Ministry for Profligates

The new adventures of Fudge Gordon...

Downing Street has been forced to deny accusations that Gordon Brown 'ducked' a vote on the reform of MPs expenses. According to his Tory enemies, Brown went 'AWOL' on the determinant vote, which, if passed, would have scrapped the controversial second home allowance. Instead, all that's really changed is… read more…

Written by Oli Anderson on 4 Jul 2008 1:16 PM. Permalink

Poll

Lunchtime Poll: MP's expenses

Another chance to pick your brains, then. Although not literally. That'd just be messy. We're going to stick within the financial realm today. Yesterday 58% percent of you revealed that you weren't really worried about the 'credit crunch' and all the meeja scare stories that surround it. 17% of… read more…

Written by C J Davies on 26 Jun 2008 12:01 PM. Permalink

Meedja on the Insanity Pills

Balls inspected...

Ed Balls has spent the past four months under investigation for his expenses. The Times. Yorkshire Post. North Korea is set to hand over a declaration of its nuclear activities. BBC. Reuters. The Government has been warned to take biosecurity more seriously. Yorkshire Post. Britain's top Asian policeman has accused… read more…

Written by Oli Anderson on 26 Jun 2008 10:50 AM. Permalink

No Zimbabwe, man...

The U.S. Government has stated that it won't recognise the results of Friday's presidential election run-off in Zimbabwe. BBC. The Conservatives have reached another twenty year high in the polls. The Guardian. A Government-commissioned report has concluded that Britain is ill-prepared for a new flooding crisis. The Telegraph. Council workers… read more…

Written by Oli Anderson on 25 Jun 2008 7:57 AM. Permalink

Ministry for Profligates

Blah blah blah expenses again...

The English are pretty good at tolerating unnecessary nuisances. Take the bad weather, for example; snow in the middle of June is about as big of a pain in the ass as even the most robustly callipygian of us could handle. Or what about the rising gas and electricity prices… read more…

Written by Oli Anderson on 19 Jun 2008 12:46 PM. Permalink

Ministry for Fair Play

Cameron gets tough on hypothetical sleaze

D-Cam and the blue brigade may be storming ahead in the opinion polls of late, but it isn't all summer-blue skies just yet (now, how's that for a mixed metaphor?). Cameron is more than a little concerned about possible sleaze outbreaks among Tory representatives within the European Parliament. And… read more…

Written by C J Davies on 10 Jun 2008 12:03 AM. Permalink

Ministry for Profligates

Same shit different day...

The way that Westmonster currently views the political scene is as follows: on the Left we have the useless, on the Right are the artless and insincere, and in the middle hovers an ineffectual bunch of neophytes that nobody really ever listens to. Whereas we could no doubt sit around… read more…

Written by Oli Anderson on 5 Jun 2008 1:07 PM. Permalink

Meedja on the Insanity Pills

Brown cracks down on knife crime...

Gordon Brown has announced tough new laws on knife crime (probably in the hope that he won't be stabbed in the back as often). The Guardian. MPs and their generous expense accounts are still annoying the proletariat. The Times. A new law will allow cyclists to go the wrong way… read more…

Written by Oli Anderson on 5 Jun 2008 7:47 AM. Permalink

Ministry for Cunning

Sly MPs get around future expense revelations...

MPs are facing a dilemma: The general public has managed to find out about the opulent kitchens and showers and garden ornamentation that it paid for and isn't very happy. Unfortunately, being entitled to expensive kitchens and showers and garden ornamentation is one of the reasons that most MPs got… read more…

Written by Oli Anderson on 27 May 2008 9:07 AM. Permalink

Ministry for Profligates

Expense details to be revealed tomorrow (sort of)...

According Harriet Harman, the 14 dirty MPs that tried to keep their expense details secret will get their comeuppance sometime tomorrow. Unfortunately, it appears that some of the juicier details of how the public funds were spent will remain undisclosed. Although Harman has stated that the addresses of the MPs… read more…

Written by Oli Anderson on 22 May 2008 3:05 PM. Permalink

Meedja on the Insanity Pills

Warning: theft of manhole covers on the rise...

As metal prices increase, the theft of manhole covers is seen to be on the rise. Newsweek. Ofsted has revealed that about 20% of UK kids leave primary school being unable to read properly. The Guardian. UK house sales could drop by up to 40% this year. This is Money.… read more…

Written by Oli Anderson on 20 May 2008 7:43 AM. Permalink

Ministry for Profligates

Avaricious tossers lose expenses case...

Well, well, well. The House of Commons has lost its court case to keep the expense details of its MPs as a dirty little secret. It comes as good news for democracy but bad nose for money-grubbing politicians everywhere who will, from now on, no doubt, be a little more… read more…

Written by Oli Anderson on 16 May 2008 1:57 PM. Permalink

Meedja on the Insanity Pills

Bin Laden to release new video..

Within the next 72 hours Osama Bin Laden is expected to release a video message about his thoughts on Israel's 60th birthday celebrations. Reuters. A Pakistani man who stabbed his racist BNP neighbour to death is currently undergoing trial. The Times. The high court will today rule whether or not… read more…

Written by Oli Anderson on 16 May 2008 7:51 AM. Permalink

Ministry for Profligates

Speaker's wife taxi case dismissed...

Remember the wife of Commons Speaker Michael Martin? She was the dirty broad who managed to whack up a massive £4,139.17 in taxi fares, paid for by tax payers in the form of expenses, which she used to go on shopping trips?!?!?! Well, turns out today that the investigation into… read more…

Written by Oli Anderson on 14 May 2008 2:10 PM. Permalink

All change please

Tory MP: Commons Speaker should quit

Such has been the controversy over MPs' expenses of late it can't be long until the next scandal emerges - when we find out that ministers have all been frantically spending public money on books like How To Shred Unwanted Receipts Properly or Fingers In The Penny Jar: A… read more…

Written by C J Davies on 13 Apr 2008 10:59 PM. Permalink

Department for Tax and Spend

Prescott's taxpayer banquet

We've already witnessed a lot of controversy over MP's spending and allowances these last few months, and - with the introduction of a Freedom Of Information order - it looks like we're going to be seeing a lot more. Details are seeping out further, and allowing the public a… read more…

Written by C J Davies on 5 Apr 2008 7:37 PM. Permalink

Meedja on the Insanity Pills

Morning media zoo

"My comments do not accurately reflect my views" says Gerry Sutcliffe. Tax revolts are habit-forming: Guardian Phone-it-in headline of the day: "Commons to publish some expenses." Mweh. BBC (also Guardian and Independent) Data theft well and truly fudged. Guardian Ken's got enough children for a basketball team. World shrugs. Guardian… read more…

Written by Lloyd Shepherd on 4 Apr 2008 9:11 AM. Permalink

Ministry For Finger Pointing

Commons Speaker getting probed for expenses

Want a further addition to the recent media furore about MPs' declared - and more importantly undeclared - expenses? Oh, go on, then. It turns out that now Michael Martin, speaker of the House Of Commons, is due to face a probe into his financial dealings. It's being carried… read more…

Written by C J Davies on 1 Apr 2008 8:40 PM. Permalink

Westmonster: “Expenses”