we should follow the aussie method well we do in rugby league, where it is illegal not to vote, but you can spoil your paper, looks really good, electorate 75,000, the result

big party 13,500
not so big party 8,000
poor party 2000

total 23,500

spoilt 51,500

then they would take notice only 30% electors actually cast a valid vote.

Good to see Band wagon cameron saying something about expenses today and getting the rich b**tards to pay back, why wait till it was in the press when he like the other leaders knew all along. I know the Tories talk s41t but paying £250 for a pile of it and then claiming for it takes some beating.
Just off to clean out the moat at my own expense in the baronial home in Wardley.

Meanwhile Bottler Brown says nowt pev. So you condone 3 House Blears actions? ALL Politicians look after themselves first and us second. UKIP for me in a few weeks at least they are standing up for change.

UKIP great party little englanders, get out of Europe asap, find that all our trade with Europe which accounts for about 70% disappear, we are part of europe I would even say wee should have joined the Euro years back at 1.69 to the £1.00 would have saved me a load watching United all over europe.
Before the euro going overland to some venues or changing flights night having two or three differenent currencies now chust teh one but we have to pay through the nose for it with often a difference of 10cents between the buying and selling rates, multiply that for British Businesses trading in Europe added cost which our competetors don't have to pay.
sorry to rant but Exchange costs are a big bugbear of mine.
Plus if you beleave the Tories we are in a worse recession than Europe, but they didn't want to hand monetary control to Europe who are doing well.

To say that Europe is doing well flies in the face of the facts!

Ireland is now a disaster area ecomomically
The Spanish economy is tanking faster than ours - if you think the construction industry is having a bad time here look at Spain
The other southern european states have been in a mess for years - Greece, Italy etc
The German debt burden is bigger than ours

Whilst I agree wholeheartedly that we have to trade with Europe the last thing we should do is join the Euro - we then loose all control of monetary policy and end up like Ireland, unable to influence anything within the country.
Yes the pound might be lower against the euro just know - but not so long ago it was soaring and made travelling sur le continent tres agreable!

And no I won't be voting UKIP - bunch of numptys!

Can someone explain to me why Hazel can now send a cheque (maybe not signed of course) to the Inland Revenue for Tax not disclosed. Is that not tax evasion she has been involved with?

As for UKIP - I just want to register against all the current mob from all parties so tell me where the X should go.

Good ole Hazel what a pillar and upstanding citizen she is by paying the 13k back. Wonder if she would have bothered if it wasn't all over the news, no I don't really, what a load of poppycock.

Nice to know our own "jenny from the block" has thirteen grand in her back bin just waiting to hand the taxman .

F00kin B0LLOX!

the green party? i got a leaflet saying if one in ten people vote for us the BNP will not get a seat... thats got my vote

mine 2

I'd far prefer green to have a seat or that than UKIP or BNP

I'm going Green for the Euros too.

And me

Good photo in Private Eye of Ms Blears in a green dress.

Interestingly, anyone on benfits (that includes State Pension) who accidentally forget to send in earnings or capital/claim for things they shouldn't/suddenly remember another account or home ...
are considered guilty and can be chased through the courts.
Who decided this?
Our politicians.

Yes agree HR - Surely though once youve sent a Tax Return not mentioning a Property Sale subject to Capital Gains then there is no way you or I would be able to just send a cheque and have done with it. Just think this HB story will eventually finish her off.

I was at Eccles College with Ms Blears. She was such a nice girl (although I reckoned she used to smoke too much).

[url=http://www.picoodle.com/view.php?img=/2/5/14/jones1901/f_BenefitThiem_1e64296.jpg&srv=img31[/url

For what it's worth, my opinion: lots of working people, as well as the likes of Cochrane and Cobbett, struggled to enable us to get the vote (I assume I'm not talking to any landed gentry here). So I'm not wasting it on this shower.

Voting is important, so one should only vote for someone you trust. So the last time my ballot paper was unspoiled was 1974. And the sod that I voted for then lurched to the right and joined the SDP.

