Categories: uncategorized
Date: 19 June 2009 22:59:36
I live in the West Ham constituency. Which is in London, and is, in fact, blessed with a Tube station. Several of them, which is jolly handy in case of signal failure and fire and flood and wasps* and stuff. And, according to those lovely people at Transport for London, from West Ham Tube station to Westminster is all of twenty two minutes.
Minutes, not hours or days.
And you don't even have to change lines.
So why, I ask, in the tones of pained dismay I seem to be adopting so often these days, has my MP seen fit to claim fifteen thousand, eight hundred and eighty nine pounds in Second Home Allowance in 2007-2008? And food. Why in the name of all that's Holy are you claiming for food? Everyone else has to pay for food out of their salary, why are you somehow exempt from this?
I can't help but think that even at Transport for London's "let's gouge the commuters for all they're worth and then go on strike and make the buggers walk anyway," prices, an annual season ticket and the odd black cab after late night sittings would have been cheaper.
She'll probably come back with some utter tripe about "West Ham is classed as an outer London constituency, so the rules say I can." To which my response will be a brisk "just because you can, doesn't mean you should." Especially when you are paid approximately three times as much (plus expenses) as your average constituent.
Believe me, if the second party round here wasn't Gorgeous George's trainwreck, I'd be voting for them in heartbeat.
Thou shalt not grind down the widow and the orphan, or oppress the worker, Lyn, it's a sin that cries to Heaven for vengeance.
*I once got to my local tube station only to be told that it was closed due to wasps. Makes a change, I suppose.