Hitting the Nail on the Head
Every once in a while - newspaper columnists hit the nail on the heard.
Here's what Simon Hoggart had to say the other day in the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/) - about MPs' expenses and the latest revelations involving the Tony McNulty, the 'honourable' member for Harrow East.
"They still don't get it, part 873. Yesterday a Commons committee reported on Tony McNulty. He had bought a house in his constituency (Harrow East) and installed his parents there. He paid the occasional visit, although his own home was elsewhere in London. He then charged the taxpayer for 69% of the cost of running the place. Maybe he was just doing in advance what many MPs feel should be done anyway – having the taxpayer fund their golden years.
The committee on standards and privileges said that, since his parents lived together, they only counted as one person. Therefore, McNulty should be able to claim half the costs, even though there is only one corporeal McNulty Jr as opposed to the single notional McNulty that comprises Mr and Mrs McNulty Sr. (You need to comprehend higher philosophical concepts to follow the expenses row.) So he was asked to pay back £13,800 and apologise.
This he did. It was one of those well-honed, carefully scripted, sort-of apologies we have become familiar with. He had been "careless". He had been rightly admonished for his "informal" arrangements. But the key was when he said that the "commissioner has every right to redefine [his] advice and apply it retrospectively. Indeed, had the advice been given to me in terms that have now been suggested … I would of course have acted differently."
However, he apologised "unreservedly", and this won hearty hear-hears from his colleagues, many of whom may already feel the cold, bony fingers of the commissioner on their collars.
I wonder how it would work in the world the rest of us inhabit. "When I took your wallet out of your jacket, and removed £40 while you were in the toilet, I was making an informal arrangement for a loan which I had every intention of repaying. The fact that I did not inform you at the time was careless, and I make a full apology for this slip …"
How refreshing to hear someone say what needs to be said - and without making any mealy-mouthed excuses for MPs behaviour.
Here's what Simon Hoggart had to say the other day in the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/) - about MPs' expenses and the latest revelations involving the Tony McNulty, the 'honourable' member for Harrow East.
"They still don't get it, part 873. Yesterday a Commons committee reported on Tony McNulty. He had bought a house in his constituency (Harrow East) and installed his parents there. He paid the occasional visit, although his own home was elsewhere in London. He then charged the taxpayer for 69% of the cost of running the place. Maybe he was just doing in advance what many MPs feel should be done anyway – having the taxpayer fund their golden years.
The committee on standards and privileges said that, since his parents lived together, they only counted as one person. Therefore, McNulty should be able to claim half the costs, even though there is only one corporeal McNulty Jr as opposed to the single notional McNulty that comprises Mr and Mrs McNulty Sr. (You need to comprehend higher philosophical concepts to follow the expenses row.) So he was asked to pay back £13,800 and apologise.
This he did. It was one of those well-honed, carefully scripted, sort-of apologies we have become familiar with. He had been "careless". He had been rightly admonished for his "informal" arrangements. But the key was when he said that the "commissioner has every right to redefine [his] advice and apply it retrospectively. Indeed, had the advice been given to me in terms that have now been suggested … I would of course have acted differently."
However, he apologised "unreservedly", and this won hearty hear-hears from his colleagues, many of whom may already feel the cold, bony fingers of the commissioner on their collars.
I wonder how it would work in the world the rest of us inhabit. "When I took your wallet out of your jacket, and removed £40 while you were in the toilet, I was making an informal arrangement for a loan which I had every intention of repaying. The fact that I did not inform you at the time was careless, and I make a full apology for this slip …"
How refreshing to hear someone say what needs to be said - and without making any mealy-mouthed excuses for MPs behaviour.
