Am I the only one...

...to be growing heartily sick of the current guilt fest being inflicted by the general public on our legislators?

If there were questions to be raised over expenses claimed in ANY job, what I would expect first and foremost would be an uncomfortable half hour with my boss. I would be required to explain. I might be asked to repay.

Only in the most neolithic of companies would I automatically expect to find myself sacked or subject to criminal investigation. People make mistakes.

Getting the benefit of the doubt once is a pretty good rule of thumb. Twice is pushing it. Three times feels like too many.

Are our companies really so draconian? Would people really like them to be so draconian? One mistake and you're out, no references and a criminal record to boot?

I very much doubt it.

Maybe it is time the general public thought a bit more before it opened its collective mouth in holier-than-thou criticism.

MP's looking silly

Perish the thought!

No sooner do I wonder aloud about what you might read if Hansard were a precise record of what was said in Parliament, then I am reminded that Lib Dem MP Jo Swinson is trying to overturn a ban on the wider availability of parliamentary material.

In an early day motion on 2 April, Ms Swinson noted "that there is currently a ban on the posting of parliamentary video clips on websites described by the relevant authorities as `third party hosting websites'". That's Youtube, in case you hadn't guessed.

Her fond hope is that by allowing wider dissemination of such material, there would be greater public involvement in the political process.

Of course, some MP's argue that the end result of such a policy could be episodes like this:



But mostly, the argument seems to boil down to the simple self-interest one. The public right to view should be restricted in case MP's decide to make utter tits of themselves.

"Hear! Hear!"

Cunning Stunts?

Another small item for the "internet accuracy" bin.

Following my observation that even Hansard self-censors when the language turns blue, my brother sends over a reminder of a funny story from New Zealand.

To quote directly:

"A National MP was attacking Labour (which as well as a female PM has lots of other women on the front bench). What he meant to say was “the country will not be taken in by your party’s cunning stunts…I sure you can figure out he actually said to a shocked house!

"The Speaker ruled that Hansard should reflect what the MP intended to say."

Vouching for its veracity, he adds that it was on all news media and he spoke to a couple of cabinet members who were present at the time. (Yes: little bro has also had his turn at political activism, standing, once upon a time, as a Labour candidate for the New Zealand parliament).

Well. I do remember finding links to this before. But buggered if I can now.

Perhaps I am just no good at googling.

Or maybe the internet is slowly eating itself.

Do, please, forward a link if you can find one.