Mary Martin the Speaker's wife is a thief
Last night on the BBC 1 10pm news, it was reported that the Parliamentary Commissioner of Standards is to investigate Michael Martin, the speaker of the House of Commons, over why his wife, Mary Martin, spent £4,280 of the taxpayers money on taxis to do her personal shopping.
The BBC reporter interviewed some bloke who said the whole thing was ridiculous and that Mary Martin should not have to queue up like everybody else to get on the number 62 bus, and that she should be treated with deference.
I walk to do my shopping. If I was to get a bus to visit the Tesco super store, half an hour's walk away from my house, the cost of the bus fare would negate any reductions on prices in the store.
It beggars belief that Mary Martin is allowed to spend over £80 per week of taxpayers money on taxi fares to do her personal shopping. She is a thief. I do not believe that such a woman should be treated with deference. Given that the government is taking a tough line on benefit fraud, and states that there are no ifs, no buts, then the same principle should be applied to MPs expenses claims.
The double standards here beggar belief. The taxi's, the house refurbishment, etc etc. even in the unlikely case that it is decided that this is all wrong, there will probably be nothing more than slapped wrists and an early pension.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile this poor sod http://prisonersvoice.blogspot.com/2008/03/detective-jailed-over-card-fraud.html
gets sent down for what amounts to fiddling expenses and falsely getting a subsidy and a little fiddle to get out of paying for some old lady's care home expenses.
If this kind of behaviour is really such a "truly repulsive offence", as the judge described it, it is a wonder that most of parliament haven't been sent to the gallows.
richard: What annoyed me, besides the double standards, was the comment that the investigation is ridiculous and that Mary Martin should be treated with deference. It makes my blood boil!
ReplyDeleteWell said.
ReplyDeleteJust when did Labour become the party of deference?
Most amusing, a creature who beats an old lady to death feels moraly superiour to a person who fiddles a few quid.
ReplyDeletethe beast of clerkenwell: Yeah, funny old world isn't it. It's a shame your absence isn't as a result of your death. Your spelling is just as bad. Try Rosemary's Baby, for example, and morally. I would hardly call the amount that the Martins have stolen "a few quid". That's what I would spend on a taxi fare. Now that I have been judged, who better than to judge others who have sinned and have not yet been punished?
ReplyDeleteI may be splitting hairs here, but, given the sort of quantities generally awarded in compensation for death when civil responsibility is proven. I would say that the refurbishment of the Martin's residence alone represents far more than the value generally placed on a human life by the courts and, therefore, by society which the courts supposedly represent. Maybe, following the rather strange logic above, then, Parliament has no right to speak judgementally on matters of murder... Hmmm
ReplyDeleteInvalid comparison? Maybe. Point is, anyone has the right to speak out about an obvious wrong. The immoral stance would be to keep quiet and let those in power screw over the rest of society undisturbed.
Also, what on earth has anyone's distant past got to do with what they can speak out about? It's a bit like saying that someone who once smacked their child has no right to voice an opinion against child abuse.
Regarding the deference bit, John, I quite agree. It annoyed the hell out of me too but, I'd be intrigued to know who said it. Some right wing, monied soul who is probably also on the fiddle and wants to protect his interests and the privileges of his class to do as they like, or some poor deluded soul who thinks it natural that their betters' right to live immorally well at the expense of the the man in street should be respected.
ReplyDeleteWhat is certain is that no thinking person could have come out with such diatribe. Probably someone like the Breast of Clerkenwell, but with a name like that one might expect him to behave like a bit of a tit at times.
And to think how we all used to pray that one day the socialists would return to govern the land. Ouch, my sides just split.