Britalian

There is huge uproar over revelations of the types of things that Ministers are getting the public to pay for.

It is clear that Ministers are using the public purse as their own personal home improvement service where everything comes for free.

It is a dreadful state of affairs and what is worse is that people like Peter Mandelson just try to brush off the revelations as attempts to smear the Cabinet. The smearing is being done by these politicians themselves and you can bet that the next few days will see politicians wheeling out the same phrases like “We did not break any rules but it is clear that there should be a review”.

Mandelson and his friends need to understand that something does not have to be illegal in order for it to be wrong. The government is morally bankrupt and if people like Harriet Harman seriously think they have nothing to be ashamed of then they are simply wrong.

How’s this for a comment:

“MPs believe in the cause of public service and that’s why they’re in public service and I believe our House of Commons is not scarred by corruption on the scale of other political systems.”

What an idiot. She is basically saying that it is OK as long as the UK is not as corrupt as other countries. These fools should be slung out of office, slung out of their second homes paid for by the taxpayer and slung out of their jobs, plain and very simple.

Shame on them.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster when 96 Liverpool supporters died at an FA Cup semi final.

The investigation into the incidents that day that led to those terrible deaths is a litany of confusion, poor organisation, substandard facilities and plain incompetence.

The families of those who died continue their campaign for justice, but what does justice mean for them?

Still nobody has taken responsibility for the events that day. It might be hard to blame any one person or organisation for the tragedy, but it is clear that some people made terrible decisions that led to at least some if not all of the deaths.

The tragedy also represented for me the first of New Labour’s deceptions. Jack Straw, shadow Home Secretary at the time, said he would launch an enquiry to decide whether the Hillsborough enquiry should be reopened, if New Labour got in to power in 1997.

Once in power, Straw decided that there was not enough evidence to reopen the enquiry, despite several major problems with the initial one. To me, that was New Labour’s first deception and now look at the political culture they have fostered.

The organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned today that the UK has no more funds for bail outs.

The banks have had the lot.

Unbelievable.

MPs awarded themselves a pay increase of just under 2.5% and while the figure was decided upon before the complete collapse of the world’s financial systems, it needs to be reviewed at least and preferably deferred.

Politics really has changed hugely even in the 20 years since I studied it, the major change has been that politics is now a financially viable career option.

But should someone enter politics because of the potential financial rewards?

Labour has shown politics in the UK to be a filthy business where the opportunity exists to run an enterprise that can employ family members, pay for one or even two homes and allow you to claim back the cost of any minor domestic charge as an expense. Even a plug for your sink can be claimed back from the taxpayer.

Why are MPs allowed to have their lives almost completely funded from the public purse? It has become the case that there is no element of having a calling to serve the public, only a calling to cream off the public purse.

I wondered how Jacqui Smith would try to weasel her way out of “Wristgate” but Gordon Brown’s response has really floored me.

To say that her husband submitting an expenses claim on her behalf for TV and Internet connections including two adult films is a “Private Matter” is a joke.

How can it be private when money is being claimed from the public purse? If he was paying for these films himself, that is most certainly a private matter but as soon as he decides that it is appropriate to claim the cost of these films back from the public, it most certainly becomes a public matter and one that should result in Jacqui Smith losing her job.

What does a cabinet minister have to do these days to be kicked out of office?

Remember that Labour effectively won the 1997 election on the wave of criticising the Tories for being the party of sleaze but with the likes of Prescott, Mandelson, Donorgate and many more, Labour are far, far worse because they absolutely refuse to accept any wrongdoing and immediately shuffle like weasels in support of any of their chums who are caught with their fingers in the till. Gordon Brown really ought to be ashamed of himself for supporting Smith so blindly when this is so clearly wrong.