All aboard the magic roundabout……
All those cheering at the success of the recent revelations by the Daily Telegraph at getting MPs to repay some of their handouts would be well advised to look at the small print.
The money returned is not going to go to the tax payer.
It will be going to a bank account controlled by the Commons fees office and used to pay future ‘legitimate claims’.
So for all the moral high ground currently being claimed by repentant MPs courtesy of the BBC – what is actually happening is that the money is going back into the same pot they will be dipping into next week.
Grrrrr.
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May 13, 2009 at 10:32 pm -
Grrrrr indeed. Like Victor Meldrew I Can’t Believe It …
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May 13, 2009 at 10:48 pm -
Sadly, I can believe it. It is indeed, as Anna points out, a merry-go-round and the more it spins the sicker I feel.
I knew I was suffering from ‘outrage-fatigue’ but now my ears have begun to bleed and my will to live is slowly ebbing away.
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May 13, 2009 at 10:50 pm -
At least you are still retaining your youthful good looks Gloria.
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May 13, 2009 at 10:53 pm -
Tank you for those kind words janes.
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May 13, 2009 at 10:53 pm -
Its no wonder some are so keen to pay some back, they know
they’ll get it again at a later date !
And who’s to say they actually are paying the money back, it’ll be like charity pledges, in six months time will hear the funds weren’t
returned at all . . . oh sorry my secretary forgot to do that for me ! -
May 13, 2009 at 10:54 pm -
They just rolled off my tongue Gloria.
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May 13, 2009 at 10:56 pm -
This evening I heard that one Conservative MP had agreed to pay back around £40k that he got for furnishing something or other. How many ordinary people have that sort of money hanging around?
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May 13, 2009 at 10:56 pm -
Didn’t we all see simpering, currant-eyed Dolores Umblears waving a cheque in her tiny little fist, squeakily insisting that she cared what people thought of her?
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May 13, 2009 at 11:08 pm -
How can telling HM revenue one thing and the commons expense
department another be ‘legal’ ?
If it was legal and you did nothing unethical why are you parting with nearly 14 grand ? -
May 13, 2009 at 11:11 pm -
May 13, 2009 at 11:13 pm -
She’s all fudge that’s why.
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May 13, 2009 at 11:22 pm -
She looked like a leather pouffe on sunday, not the sexy biker chic
she obviously wishes she was.
Probably off to smash and grab a few ‘designer’ hand bags down
bond street, to help cover the cost of her capital gains cheque. -
May 13, 2009 at 11:24 pm -
Can’t we just execute one of the cnuts? Pour encourager les autres?
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May 13, 2009 at 11:43 pm -
I’m so used to the piggery by now that I’m not at all surprised by this.
Two tidbits…
Hazel Blears: she’s returned tax without – presumably – a demand from the Inland Revenue. All that will happen is that she’ll either get the cheque returned as an overpayment or it will be credited against any future tax bills she has.
Iain Dale reckons the Balls may cop it in the Telegraph tomorrow.
We live in interesting times. -
May 14, 2009 at 3:27 am -
As this continues, the relevance of Parliament and the system becomes less. It is seen for what it is – a means by which elected people look after themselves. How can they continue to believe that what is happening is acceptable to a powerless and watching public?
You know, I had to attend hospital again this week to see a consultant. Having waited 2 hours for the privelege, I was bloody furious. My temper was made evn worse when, after apologising for the delay, they are busy you know, and it’s my fault for attending this clinic, he allowed me 5 minutes of his time to describe my needs, constantly looking at his watch whilst he ‘listened’. He is amazed that I am furious and doesn’t understand – he, after all is doing his best!! By his behaviour he has alienated me even more. I now have to have a further scan, which will take another 3 weeks to arrive before having the privelege of seeing him again some weeks after that. It is not acceptable. But I’m the one in need here, made to feel a nuisance and having to put up with pain that could be remedied. The only one who gains is the consultant having achieved his flow through target of required and necessary human objects. This is unacceptable to me and is a prime example of the managerialism and self-attaining purposes that this bloody government and its public sector mirror images have become. Not accountable to anyone, merely deposits of vested interest.
Bomb the bloody lot of ‘em NOW
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May 14, 2009 at 8:28 am -
Strikes me that pay-back time is long overdue. What is so infuriating is that these hoons just can not see or accept that they’ve acted immorally. They have the ethics of a lamp post.
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May 14, 2009 at 10:06 am -
Blink – the Health Service takes so long establishing diagnosis and treatment it’s almost as if the system expects patients either to die or get better by themselves during the investigation process. Your situation sounds ‘painfully’ familiar I’m afraid.
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May 14, 2009 at 10:24 am -
Still, it cheered my up to be reminded of the ‘accidental shredding’ of a certain Tony Blair’s £43K expenses covering a 3-year period up to 2003-2004. How I chuckled!
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May 14, 2009 at 2:15 pm -
I would find all of this hugely funny normally. But as I am having to pay for it, and people worse off than me are also paying, both directly and indirectly, other instincts are taking over.
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