Ed₃

If I need state the obvious, we are in the middle of a recession. A global recession, arguably worsened by local factors is having an increasingly detrimental effect people’s lives in the UK and Ireland. Gordon Brown puts his hands up and says “This is a global issue, not boom and bust” and expects the public to swallow it. Of course there are global factors involved, however the UK’s archaic Nu-Lab approach of tax and spend has certainly made things worse. Two strong trends Labour have set since 1997, increased taxation and increased government interference in the private life of the individual.

One would think that in light of such an observation, the powers that be would shy away from lavish displays of pomp and excess while others struggle to pay the bills. Unperturbed however, the world’s leaders spend your heavily taxed hard-earned on a champagne and caviar fuelled jolly where little of merit will be accomplished.

What politicians have forgotten is that they are public servants, paid by the public and as such they have a certain amount of responsibility to the tax payer (even if there is a lack of accountability, or transparency).

It does spark intrigue to wonder just what some of our MPs are listing on their expenses while the rest of the country does without. It would seem the recession applies only to those who make value and drive business, not the parasites who leech off their efforts.