I'd prefer a bunch of flesh eating zombies to either of those lot

Superb post - agree entirely, Woy Jenkins, The sainted Shirley, David Owen and the one everyone forgets Bill Rodgers - it was the year Labour made Michael Foot leader, and whilst I was always a great fan of duffle coats even I questioned his ability to head up the nation!!

But what a sickening shower this lot are - It's my understanding that on filing an expenses claim the MP has to sign to the effect that the expenses are entirely in the fulfillment of their parliamentary duties - if that is the case then surely they have committed fraud and should be prosecuted, not just say "sorry" and give a few bob back! Their excuse that "the fees office accepted the claim and paid it" is nonsense, that just shows that the fees office were incompetant - these people are CORRUPT!

spot on....................and precisely why I don't vote.

Here's a suggestion........why doesn't the entire nation wise up, and agree [ien masse [/ito boycott any future elections



i.e. don't cast a solitary vote for any of the bent bleeders, no matter which party they purport to represent.

Perhaps then they'll begin to get the message



They are as corrupt and self-serving as the assholes from the financial institutions, and personally, I hope they all rot in hell.

end of rant.......temporarily

these people will never get the message , because people will continue to vote for them , the sooner people abstain from voting the better, no party is worth trusting ,they all seem to in the same pot , so i have again decided say NO TO BENT POLITICANS

Last year I wrote to The Independent suggesting the following:
_____________________________________________________________
Sir,

The current furore regarding MP's salary in relation to other Public Sector pay increases has an obvious solution:

Let all MP's receive the average wage of their constituency, let the Prime Minister receive the average wage of the whole nation.

At a stroke that would put paid to all arguments about their worth, the only way for an MP to increase their income would be to better the lot of those that voted for them.

Whilst implementing that strategy, the government could well go further and legislate so that any leader who purports to represent others should have their salary capped at the average of those represented. Trades Union Leaders, Archbishops, Council Chief Executives, Chief Constables could all come under the same rules.

I doubt that such a scheme will ever come into force, but any party that proposed it would get my vote!

Yours Faithfully
___________________________________________________________

They didn't publish the letter!!

they didnt publish it because the points raised are spot on , and it would of affected the vast majority of there readers , and they probabaly did not want to rock the boat,anyway barton flyer its a very well written artical ,

well done

Because unfortunately it won't work, and the less people who vote, the fewer extremists (who will vote because of their passion for their cause) it will need to put vile people* into positions of power.



* even more vile than we currently have

I like that. Also anyone wanting to be an MP should have been born in the area or have lived there for the majority of their lives. At least that way you will have someone who can actually relate to their constituants.

I actually do know that Iain.


However, I just cannot and never will understand those who religiously turn out to vote for "[itheir party[/i" regardless of how poorly or how well the candidate/party has performed previously.

Anyhow, I've clearly stated that I do not vote, so perhaps I should now leave this debate to those who do.

for the reason she did what she did, it has not given salford a good name has it? thanks Hazel

The argument for paying MP's the ammount they do is that thease people are suposed to be the best and brightest in the country. Most of them could earn far more than they do now working for a bank for example. We are supposed to be attracting people into polotics not turning them away with offers of 15K (i've got no idea what the averave wage in salford is, this is a guess) a year with no expenses while they try to work in london and their home town at the same time.

Now b4 you all start slaging me of i'm not saying the system is perfect and doesn't need changing. I think they shoudl be paid a good wage that is relavent (thats relavent not the same or more) to thier skills and what they could get if they weren't working in polotics. As for expenses this system clearly needs reforming. Maybe if (as someone may have suggested on hear) the governenment bought a couple of streets and thats where mp's could live when they had to be in london.

i dont think Salford has really been damaged from these issues in the past week. The news has focused on Hazel only and when the people of Salford have been quoted they have been just as angry as the rest of the population. Hazel has been alienated from her constituents which is what she deserves.