The John Lewis list

[Albion]

Yes, but it was all in the best possible taste.

[Matt Timson]

You'll be pleased to note that various websites are reporting that some MPs are willing to give up their expenses for a salary increase of between 40 and 100 THOUSAND POUNDS!

What was the last pay rise they awarded themselves?  I can't remember- but I bet it beat what nurses, police and firefighters got.  I bet it beat inflation as well...

[Peter Wolf]

 How do you get the truth out of a Politician ?


 Reverse everything they say.


 Its much much worse in america than here believe it or not although there are similarities.


 Any government that creates a climate of fear to  further its agenda is your enemy and fall into the same category themselves.

 There arent many justification s for their existence if you think about it.

 "We will protect you from those nasty terrorists etc" , boring , "We have to all work together to deal with climate change " when in fact all they do about that is nothing except  impose *more* taxes.


 They are just always there looking to find new ways to get at you in every possible way they can and making a mess of things.They are all mostly just liars and hypocrites on the take who abuse their positions.


 and then they have the effing cheek to impose things like ID cards on everyone.


 The money that government and local government waste each year is colossal and i could tolerate all the expenses if they were working hard for my best interests but they are not and never have.

 

[Slippery PD]

Any government that creates a climate of fear to further its agenda is your enemy and fall into the same category themselves.

Peter has an excellent point here that actually links into the expenses, wages, etc of politicians.      A major problem we have in this country (with our politicians) is that we have the "Professional" Politician.  Without being churlish or political, look at the current administration.  Ed Balls, the Millibank brothers (aged 12 and 13 respectively), Jackie Smith, etc.  What have any of them done in any other walk of life other than politics?  Id suggest absolutely jack-ch!t.  So if they have never run a business or a rugby club or a youth club, then why the hell do they think they can run a multi billion pound department like defence or the home office or education?  Id suggest they cant.  

Blair he was a lawyer (well they get to argue, but are hardly ever in charge of a budget).  Brown again is an academic and a professional politician.  If you look at the conservatives they arent much better either Cameron and Osbourne are both "professional" politicians, as is Clegg as are a number of others.  Look at who we are getting into politics.  Lawyers, Doctors, etc people who have the time to join a political party and spend time shmoosing.  Or alternatively Middle aged white men who have already m,ade their money.  

Id suggest to get a broader selection of people into parliament we need to have a way of rewarding and encouraging people into public life (councillors, political activists, politicians), whether thats more money or not is probably part of the question and not the whole answer (there are other questions about the hours they keep and how accountable they actually are as well).

Personally we get what we vote for and as long as we stay apathetic to the politicians the more they will be allowed to take the piss.  Look at the list of things that people in this country feel the politicians ignore us about; the politicians wages and the hours they keep, illegal wars, our role in Europe, climate change and the affect it has, selling off private pensions, buying Northern Rock, the School Lotteries, etc.  We need to make them accountable and responsible, they wont do that by themselves.

Id like to say that I dont think that MP's should have that sort of expenses but I do think that balance should be sought.  If we dont want them to have carte blanche on expenses, then we need to ask what do they need secretaries, researchers, a living allowance (if they are from outside London), traveling expenses, etc.  Maybe we need to assign their staff and pay for it centrally, maybe we need to house them in Halls of Residence, maybe we need to make them use public transport rather than cars or their own cars.  Certainly we cant as a public have them do what they want, it just creates problems in the political process that need to be resolved.  The more apathetic we get about a situation the worse it will become.

Yer "the husband of a councillor" Slips      

PS- sorry if its a ramble...  Im not a politician! ;)

[Leigh S]

well 20 million seems small in comparison to the 141 million available to the poorest in society via the Social Fund, which is probably analogous benefit, being there for people who need to buy high priority items such as cookers, beds and such (

so 4 million people get to share 141 mill (though only if they submit themselves to a fair grilling about their dire personal circs so they can be assessed as high enough priority, which not all will be....)

and 646 get to share 20 mill no questions asked- how could that be unfair??