Member Since: 03 May 2005
Location: Perth, Scotland
Posts: 1268
[rant]
I've blogged until I'm red/blue/purple with rage about MPs' expenses. It is such a simple problem to fix but no MP would want to adhere by the same rules that you or I do with our employers because they would not make any money out of it.
I spend about £4k a month on flights, hotels, meals, car parking, mileage etc. This is all money that I spend and then get reimbursed, penny for penny. MPs could easily adopt a similar system, but where is the opportunity to get your moat cleaned, a couple of free plasma tellies or to make a few grand on selling a taxpayer-funded property?
The revelations of the past week have been entertaining but just make me feel more angry that politicians have had their noses buried in the trough for so long and show no signs of wanting to give up the free grub.
And don't get me started on why a taxpayer-funded employee should get £92k for reading an autocue.
[/rant]No longer a D3 owner but still subscribed to multiple threads!
13th May 2009 1:49 pm
nobbyclark
Member Since: 03 May 2005
Location: Perth, Scotland
Posts: 1268
But you can trust The Daily Mash to see the lighter side:
"You've got these petty, lower-middle class Labour MPs watching their wide-screen television sets and putting plastic covers on their three-piece suites, but it takes the solid brass nuts of an old Tory to claim for moat-widening."
He added: "If we are going to be governed by utter scum, it should at least be scum with a bit of style."
No longer a D3 owner but still subscribed to multiple threads!
13th May 2009 2:51 pm
alanwxr
Member Since: 19 Nov 2006
Location: West Yorkshire
Posts: 306
Sack the Queen, turn Buckingham Palace in to a halls of residence.
Already got security, guards etc
13th May 2009 4:20 pm
SN
Member Since: 03 Jan 2006
Location: Romiley
Posts: 13710
countrywide wrote:
Surely second homes could be removed entirely if they built a MP hall of residence near the houses of Parliament. It would save a fortune and stop this nonsense of buying and selling houses after loads of refurbishment and also would cut down travel, so they would be environmentally better off.
You could have whoever is in goverment on the higher floors with the best views and the green party would be in the basement of course
They already have - take the Victoria line to Brixton and walk up the hall to the 'Big House' ... lots of 10'x6' en-suite rooms ... perfect! 8)Steve N | 21MY Defender | 08MY Discovery 3 (history) | 06MY Discovery 3 (ancient history)
13th May 2009 5:14 pm
SN
Member Since: 03 Jan 2006
Location: Romiley
Posts: 13710
alanwxr wrote:
Sack the Queen
Thats you off my Christmas Card List Steve N | 21MY Defender | 08MY Discovery 3 (history) | 06MY Discovery 3 (ancient history)
13th May 2009 5:14 pm
disco3kenny
Member Since: 19 Jan 2008
Location: Here
Posts: 1007
Member Since: 03 May 2005
Location: Perth, Scotland
Posts: 1268
Quote:
4k a month ....thought my expenses were high
I commute each week from Perth to wherever my employer sends me, which is rarely by car. Usually involves a plane trip, 2 or 3 nights in a hotel, meals, train fares, taxis etc. But no iPods, plasma tellies, moat cleaning or repairs to the tennis court.No longer a D3 owner but still subscribed to multiple threads!
15th May 2009 3:22 pm
disco3kenny
Member Since: 19 Jan 2008
Location: Here
Posts: 1007
The problem is simply that (good) MPs have had their salary capped for many years at the level of a head teacher. The expenses system has come to represent the unofficial salary and thereby an 'entitlement' to many. I think we should be paying our MPs a lot more than we do, but we should also be demanding a higher standard of applicant. Like it or not, a country is simply a (very) large business.
UK Plc simply cannot be run by people who are of the same calibre as head teachers in exactly the same way as a head teacher would be out of their depth as the CEO of ICI.
I suggest that the PM should come from the boardroom of a successful Blue Chip organisation.
The NHS should be run by a board of consultants, Sisters (Matrons), chemists and ex-BUPA chiefs.
The welfare system can be orchestrated by someone with a huge human resources background. (& DG )
The roads network ought to be ruled by Jeremy Clarkson
The military should be run exclusively by women who have worked and brought-up a family.
etc.......
And they should all be paid a bloody fortune if they get it right......... and sacked if they don't. 8)
At present we have a lot of failed teachers and career politicians - many of whom have never seen dirt under their nails - (baldly) running one of the largest and richest economies in the world into the gutter. The older I get, the more I realise that people confuse wrinkles for wisdom
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| 08MY Discovery 3 (history) 
....thought my expenses were high !!!
)
