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Ministers Expenses


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Is it just a slow time in the pressroom, or is the expenses issue widely reported on as bad as the press make out?

 

Should we be worried about this or are there more important cost issues that should be resolved?

 

What are your thoughts/ideas/solutions?

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The media are overblowing this. I thought it was hillarious to see a peer asking the News 24 anchor how much they were paid. Turns out that these anchors are paid £92k, from our license fees, almost twice as much as the MPs they are criticising.

 

That is something far more worthy of our ire, if you ask me.

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These are the people who want to cut benefit fraud. Get the disabled back to work. I’m just surprised they have not dug up the dead and put them in fields to scare of the birds. But hay! It now comes to light they have there own benefit system. Called expenses. How many of the people on the minimum wage, would like to claim the meal breaks, from income support O and have there rent paid as well . But over 600 MPs can. And at our expense. Gordon Brown has taking the UK to the nearest pawn shop and throwing the cash he got for keeping his own PR image, and to keep his thugs in place to keep there pockets lined. In any other walk of life but the House of Commons they would have been reported to the police for theft And no mater how they spin it there is now other way you can describe it. They are the ones who won in 1997 on the there will be no sleaze from the Labour party. Thy lied then are lying now. Saying sorry is just not good enough, after all they are only offering to pay some of it back because they were caught. They should do there job for the money they get paid and no expenses, the same as anyone else who has applied for a job no mater what the job is and most are not getting 15K never mind over 90K a year. And remember GB is getting over 100K a year. Some don’t get that after 10 years work never mind 1. And I would bet his brothers cleaner is not cleaning No10

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The media are overblowing this.

 

Yes, they are trying to milk a bull, so to speak, but today's revelations of, for instance, Elliot Morley claiming £16k on a mortgage that had already been paid off and describing it as an "oversight". How busy and affluent do you have to be to wilfully claim £16,000 accidentally?

 

One might draw a comparison to walking out of Bolts with a top of the range plasma TV and 'forgetting' to pay for it. An oversight, if you will.

 

Obviously the media are targeting those that make the juiciest stories but I feel it is undeniable that the blanket apologies being made betray the guilt associated with the childish mischief of being caught with a hand in the sweetie jar and saying 'sorry'.

If they had any defence or any justification, they would not be apologising, they would be saying "this is how the system works, tough tattie".

The most credible retort I have seen so for was from our very own Tavish, who, under a feeble attempt by a Scottish reporter to call him to account for £6,000 in expenses, replied with an abrupt "Talk to Westminster, guys".

 

That is, to me, more like the reply of a man irritated but not considering himself guilty.

 

I think the thing that would put a genuine perspective on this would be to know how much in total the unethical expenses amounted to, then it would be fair to decide whether it was a fuss over nothing, or the travesty of government it is portrayed as.

 

It is also worth remembering the context in which this has all occurred, as our leaders failed to oversee the economy, allowing the UK's plunge into major recession, and concurrently failed to notice how much they were milking the system for.

 

The "Fryish defense" is a valid argument to an extent, but using the justification that "we've all done it" undermines his credibility hugely. Pennies make pounds and pounds pay for services. A multitude of minor discrepancies does not make any particular discrepancy any less wrong.

 

Or if it does, I shall start shoplifting periodically, stealing a couple of my neighbours neaps every now and then, running the car on marine diesel, grabbing a couple of salmon on my way past the salmon cages...etc......cos, well, it's only a little bit isn't it. Nobody will notice.

 

It's not like I would be doing any harm would I?

:wink:

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The "Fryish defense" is a valid argument to an extent, but using the justification that "we've all done it" undermines his credibility hugely. Pennies make pounds and pounds pay for services. A multitude of minor discrepancies does not make any particular discrepancy any less wrong.

 

Or if it does, I shall start shoplifting periodically, stealing a couple of my neighbours neaps every now and then, running the car on marine diesel, grabbing a couple of salmon on my way past the salmon cages...etc......cos, well, it's only a little bit isn't it. Nobody will notice.

