Long Holiday for cheating swines who have escaped the country and all its diseases

Recently a Teacher friend of mine was given a gift from one of her pupils as an end of the school year gift. On it it read “Three reasons to be a Teacher: Christmas, Easter and Summer Holidays.” The perks of having so much time off from their job is not only exclusive to Teachers, because from today MPs will take a massive eighty-two days holiday away from the The House of Commons.

While the country's problems deepen its good to know that the elected guardians of our country will be resting at home or swanning off around Europe without a care. During this three month break many of them will enjoy up to two holidays away.

The War in Afghanistan continues, the Swine flu Pandemic grows and a worsening Economic recession mean that thousands of families will suffer this Summer and many will not be able to afford even one holiday.

Instead of dealing with the nation's crisis's and making decisions to improve things, MPs will enjoy days at home on full pay, drinks by the pool in some hot country and days out with their families with the cash they managed to hoard while they creamed the taxpayer for every other essential and non-essential item over the last twelve months by their expenses's claim.

If the expenses crisis wasn't enough to make them feel more remorseful and shorten their break they have sent a resounding “Up yours” to the public who now suffer from Ministerial mistakes to spot the banking crisis and the ensuing economic disaster that has led to unemployment not seen for almost a decade. Quite literally, they have turned their backs on the problems that they helped create or could have done more to prevent.

In eighty-two days many MPs will return to work and some of them won't deserve a job to come back to. In a more determined Democracy they would have a much tougher time. In this country its the public that legitimises Parliament and its the MPs elected that are supposed to represent the public. Its a complete fallacy. MPs represent themselves first, they decide what they should earn, what perks they should get and how much vacation they should enjoy.

We used to believe that MPs made sacrifices in order to lead our country. Now they have been caught with their snouts in the trough, filling their pockets by using a ridiculous expenses system to inflate their salaries, fraudulently dodging their own commitments to pay taxes and taking holidays that would make even a teacher feel hard done by.

A General Election now could backfire on Mr Cameron

David Cameron has insisted that the Prime Minister should call a general election now. The Question is: with the recent resignations of some Labour politicians, can this government really survive for much longer? David Cameron hopes it won't. However, there may not be be any clear winners if Labour go into meltdown and Parliament is dissolved now.

It's perhaps not an ideal time for The Conservatives Party to contest in a General Election. After all, voters are critical of all the old major parties right now including the Conservatives. The electorates disdain for politicians and its apathy for politics in general could see a lot of them voting for fringe parties, such as the British National Party, just as we witnessed recently at the European Parliament elections or they may simply stay at home and not bother.

Cameron could get it all wrong by calling for the public to vote now. Labour's majority may be small enough to be toppled by a strong opposition party, but the Conservatives who are equally caught up in the expenses scandal will lose many thousands of votes too; no one knows how many.

If the Conservative Party fails to secure a big enough majority they could be struck impotent from driving new legislation through or worse have to power share in a 'Hung Parliament' because they fall short of a clear Commons majority.

If the Conservatives and all the major political parties are to retain their traditional voters, they must clear up their act. They should stop saying sorry and start to have a cross party action plan to sharpen their image. One way of doing that is to select fresh candidates who have not been caught up in any sort of sleave and are certainly not tarnished by the present crisis.

If there were to be a General Election very soon many of the electorate could turn away from mainstream parties and this could damage the Conservatives hopes of returning to power after 11 years in the wilderness.

Stop saying sorry, Mps who took liberties should resign.

Gordon Brown, (Labour) David Cameron (Conservatives) and Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrats) have now all said sorry on behalf of their MPs who have been claiming excessive expenses. Seems that it was not too long ago that another hapless group, the banking elite, were doing the same thing. Its funny how Harriot Harman spoke then about the 'Court of Public Opinion' and how Fred the Shred was not going to get away with his millions after the government had bailed out his failed bank. I suspect, that the so called “ Court of public Opinion “ will not be called in to session by Ms Harman or any other MP in the foreseeable future because of the expenses crisis that has exploded. Furthermore, its unlikely that many of the apologetic bankers and politicians will be tried by the public and many will walk away blissfully with the money that was they extorted.

