Different Worlds!

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The scandal of Parliamentary expenses rumbles on and one wonders when it will ever cease.

Now three peers are in trouble for overclaiming their expenses, will have to apologise for their errors, repay the monies owed and be suspended for lengthy terms. One has agreed to pay back £125,000, another £40,000 and the other £27,000.

We are told that the three were investigated by police who have decided not to prosecute.

One wonders why?
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Keep The Old Lot!

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There’s an interesting little diversion this morning from all the usual woes.

In an interview, the Duke of Devonshire stated that he believes the aristocracy is dead. ‘Coffin’s nailed down, it’s in the ground!’ he says, and threatens to give up his title if hereditary peers are removed from the House of Lords.

But life peer Lord Tebbit has the answer. ‘I take the view that the House of Lords is operating quite well and that we should make the present life peers into hereditary peers.’

Hmm. As a personal view, I think I would prefer to maintain the old hereditary peers!
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Reason Enough?

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The first Speaker of the House of Commons to be removed in modern times, Michael Martin, has taken up his seat in the House of Lords as Lord Martin of Springburn.

If that isn’t a reason enough to remove all peers and replace them with a totally elected upper house, I don’t know what else is!
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Jobs For The Boys

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So ‘Mandy’ Mandelson has returned from his holidays and will take over the government as Acting Deputy Prime Minister for a while.

Not bad for a chap that has been fired from government a couple of times and isn’t even an elected MP!
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Rushed And Piecemeal

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The Commons Justice Committee has said that the prime minister’s attempts to reform the constitution are being rushed through in a piecemeal way. They also said that elevating people to the Lords to serve as ministers may be damaging. The Committee recommended that major reforms, such as a written constitution or reform of the voting system, should be referred to a constitutional convention and be subject to a referendum.

This, remember, is a committee of MPs saying these things.

The public have been saying these things for some time, so the committee for once is in tune with public opinion. Including the criticism that a legally-binding code of conduct for MPs was dropped from the Parliamentary Standards Bill which received the Royal Assent last week.

Reform is certainly needed, but this government seems least likely to do it properly!
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Smile, You’re On Camera!

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Fifteen years ago I drove into Pasadena in California and, on approaching the city limits, was amused to see a huge sign which announced, ‘SMILE, YOU’RE ON CAMERA!’.

It was an effective reminder not to speed, but also a sign that CCTV even then was becoming more and more common. Of course, since then we’ve learned to live with the cameras and for the most part ignore them; they’ve just become part of our way of life.

I read recently that the average UK citizen is caught on CCTV cameras 300 times a day. Wow! So it came as no surprise that yesterday the august body of the House of Lords published a report that says the expansion of what they term the ‘surveillance society’ undermines our fundamental freedoms including our right to privacy.

One might argue that, unless one is doing something wrong and therefore drawing attention of these cameras to oneself, no harm is being done. That certainly is a valid view.

On the other hand, the BBC estimates that there are now over 3 million of these cameras watching our every move and that is a bit unsettling. Especially when we learn that the Shetland Islands have more CCTV cameras than the San Francisco Police Department! Or that the London Borough of Wandsworth has more of them than Dublin, Johannesburg, San Francisco and Boston combined!

Smile, we are definitely on camera and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it!
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