Thursday, March 19, 2009
Also ...
... last night I was on BBC Radio 4's "The World Tonight" being quizzed on the economic situation again. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to listen to it here, or by using the Listen Again function.
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And regarding the economic situation, from the Enfield Independent.
TWO of Enfield's MPs claim more than £20,000 a year each for second homes near Westminster - despite living just over an hour away by public transport.
Enfield North MP, Joan Ryan, and Andy Love, the MP for Edmonton, are seventh and eigth in a top ten of outer London MPs who take advantage of up to £24,000 a year they can legitimately claim.
Ms Ryan claimed £21,971 and Mr Love £21,538 between April 2006 and March 2007, according to the latest published figures.
Their expenses are now under scrutiny as part of an enquiry into MPs allowances announced last night.
The Prime Minister asked the Committee on Standards in Public Life yesterday to review what some have dubbed the Whitehall gravy train.
I doubt this will go on the blog.
As I've learnt when this subject's been raised in the past, there is little I can say on the matter that alters the way some people feel about the expenses that MPs are allowed to use.
Yes, the journey may only take around 1hour 15minutes but it's not realistic to be doing that journey late at night and early in the morning every day, week in, week out if you're going to be a full time MP.
"Yes, the journey may only take around 1hour 15minutes but it's not realistic to be doing that journey late at night and early in the morning every day, week in, week out if you're going to be a full time MP."
I wouldn't mind betting that the catering, cleaning and security staff at the House of Commons are expected to do it. Furthermore, if you MP's were to travel on public transport more, I'm certain we would see fewer headlines like this:
Enfield Independant. Thursday 26th March 2009
Vicious train gang caged for 12 years.
A VICIOUS train gang which preyed on passengers travelling to and from Enfield has been sentenced to a total of 12 years in prison.
The three men, two of whom were from Edmonton, threatened to stab people unless they handed over their cash, jewellery, ipods and phones when travelling on the Enfield Town to London Liverpool Street Line.
Lucas Akinshola, 19, of Tillotson Road, Edmonton, was the most prolific robber, interrogating a 17-year-old boy before threatening him with a knife near Edmonton Green station on May 28 last year.
Akinshola sat opposite the victim and asked him where he was from and who he knew in Edmonton. He demanded for the victim’s Sony Portable Play Station (PSP), which he handed over, saying “Give me that PSP or I’m going to stab you.”
He pleaded guilty to a total of seven robberies and was sentenced to five years.
In the same month, Ashley Ruddock, 20, of Hudson Way, Edmonton, and 23-year-old Hughroy Nelson, of Gloucester Road, Tottenham, ripped a necklace from the neck of a 25-year-old man.
Andy Love's predecessor as MP for Edmonton, Ted Graham, had his faults. But he lived in the constituency and travelled in to Westminster on the train along with the rest of us. he never needed a 'second home'. Andy if you could not dpo the journey alone, you could have travelled with Joan Ryan - the line goes into Enfield North, after all. That way, we taxpayers could haved saved more than £1m that you claimed between you.
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