New Labour, what are they good for? Absolutely nothin’, say it agin y’all!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/may/08/poverty-equality-britain-incomes-poor

As an aside what I’d do with politician’s second homes allowance is to align the conditions with the JSA regime. In the jobseekers agreement the claimant has to agree to accept any job within 1 hour’s travelling distance (although that might have increased to one hour and a half.

So, a politician should only be allowed to claim a second home allowance if their constituency was more than 2 hours (I’d bang on an extra half hour for London traffic) travelling time from the House of Commons.

I'd force them to walk, cycle and travel on the buses, tubes and trains.

During the long waits and delays, they might even have a eureka moment, like errr 'transport policy'.

The Daily Muckraker today published a list of MP’s expense claims. Its editor, in giving a press conference, said “we take no pride in publishing this list but the public has a right to know. Ordinary people are sick and tired of self important, pompous, puffed up egotists who never tire of hearing their own voices, pontificating on the lives of others while living off the fat of the land themselves, paying themselves huge inflated salaries for salacious gossiping about the supposed wrong doing of others.

We in the press will take the lead in this and burn all our expense accounts for the next two weeks, will refuse to have two hour lunches at the Cabinet Office’s press secretary’s expense and will make no further comment for said period about the private lives of the Krankies, Little and large, Sooty and Sweep and a whole host of 1970’s stuffed toys that no-one under 30 has ever heard of”.

Lord Beaverbrook is 137

That list in full:

Hon’ Klondike Slackjaw: 1 pack of rawlplugs - £2,500
Hon’ St John Spokeshave: 1 packet of polos (fruit) – 10 pence
Hon’ Celestine Cleavage: 50 gallons of asses milk (pasteurised) – £10,000
Hon’ Effington Sheffington: Van Gogh’s Sunflowers – £75,000,000