Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

I saw William Hague was on Question Time. Did anyone tackle him over spending £88,000 on staff to do his work while he swanned off and earned millions of pounds elsewhere?

[Reed John]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

America's finest TV news program takes on the MP expenses scandal.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=228030&title=scamalot

[Wyatt Earp]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

Bit of an England = UK issue there.

[Reed John]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

I spotted that too, but as I recall the error is in the opposite direction of the usual confusion.

Still, it's funny.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

I saw William Hague was on Question Time. Did anyone tackle him over spending £88,000 on staff to do his work while he swanned off and earned millions of pounds elsewhere?

[Tactical Genius]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

I didn't see it Tubby and you did.
So did anyone?

[Banana Banana]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

I think Nefertiti is correct when he says that a lot of the right in the Labour Party learnt their political manouevrings whilst on the far left: certainly the centralist, supremacy of the party stuff. There is also a hell of a lot on the right from what was once known as the 'Bennite' Soft Left around the Labour Co-ordinating Committee: which I was part of. The whole edifice of New Labour has been built by these people who used the same attitudes (if not tactics) they learnt in expungng entyrists like Militant to expunge anyone on the left.

To be a bit fairer on Nef; the reason why there are so many ex-Trotskyists scattered around grown-up politics is that there were thousands of people drawn to Trotskyism in their youth. It was very hard to get a political education without being part of a Trotskyist group. The mainstream left was more interested in talking about getting drains repaired and the only non-Trotskyist groups offering political education were the Communists, the Anarchists and the ILP: all of whom were tiny, flawed and unappealling to younger people.

[pebblethefish]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

Depends on what you class as a "political education". Does being indoctrinated by Eco-activists or BNP followers not count as being a political education? Does taking a politics A-level taught by a teacher seconded in from the Geography department not count as a political education?

In 35 years I've never met a single person who describes themselves as a Trotskyist. And while I'll accept that I probably am politically uneducated, you seem to only be viewing the political scene through very closed blinkers.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

I'd have thought you got a decent political education in the Labour Party and trade unions at that time, couldn't you?

[hobbes]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

Jacqui Smith to resign over expenses not because she has a concience about trying to turn us into a police state.

[DCI Harry Batt]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

Presumably to be replaced by someone even more awful, to keep the run going.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

Hilary Benn was Prisons and Probation Minister a while ago, so might get the job. I don't know if we still have a publicly run Probation Service now so perhaps that experience won't count.

[Gangster Octopus]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

There's going to be a police investigation.

[Guy Profumo]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

Has anyone else commented that this gentleman's claim seems to be 1/3 - 1/2 of what seems to be the going rate for someone in the northern part of central England?

[Guy Profumo]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

pebblethefish wrote:

Depends on what you class as a "political education". Does being indoctrinated by Eco-activists or BNP followers not count as being a political education? Does taking a politics A-level taught by a teacher seconded in from the Geography department not count as a political education?

In 35 years I've never met a single person who describes themselves as a Trotskyist. And while I'll accept that I probably am politically uneducated, you seem to only be viewing the political scene through very closed blinkers.

And nor will you.

The term is "Trotskyite".

[DCI Harry Batt]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

Well, as it goes, there are two terms, used differently and not quite interchangeably.

Here in England & Wales, at least, "-ite" is more likely to be used as an accusation or insult, "-ist" is more likely to be used as a self-description.

[Wyatt Earp]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

You can't view through blinkers, can you? Especially, I would have thought, if they're "closed". You can have a blinkered view, but the blinkers themselves are opaque. Otherwise what are they for?

This sucking the life out of conversations through excessive didacticism is well wicked.

[Guy Profumo]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

Why on Earth... wrote:

You can't view through blinkers, can you? Especially, I would have thought, if they're "closed". You can have a blinkered view, but the blinkers themselves are opaque. Otherwise what are they for?

This sucking the life out of conversations through excessive didacticism is well wicked.

Ah. But if it's a reference to the nags, then yes you can. Their purpose is to restrict the field of view, so the horse can only see what's in front of him [her]. Because humans have their eyes on the front of their head, rather than the sides, blinkers aren't as effective in that manner, as the field of view is narrower anyway.

[Wyatt Earp]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

Then you're seeing between the blinkers, not through them, aren't you?

I suppose "through" as in "peeking through the curtains". But I call that pretty loose talk.

[Etienne]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

I don't know, aren't blinkers used to keep horses looking forward, not off to the side. They aren't blindfolded. So you could look through blinkers. And the use of "very closed", rather than "closed" suggests degrees of being closing, with the implication that the absolute limit of closing has not been reached.

(Or what I've just seen Guy post)

[Tubby Isaacs]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

I could have done with blinkers to avoid seeing Esther Rantzen on Question Time last night. And ear muffs, to avoid both her heavily rehearsed perorations and audience applause.

[Guy Profumo]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

Tubby Isaacs wrote:

I could have done with blinkers to avoid seeing Esther Rantzen on Question Time last night. And ear muffs, to avoid both her heavily rehearsed perorations and audience applause.

You need to invest in one of these new-style "magic" televisions.

They're equipped with an "off" switch...

[MsD]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

Tubby Isaacs wrote:

I could have done with blinkers to avoid seeing Esther Rantzen on Question Time last night. And ear muffs, to avoid both her heavily rehearsed perorations and audience applause.

How bad was she ... in a way I'd quite like her to get voted in and see her try to cope with the work, but that would be a bit shit for her constituents.

[Gangster Octopus]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

If they're daft enough to vote for her...

[Tubby Isaacs]

Where's The MP's Expenses Thread?

I didn't want to filter out everything, Guy- though from the fact I was talking about Question Time I can assume why you thought I did.

btw have you been following up my recent worst politician nominee? I think it was her I found brandishing another idea, that areas bid to host facilities people don't like- sewage farms, prisons, sex offender clinics etc, and it gets "awarded" to the one who will take least money to host it. If the depressed parts of the north can't grab this opportunity to get rich, well...

It was worth watching for Kenneth Clarke's discomfort about some of the potential allies for the Tories in Europe. I wonder if he mucked it up deliberately to make Cameron realise how difficult this could be to defend.

Rantzen at one time thought she had Ed Davey MP banged to rights. He had a 2 year old £50 claim thrust in front of him with all details blacked out and not surprisingly couldn't recall what it was for. She also seemed to think Iraq was invaded to bring democracy. She'd look absurd if she had to face a couple of hustings.