel a small amount of sympathy for someone at the heart of 'democracy' and the establishment but he was true to his working class roots and even though he committed abuses he should perhaps not have been so badly treated as he has been.

cheeky but not true

this weeks county times has a large part dedicated to its local MP lembit opik expenses explanation.
It details his reason for not paying himself a £40 summons that he forwarded as an expense as well as details of the extensive work he had done on his london flat and how he furnished it or at least how much it cost.
Once again mr opik fell into the trap like other expense fraudsters of being creative with his answers including answering a question posed by the telegraph as to the council tax status of his 'lodger'.
Mr Opik replied by stating he had saved the tax payer money by not charging his council tax or allowance for his flat to the fees office as his lodger was covering the charge.
He also pleads that an MP has to have a residency in london for his work.
But at no time does Mr opik see the irony or show the humility required here.
Trying to make out that his lodger is somehow aiding the tax payer at an already furnished and renovated flat is quite pathetic.
Almost as bad as stating that due to his bereft feelings at the loss of family members had affected his memory at the initial summons request.
Of course many people have to go through family tragedies but still manage to 'pay up' and balance the books even though they have been bereft.
You will also recallat Mr Opik somehow managed to carry on at this difficult time with his numerous TV appearences and romantic life.

Mr opik also gives a breakdown of all his expenses including staff costs travel allowance and so on.
But also calls for the expense system to be scrapped or at least reformed but only if an increase in MP's basic salary is applied.

What doesn't appear in the County Times is the renumeration Lembit recieves from his other consultancy jobs including -

1. Remunerated directorships
West European Air Services Ltd; aircraft management services and brokerage for local air charter company.
2. Remunerated employment, office, profession etc
Parliamentary adviser to the Caravan Club of Great Britain. (£5,001-£10,000)
Training for the National School of Government. (Up to £5,000)
Broadcasting fees from the BBC. (Up to £5,000)
Journalism for the Daily Sport. (Up to £5,000)
Fees from ITV for television appearances. (£5,001-£10,000)
Fees for training work for Luther Pendragon.
5. Gifts, benefits and hospitality (UK)
Loan of a Segway Personal Transporter from Segway, and subsequent purchase at a preferential rate. (Registered 19 November 2008)
9. Registrable shareholdings
(a) West European Air Services Ltd.


All in all it totals at least another £35,000 to his MP renumeration and is also more than he claimed during the last year for his second home.

So for all his self pity and innocence and claiming of not wrong doing he has done rather well out of the tax payer.

celebrate failure

the newsthat welsh assembley government is ten years old ths week has been lost mostly due to the continued expenses row.
And at a time when the democratic system in all its forms is under scrutiny and posssibly in jepordy there is really no point in celebrating a 'talk shop'.
Mostly because of the news that 1 in 3 children in wales is living in poverty.
Because of the failure of the capatalist system this is likely to continue for the forseeable future.
Investment is needed in social housing and in the poorest communities and the disparity between the poorest and the small elite wealthy is as great as it was ten years ago.
With the liklihood that the euro elections may suffer from the expenses scandel this would add to the notion that there are too many forms of government that are not making any difference to the people who need the help the most.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/03/19/save-the-children-calls-for-poverty-action-91466-23178436/

continuing our right to view

a petition to allow the citizens of the uk the right to view the whole of the detail in MP's expenses can be found below.

http://www.petition.co.uk/publish_mp_expenses_in_full


it may be worth signing for no other reason than it allows the gen public more freedom of info.
which is mostly a good thing if utilised properly

oh you cheeky boy

The shy and retiring member for monty has also been caught with his pants down and seems to suffer from a trauma memory problem .

http://http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5314613/Lembit-Opik-forced-to-pay-for-own-2500-plasma-TV-MPs-expenses.html

a fraud by any other name.Loadsamoney but no morals

Apart from the staggering ignorance by the 'de frauders' of a lack of humility for their wrong doing,surely tax avoidance by any body is a criminal offence, why have the MP's who have defrauded the state and tax payer allbeit 'within the rules' not been charged by the fraud office.
Can you imagine if a recently made unemployed person recieving benefit got caught doing casual work whilst signing on being let go scott free.Of course not!!!
so why do these lot.

piggy piggy

if its too much trouble travelling to london from your country manor then perhaps you should give up.
certainly his fathers son

fallout bailout

Is the sight of michael acram promising to pay £93 back convincing enough to bring the voters out for the euro or general election.
Will reform to expense and allowance system be allowed to happen as they've already rejected Browns proposals.
Why dont the major parties put candidates forward who live in the constituancies.
this wold stop the battle between constituancy,private and london homes.

although you still get the staggering hypocricy of thetory heirarchy who claim to have done nothing wrong.

did the earth move for you.

ok so a fast moving day today.
we could start with the epitome of thatchers storm troopers tebbit 'advising' people to take a stand in the euro elections by not voting for the major parties,which is interpreted as telling people to vote for UKIP.
of course he cant say dont vote tory as that will get him drummed out of the party.

also today we have the Luton mp miss moran agreeing to pay back the expenses she claimed from her soton house,even though she claimed it was essential to keep family together, and the revelation that she also owns a part share in a villa in spain,which she upset the locals when she erected a fence across a public path.
Oh and she also clocked up some travel mileage as well on expenses despite a fellow mp who also lives in luton commuting every day without owning a London flat to overcome the ever enduring 30 mile train journey.
the figure to the right of her name is what she claimed up untill march of this year for the parliamentary session.The figure of £1,152 is her spouses allowance which seems expensive for thirty journey from soton to london.Although as we know virgin first class is damned expensive.
Moran, Margaret £8,007 £0 £0 £699 £0 £0 £0 £0 £1,152 30 £0 0 £312 16.

we may also see the end of street fighter and speaker michael martin as the vultures are circulating mostly over the carcas of the expense row as he seems to think press intrusion is more signifigant then falsifying expense accounts.

techno and freedom

the modern times has brought to light the current unworkable expense system and huge benefits to those who can access the internet.
It should bring accountability as well but we now know what has been going on.
For example here is the link for our own brecon and radnor mp roger wlliams.
he seems to have done well for himself with land rights and up to four houses,the fat of the land you could say....
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/roger_williams/brecon_and_radnorshire

There has to be something done to counter multiple ownership of housing and not just by m.p's!
at a time when social housing is desperately needed we have a couple from the s.e. of england in negative equity with 900 properties in their portfolio,yes 900 with a toal mortgage debt of 120 million!
and what was their profession before retiring...school teachers.
surely their is some great moral malaise at this being allowed to take place.

the devil and the deep blue sea....

ok so now many of the m.p.'s who have been outed as maximising their expenses to the fullest are starting to say sorry including the party leaders,and the possibility of an ioutside auditor being brought in to check expenses.
It still means they have got away with it.
Not once in the media coverage have i heard a call for repayment of the abuses only 'i acted within the rules'.
well thats allright then.
this malaise has been going on for years but we have only have had access of late.
Perhaps we can go back and check past accounts.

so is this the end of democracy?
I doubt it, in a coule of weeks the euro elections will dominate and it will be forgotten.
but if any election was due to be held this week then i dare say an interesting split between voter apathy and high profile casualties would of seriously undermined the democratic system.