1. Guido takes Newsnight to task for another idiotic error. 2. EU Referendum analyses why more Poles are going home than are coming here.
3. Norfolk Blogger has a right old go at Harriet Harmthem.
4. Donal Blaney asks why the Liberals aren't liberal anymore.
5. Po-faced James Lyons seems to have lost his sense of humour since he joined the Mirror.
6. Devil's Kitchen says we're going to have to cough up £3k each pa for public sector pensions.
7. Ellee Seymour evaluates the pros and cons of Starbucks.
8. Quaequam has some advice for David Heath. And the second word is off.
9. Cranmer discusses the Madness of Prince Charles. And he's not the first.
10. Athletes will be allowed to blog from Beijing, according to the IOC. That's if the Chinese play ball.
11. Mr Eugenides on the freedom to enjoy deep fried Mars bars - and fags.
12. Waendel Journal asks if anyone can beat the idiocy of the Daily Mirror. Rhetorical.
By the way, I'm doing the paper review on News 24 tonight at 11.45pm.
PA is reporting that Michael Martin is in bit of expenses trouble - according to the Sunday Mirror
ReplyDeleteCOMMONS SPEAKER 'USED TAXPAYERS' AIR MILES'
By Andrew Woodcock, PA Chief Political Correspondent
House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin used air miles earned on official business to fly members of his family business-class from Glasgow to London for a New Year break, it was revealed today.
Use of the air miles for family flights goes against official guidelines that MPs should use them to reduce the cost of future business travel paid for from the public purse.
Mr Martin chairs the House of Commons Members Estimate Committee, which oversees MPs' expenses. He is also heading the parliamentary inquiry into MPs' expenses in the wake of the furore over former Tory MP Derek Conway's employment of his sons.
The Sunday Mirror revealed that the return flights were worth a total of £3,090.50, but the family saved around £360 a head by using Mr Martin's air miles.
A spokesman for the Speaker said that his son Paul paid £309 and his daughter Mary Ann £230.50 towards the total flight costs.
Mr Martin last year clocked up £10,587 in parliamentary allowances to cover air travel on official business - much of it covering his journeys with wife Mary between Westminster and their Scottish home.
According to the Sunday Mirror, he has amassed more than 1 million air miles, and cashed in 54,000 of them for the New Year trip by his children's families.
Mary Ann flew with her husband and son from Glasgow to London on December 28, returning on January 6, while Paul travelled with his wife and two daughters on December 30, returning January 2.
Ministers are banned from using air miles for personal use but MPs, including Mr Martin, are not covered by the same rules. Instead advice from Commons officials is that they should be used only for business.
Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, who has called for reform of Westminster perks, said: "This will further damage public confidence in the system of parliamentary expenses. A benefit which is accrued because of spending by the taxpayer should be returned to the taxpayer."
end
Po-faced or otherwise, James Lyons is of course mistaken in his belief that the revered Iain Macleod died from a "heart attack" within weeks of taking office as Chancellor in 1970. It was cancer.
ReplyDeletePaul Linford, James Lyons was not mistaken; you are. Iain Macleod had cancer but it was a heart attack that finished him off.
ReplyDeleteOne of the 'dozen' mentions 'liberals'. Just watched Anne Coulter vs Paxman on 'youtube'- hilarious:Paxman kebabbed. Must get Coulter's book- 'How to talk to a Liberal- if you must!' Just goes to show how the conservatives here have been whipped by the 'liberal establishment' here at home.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair to the pompous hacks at the Mirror (who, in line with their deep reverence for Tory politicians, will presumably no more make flippant jokes about street parties at Mrs T's death), it was a crass remark by George Osborne - which only reinforces the view that the new right is just as dismissive of Tory history as the Thatcherites, just with a "caring" smile on its face.
ReplyDeleteLest ye forget, Macleod was one of the founders of the One Nation group, resolutely opposed monetarism, was committed to the Welfare State and helped found Crisis. A very great man.
James Lyons always looks like Pompous McGuire's mini-me :-)..and is usually not far beihind
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 8.40
ReplyDeleteI apologise to James Lyons if that is the case.