MP's Expenses

You could not have failed to notice that there has been a bit of a rumbling about certain expenses claims from certain politicians. The BBC graphics department has been showing off their skills with images such as money floating around some water with a castle in the background (in reference to a Tory MPs claim for maintenance of his moat).

It's all been very exciting for the papers as well, not least the Daily Telegraph who got hold of the evidence which they have been releasing each day of this week. The Guardian (my paper of choice), has also been having a whale of a time printing the faces of the "Shamed Politicians" who have "their snouts in the trough." The Express and the Mail have had their usual sensationalist headlines proclaiming to the world that these MPs (especially the Labour ones of course) are destroying the once noble profession of being an MP.

And what about the "once noble profession" of being a Journalist? I don't want to be too scathing about the people I will hopefully be working with/ for/ in place of in the future, but Journalists are known for being very dodgy with expenses. Also, the BBC team who have been grilling these disgusting vile creatures who get plenty of money anyway and still claim for these extravagances, earn a fair wack themselves (Paxman earns nearly 1 Million for 3 or 4 nights work), and I should imagine still claim for small things. A Labour peer hit back at a BBC newsreader, asking her what salary she got. When she disclosed it was £91,000 a year (MPs get £60,000), he wondered how she could have a go at him for such a blatant waste of tax payers money.

To me it seems a bit like two over-payed people arguing with each other about who is more corrupt. And I have to say, the public are no better. There are many people working in regular jobs who fudge their expenses or claim more than they should. A man we know to be called Stephen Fry (yes, THE Stephen Fry) was interviewed about this before going to an event designed to encourage people to vote. The reporter was unfortunate enough to not get the "Oh these people are terrible" response that he wanted. Instead, Fry said he couldn't believe how big a deal the press were making of this, especially considering the reputation that they have in the same area. He also said "It really doesn't matter." (He actual words can be heard here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8045040.stm). He worries too the press saying "this will discourage the public from voting" is what will discourage them more than this scandel (in fact the only thing this scandal will do is drive to people to fringe parties, hopefully not the racist ones).

Now I can't sit here and claim that I wasn't frothing at the mouth when I first heard about this "corruption". But as the weeks have gone by I've started to get bored of the press coverage, and realised that there are plenty more issues to get angry about. I will list a few of these:

• The Rich - Poor gap has gotten wider than ever before.
  
• The Government has become little more than the City's lapdog.
• We spent millions of pounds fighting an irrelevant and stupid war.
• We want to spend millions more on a nuclear deterrent that we don't need.
• The tax system is such that high earners can "avoid" playing tax and the government doesn't mind, while low earners struggle to earn enough to live.
• Our Civil Liberties are being eroded away with ID Cards and over-excitable policemen, all in the name of "protecting us against terrorism".
  
• The NHS and Post office are edging nearer to privatisation.
• Rail travel is so expensive and inefficient, when it can be so good, as well as better for the environment.
  

OK that was a lot. But my point is that there are more important things to get annoyed about than this. OK, I would have hoped that the people who represent us and run the country would be a bit more honest, and possibly the system could be a bit more stringent, but in a way doing this they do represent us, since there are many people who fudge their expense claims. Listen to Stephen Fry (and if you can find it Marcus Brigstocke's rant on The Now Show on Radio 4, from which this rant is essentially copied...) and absorb their messages.