 

It's not like I would be doing any harm would I?

:wink:

 

What about taking a pen home from work, Njugle ?

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What about taking a pen home from work, Njugle ?

 

Aw shucks, busted. I'm no angel, I assure you, but I don't think that it is in the same ethical league as claiming interest payments on a mortgage that doesn't exist, do you?

 

(I could however contest that the aforementioned pen may be used for out of hours work. I would also say that most of the pens I have ever taken home have been promotional items and intended for distribution. :wink: )

 

 

& Micheal, I would contest that ethics were a good aspect to judge politicians upon.

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What about taking a pen home from work, Njugle ?

 

Aw shucks, busted. I'm no angel, I assure you, but I don't think that it is in the same ethical league as claiming interest payments on a mortgage that doesn't exist, do you?

 

It was you who said, ''Pennies make pounds and pounds pay for services. A multitude of minor discrepancies does not make any particular discrepancy any less wrong. ''

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& Micheal, I would contest that ethics were a good aspect to judge politicians upon.

 

I would not argue with that, I don't think there are that many politicians who have been exposed to have a dodgy ethical code. £16000 for no valid reason is obviously pretty significant, but there hasn't been a claim like this for the vast majority.

 

There is a massive public furore over this, while other far more questionable acts go on and most of us don't seem to care.

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What about taking a pen home from work, Njugle ?

 

Aw shucks, busted. I'm no angel, I assure you, but I don't think that it is in the same ethical league as claiming interest payments on a mortgage that doesn't exist, do you?

 

(I could however contest that the aforementioned pen may be used for out of hours work. I would also say that most of the pens I have ever taken home have been promotional items and intended for distribution. :wink: )

 

 

& Micheal, I would contest that ethics were a good aspect to judge politicians upon.

 

Maybe that’s within the rules Njugle

But are we not talking about morals of MPs as well and far as I can see an uncut tom cat at your local rubbish dump has higher morals. I'm no angel either, but I have not been elected under the where whiter than white party and better than the Tory sleaze party pledge at the 1997 election

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Njugle wrote

Yes, they are trying to milk a bull, so to speak, but today's revelations of, for instance, Elliot Morley claiming £16k on a mortgage that had already been paid off and describing it as an "oversight". How busy and affluent do you have to be to wilfully claim £16,000 accidentally?

 

Maybe not that busy to just include a figure that has been included in claim after claim. Out of the list of wrongs I have seen this one seems a bit more understandable than most.

 

What is not understandable is how whoever is responsible for paying these claims can do so without checks to ensure that the claim is accurate.

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What about taking a pen home from work, Njugle ?

 

Aw shucks, busted. I'm no angel, I assure you, but I don't think that it is in the same ethical league as claiming interest payments on a mortgage that doesn't exist, do you?

 

It was you who said, ''Pennies make pounds and pounds pay for services. A multitude of minor discrepancies does not make any particular discrepancy any less wrong. ''

 

You are suggesting the ministers have done no wrong then I take it? (Despite the cascade of apologies)

 

If you are trying to set up a "people in glass houses" scenario, I'm sorry to say that the only times in my working life I have been in a position to claim expenses of any great value, I have deliberately under-claimed out of conscience. Truly! Just because a working situation takes you away from home, for example, to me does not mean that they are liable for absolutely all your meals and the like, that you would have happily paid for at home. :wink:

Similarly, sometimes overtime is a product of your own time keeping or productivity and not just an excuse to inflate your wage.

 

I could go on, but you get the picture. My conscience has disallowed me from taking more than an occasional pen. Unlike some. :)

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^^

 

It was Stephen Fry who implied ''People in glass houses'' in the clip posted earlier, mainly referring to journalists. :wink:

 

If only everyone were as honest as you. :D

 

I think it totally wrong if they've broken the rules, but I think there are bigger issues to worry about.

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