Its often been said that the rich, are only rich because they never give anything away. However, its a large number of politicians who have become Richer simply by taking money from a floored system that they they themselves created. It seemed like child's play. Systematically, they dipped their hands into an expenses pot like an ordinary person who had discovered an ATM machine that paid out money for free; returning time and time again without reproach or fear of getting caught.

The greedy politicians simply took money for luxuries from a system that almost encouraged the self-financing of MPs in light of their Salary freezes. All this and the people in charge of granting their expenses claims virtually turned a blind eye. I don't believe for a minute that many of the General Public who found themselves in a similar position as politicians with free range to a similar Expenses claim system would not also use it to top up their salaries. Although, the consequences of being found guilty of abusing the system would be far greater for a mere individual.

So the crime of abusing an expenses system whoever you are is wrong. Perhaps there is some justification for why MPs did it then? No. As mentioned earlier, the consequences of an ordinary person doing such a thing would be unimaginable. However, to witness the people that we entrusted to lead our country, spend money for underfloor piping of their tennis courts, Plasma TV's and church collection contributions is heinous. The fact is that the Politicians who sit in Westminster, Guilty or entirely innocent have lost the moral high ground. If their reputation was not bad enough, they have steeped to an all time low in public opinion.

Simply saying sorry does not go far enough and will not abate the anger that the public feels towards the institution that is supposed to set a better example. Once again, the expenses row has highlighted the case that our current batch of elected MPs are no better qualified to lead than anyone else with a vision to be a decision maker in the UK. What happened to Representation of our views, our hopes and concerns? An overhaul of our current procedure of selecting MPs is not too far away and then maybe the trust in our Parliamentary representatives will once again return.

The Court of Public Opinion

You've heard of the Law Courts of England and Wales, The Courts of the European Union and even the Court of Human Rights, but now there is another court and this one you will not have heard of. Its...wait for it...the court of Public opinion. Not heard of it then? No, you won't have, because such a court does not exist! Except, that is, in the mind of Harriot Harman, Labour's Deputy Leader. This fictitious place is where the voting public vent their anger about the RBS Boss who walked away with a fat pension despite bringing his bank to its financial knees. What an outrage, what a heinous crime, but isn't it nice that the government have shown anger towards this issue too? Afterall, if there is one thing some politicians hate more than criticism about how are they acquire their inflated salaries with certain dodgy expenses claims its seeing other people taking money that they do not rightly deserve either.

Harriot Harman's swipe at Sir Fred's large pension was as close as the Government will publicly side with the public on a single issue. When talking on the BBC Ms Harman blasted, “The Prime Minister has said it is not acceptable and therefore it will not be accepted. It might be enforceable in a court of law this contract [Sir Freds Golden Goodbye] but it's not enforceable in the court of public opinion and that's where the Government steps in." However, try as she might to find a legal loophole to prevent Fred the Shred getting all of this money, but claiming that public opinion is now the dish of the day is a little conderscending. Strange as for centuries governments have turned away from listening to public opinion. Considering too much power by the people to be anti-democratic and fearing some medieval “Mob rule”

The real Court of Public Opinion is, as far as I am aware, in session for only one day every five years. It's when a General Election is held and the concerns of the people of Britain are seriously taken in. They decide who and what political party is fit to become the government. I am a firm believer in Democarcy and know that there are many ways that the democratic process can be expressed, but most British citizen's only concept of Democracy is expressed by 8 to 10 crosses in a lifetime on a ballot paper. There are many decisions taken away from ordinary people who often feel more qualified to make them than some politicians are, but this is the nature of a constitututional Democarcy that we live in. This is not ancient Greece where every man has a part to play in decision making. Nor is this a country where there is a Court of Public Opinion.