When I was a wee lad we used to have biscuits for elevenses (that’s sort of vaguely mid-morning, hence the name) and teatime, which was typically about 4 o’clock. At some point in my burgeoning adulthood, biscuits became cookies because that’s what Americans called them; makes sense. Then the internet overtook our lives. Now it’s impossible to go onto any website without an irritating and invasive pop-up telling you that the site operates with cookies because these enable it to track your heart’s desires, conduct market research, help advertisers know how their ads are doing and sometimes even tell the truth that in fact they are mining all sorts of data that can be used to “help” you in future; or perhaps even be used in a more sinister fashion. I find myself increasingly alienated by cookies, which is a shame because nowadays practically every site you try, from NHS to RHS, from Tesco to Unesco and The Times to “who was…?” is infected with the Cookie virus. Almost invariably I now decline their kind offer and give up, which can’t be what the website owners really want, surely?
Talking of the Thunderer, I wonder if you spotted an inside page story a few days ago about MPs’ expenses? This was not another “Duck house” scandal but the revelation that in addition to their regular Office Budget of £26,000 per annum, MPs are to get an extra £10,000 for working from home, to cover the purchase of equipment such as laptops (really? they don’t have laptops….) printers, additional electricity, heating and phone bills. I wonder if everyone else who’s working from home is getting similar allowances?! They won’t be claiming travel costs, presumably?
The unambiguously named Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), which was established after the last expenses scandal to stop MPs cheating the public, has not only condoned this largesse but seems to be encouraging it. All this comes after a recent £20 million increase in MPs staffing budgets. Last year, a Sunday Times investigation revealed that MPs claimed 22 per cent more in expenses than they did in 2009, when IPSA was established. Does that all sound rather cosy? Apparently in 2017-2918, the total claimed by MPs rose to a record £116 million. That’s not a typo; £116 million, at an AVERAGE of £178,461.54p per Member. Are we getting value for money I can hear nurses, dustmen, and schoolteachers shouting all around the country. At least they would if any half decent journalist spelt it out for them. This, remember, is on top of the basic MPs salary of £81,932.
There was one slightly confusing sentence in The Times article; “the extra money will be available until March”. The article appeared in the April 9th edition. Do they mean next March? That would be generosity beyond even Jeremy Corbyn’s imaginings.
Now, where did I put that custard cream cookie……
ADayInTheStrifeOf 