General TBE Forum > Mp's expense fiasco - Crooks or media driven mass histeria?
I agree that some of the parlimentarians have acted criminaly but I would be very suprised if charges were brought. I look at it like this ......
There are three types of claims (broadly speaking):
Firstly there will be many legitimate claims which are reasonable and fall within the parlimentary allowance rules ... most people have no problems with these.
Secondly these are those claims which still fall within the parlimentary allowance rules but clearly break other codes of conduct (informal codes such as moral integrity and social justice).
Thirdly there are the fraudulent claims which do not even meet the parlimentary allowance rules ( like claiming for non-existant mortgages) .... in an ideal world charges should be brought in my opinion.
Perhaps we should not be suprised that as many politicians are big characters with big egos and arrogance by the bucketload that these people push the limits beyond reasonable limits. Personally I am more worried by the MP's that (when caught out claiming for excessive (though techinically legitimate) claims - ie my second category) justify their behavior by saying that they have not broken the rules. The Parlimentary allowances rules surely assume that other 'rules' like morals and social justice are also considered by the claimant.
Heres a comparison ... A slapper beds 1000 blokes in a month, when asked to justify her behavior she says that there is no law against it , well maybe not but there are certainly other moral and social codes that she has breached and whilst you might accept that she is not a ciminal you would ( unless very desperate) give her a wide berth , perhaps we should just treat all the dodgy MP's as the greedy slags they are and give them a wide berth at the next election !!
Rant over !!
scotty
this whole situation stinks. anyone hear tam dalyell on radio 2 on monday? he bought bookcases for £18000 courtesy of the taxpayer two months before he retired and explained that because he was unfortunate enough to live in a listed house, bookcases from john lewis would not be good enough. he even said live on radio that all was well because he was still making good use of the bookcases! can you believe these people?
how can anyine forget they are being paid £2000/month for a mortgage they dont have. how can people who can claim masses of money accidentally by incorretly filling out a form also decide whether we should invade afghanistan?
it is a complete shambles, i feel in the mood for a revolution, but would setle for a general election as long as no celebrities are allowed to stand.... since when did j.lumley dictate immigration policy.
this has been a shocking last few weeks for british politics, and how can brown ever win the next election? not that camerons lot will be any better. my interest in politics has been re-invigorated, but for all the wrong reasons.
Grrrrr!
Tarquin
What's everyones take on the MP expense fiasco. I work in an industry where a number of people abuse their expenses (not myself for the record). But this just amounts to buying your colleagues a posh lunch every now and then on your company credit card. But nothing like what the MP's have been getting up to.
I wonder how many members of the general public would not have acted in a similar way if they had the opportunity. However that said these people are meant to be running the country so they should be intelligent enough to know when something is wrong and morally strong enough to say no i won't do this even if i am permitted to do so.
I'd like to see criminal prosecutions for those that have broken the rules.
Do others agree with me or do you think it is just sometihng that has been blown out of proprtion by the media and the politicians are being used as scapegoats at a time when many people are looking for others to blame for the current economic difficulties we all face?