Sandi Thom column: Is there no end to expenses scandal?
Published:
EXPENSESGATE continues! Anyone bored with it yet?
“Not by a long shot,” says I. It would take a close encounter of the third kind to deflect our attention away from this one in a hurry!
“Feed them to the lions,” I hear you cry.
But wait, this is Britain, we are civilised, we no longer execute criminals and certainly never for the amusement of others.
Sentences have evolved to a wee rap on the knuckles with handsome pay-offs and the promise of lucrative work in the private sector.
Ever get the feeling that we are still living in a world where the rich and powerful get away with blue murder and the decent working-class folk have to fork out for their privileges?
And what about the rich and famous?
On my most recent trip to Los Angeles I happened upon Beverly Hills police station and its cells. I almost mistook it for a health spa!
If I was a bum in Beverly Hills I'd be trying to arrest myself!
And with cell mates such as Winona Ryder, Hugh Grant, George Michael and Paris Hilton who can blame them!
It would appear that MPs are just like movie stars and get the softly-softly treatment no matter what they get up to.
After being forced to step down after making “oversights” on their expenses they still pick up a nice little pension for their troubles.
Some of those MPs so graciously standing down at the next election should go now. Sack them now. What some have done verges on fraud. What more evidence do the police need? Why should we continue to pay them until the next election?
Seriously what do MPs do anyway! Will their constituencies crumble without them in office for a few months, without their heckles being heard in chambers?
How long has this been going on? Think of the monies frittered away by Parliament over the years with people on the bread line all across the country, losing their jobs and homes with no turn around in sight.
For too long MPs have been allowed to run amok through the corridors of power unchecked.
I do hope the inquiry headed by Sir Christopher Kelly, created to investigate this scandal, delivers some real change and is not just part of the PR damage control.
MPs should be employed exclusively as MPs.
They should not sit on the boards of defence contractors or pharmac eutical giants. Some MPs have even “employed’’ their whole family in various roles, paying them a lot of money for who knows what?
And why they are allowed to claim for food and drink etc is beyond me.
Imagine if we all claimed for food and drink?
Eh ... two packets of Wotsits and a Twix, ooh and I had a lollie earlier ... surely that contributes to me making highly educated cultural, social and economical decisions?
Resettlement allowances and gold-plated pensions please.
Speaking of gold, did you hear the one about the MP who had his initials embossed on a well cover?
Talk about money down the drain.
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