In the aftermath of the story about the Tory treasurer trying to sell dinner with the PM I very much enjoyed Charlie Brooker’s description of David Cameron as the pay-per-view prime minister. Of course other PMs, probably all of them, must have done the same or similar but I always assumed it would be done […]
Entries Tagged as 'Scandals'
Is this the big society?
October 15th, 2011 · 7 Comments · Politics
When Cameron and Maude started going on about the big society the closest we could get to working out what they meant was that some functions of the public sector would be done by ordinary citizens and/or charities. We presumed it meant things like parents running the after-school club at the local primary. It turns […]
The inevitable Mark Hammond announcement
September 29th, 2010 · 7 Comments · Politics
According to the County Times the county council has announced that the chief executive is ‘formally leaving the post’. It goes on to say that the council say Mr. Hammond is leaving on ‘amicable terms’.  Everything about this is a bit vague - necessarily, since the council leader forbade any of the councillors from talking […]
A week is a long time in politics
March 5th, 2010 · 14 Comments · Politics
If a week is a long time in politics then several weeks is long enough for an almighty u-turn. Or is it called a flip-flop these days? David Cameron on Feb 8th: For years all parties have taken the same view that someone’s tax status is a matter between them and the Inland Revenue. That […]
Look who’s coming to dinner
February 6th, 2010 · 5 Comments · Politics
After the MP Expenses furore, the home-flipping and the multitude of jobs on the side and other outside interests, the new area to come under scrutiny is the hiring of Westminster facilities and whether they are sometimes hired for fundraising activities. I’m not sure this one has got legs, I can’t really see it grabbing […]
The real shock about Belle du Jour
November 15th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Life
The author of notorious prostitution blog Belle du Jour, has finally discarded the cloak of anonymity and revealed herself. I haven’t actually visited the blog, read the book (I am assuming there is one) or even seen the TV adaptation starring Billie Piper, but, like the X-Factor, it is one of things you can’t escape […]
Tags: Scandals
The Coulson Caper
July 9th, 2009 · Comments Off on The Coulson Caper · Politics
Whatever the rights and wrongs, and whatever really happened, I suspect the Tories will escape from all this. Unless… …it turns out that Joanna Lumley’s phone was tapped. In no time she would be button-holing the DPP and getting him to change his mind.
Tags: Newspapers·Scandals
Timing is everything
June 22nd, 2009 · Comments Off on Timing is everything · Politics
Spare a thought for a chap called Nicholas Allen. On March 31st he drafted a paper for the annual conference of the Political Studies Association in April this year. The paper was called British parliamentary misconduct in the early twenty-first century. That must have been like presenting a paper about famous shipwrecks in March 1912, […]
Tags: Scandals
MP expenses – the local perspective
May 11th, 2009 · 4 Comments · Politics
The Horsham local paper had an interesting approach to the whole business of MP expenses last week.  While the May 1st edition was full to bursting with letters criticising local MP, Francis Maude, the May 8th edition carried none and had this slightly strange editorial.
Tags: Greed·Horsham·Local Papers·Scandals
Frothing at the mouth
January 30th, 2009 · Comments Off on Frothing at the mouth · Life
The Daily Mail is frothing at its collective mouth over Jonathan Ross. When I saw this story I genuinely thought it was a very clever spoof because it really does feel like the sort of thing Chris Morris or The Onion would do. I double-checked and triple-checked all the URLs involved because I really couldn’t […]