Another dickhead.

David Aaronovitch in The Times talks out of his arse.

...hysteria rules. They claim for the bath plug, and in the act of seeking recompense for such a small and essential item they show their incredible greed. They claim for a new kitchen, and in the act of claiming for such a large item they show their unbelievable greed. They earn money from other sources? They are part-time politicians, skimping on their role as representatives of the people! They earn money only from politics? They are professional politicians, cut off from the reality of proper jobs such as stockbroking (whoops, one of last year's examples got in there by mistake) [oh tee-hee you hilarious prick - Angry Exile] and nursing.

They want a second home because their jobs are in two places? Tough! Who doesn't want a second home! Let them stay in a barracks! Or let them pay every penny themselves. Let them not profit if they sell, but take the full loss if prices drop.

Read this exchange, and tell me who is the moral exemplar. Margaret Moran, the MP for Luton South, on TV on her disgraceful claim for a second-home allowance on a flat in Southampton. MM: “My partner works in Southampton. He has done for 20 years. If I'm ever going to see my partner of 30 years, I can't make him come to Luton all the time, I have to be able to have a proper family life sometimes, which I can't do unless I share the costs of the Southampton home with him.”

A viewer texts in: “ARE THESE PEOPLE INSANE - DO THEY REALISE HOW THEY SOUND!! I'm so angry. I've been a single mum, working, holding down a job, paying my mortgage, my council tax and I don't have the luxury of asking the taxpayer to help me keep my family together.”

I am afraid it is the viewer who does not realise how she sounds. First there's the obvious point that the taxpayer probably has helped her to keep her family together. And quite right too, but there's no glimmer of empathy. Second, there is the almost punitive desire that MPs should actually have it bad. Not healthy, Sigmund, not healthy at all.

Myself, I fail as an expenses chiseller. Temperamentally I am the opposite, but I have worked in enough organisations to know that for every under-claimer there are five assiduous form-fillers and one ingenious expenses-artist. We all know it, don't we? Why do you think cab drivers offer you a handful of blank receipts?

HOW MANY FUCKING TIMES? There's a huge fucking difference between diddling your employer at the risk of getting fired and diddling your employer to whose head you're holding a fucking gun in order to extract your salary as well as perks, benefits, pension and, of course, the fucking expenses that you're fiddling. And defending fucking Moran of all people, someone who sees nothing wrong in using the second home allowance to tart up a house that's nowhere fucking near either Westminster or her constituency, is just ludicrous.

WHY THE FUCK IS IT SO HARD FOR POLITICIANS AND THEIR TAME CUNTWAFTING JOURNO SYCOPHANTS TO UNDERSTAND THIS?


UPDATE: JuliaM has left a comment after a comment left on her own blog about David Aaronovitch's article. There was a bit of lying rewording editing of the words of the single mum who sent in a text to the Beeb. Seems like there's an almost suppliant desire that MPs should be seen as the wronged party. Not healthy, shit-for-brains, not healthy at all.