Live from Westminster, it's the quiz of the week
A Mortgage on a second home (applause)
A House for Your Ducks (applause)
Free Swimming Pool Servicing (applause)
Free Moat Cleaning (applause)
A sit and ride Lawnmower (applause)
A Glittering toilet Seat (applause)
A Compost bin for your Garden (applause)
3 Inflatable sex dolls
3 Mucky Video Downloads
A packet of paperclips (Groans)
Just in case you've been in a coma for 3 months, these are not prizes in a fantastic new TV show. These are just a selection of "Expenses" that have been claimed by our MP's. I've tried to steer clear of this issue. I try to stick to local politics, but once in a while I see something which scares the hell out of me. That happened today.
The reason that I put up the above list is because (paper clips apart), it shows the complete contempt in which us, the smelly public are held by the political classes. Many politicians now want the taxpayer to fund political parties. That way they won't even have to pretend to try and keep us happy. I was looking at a rival blog today, one called "Local Democracy". As a rule, I've found that blogs with such names usually promote the opposite of what "it says on the tin". The title of this particular entry?
Should MPs and councillors take up cases on behalf of individuals?
I'll give you three guesses as to the answer?
So what does Mr Paul Evans - The author think they should do?
"I’d suggest that – if we were defining the role of an elected representative from scratch – based upon an understanding of representative government should work, that some protocol would have been established confirming that MPs don’t meet lobbyists except in open hearings, and that they should never do casework for constituents. Instead, they would make a point of meeting local lawyers – especially the local Citizens Advice Bureau – to discuss failings in the law."
So there you go - he thinks they should sit in nice cozy committee's with lawyers and shut out the public completely. I can honestly say, I've never read such a load of old tosh in my life. It seems that Mr Evans hails from Barnet. He will be in good company with our local Tories. Councillor Mike Freer makes a point of never responding to comments on Leader Listens unless they agree with him. Richard Cornelius won't visit sheltered housing scheme's because it "would be too upsetting" and his "emotions may cloud his judgement".
MP's have little enough to do already. Dealing with Constituents problems is one of the few useful things a backbencher does with his time. In my opinion, there are far too few "ordinary people" and too many lawyers in Parliament already. I'd introduce quotas for trades. Barristers learn advocacy, therefore have a natural advantage over bus drivers and nurses, but do they know as much about Transport or Health? Parliament should represent society and year by year this becomes less so. As for Councillors, what on earth does he think they do? The whole point is that they represent the people. I suppose he prefers the model of a certain Mr Coleman who shuttles around in a taxi at the taxpayers expense and "never answers questions about his expenses".
Looking at the Local Democracy blog really disturbed me. I've seen blogs of all shapes and sizes but this one looks very professionally put together. It has the feel of a "semi official" blog. I couldn't really figure out it's motivation or purpose. It's author's descriptions says :-
"Paul Evans is a local democracy practitioner with a long track-record of running e-democracy projects at a local level with a particular focus upon the promotion of local representative democracy."Rather strange then that he wants to completely exclude MP's & Councillors from engaging with the people who elect them. MP's and Councillors must never forget who they work for - US. Even though some act like it, they win elections, not raffles.
P.S. I just noticed that the blog in question does have a link to a Local Barnet Political blog at in the sidebar. Which one does Mr Evans like most? Mike Freer's Leader Listens? Explains it all really.
