Instead of anonymously asking MPs what they think they should be paid, I'm quite willing to state publicly what I believe they are worth - the minimum national wage.
But do they honestly believe they are that underpaid?
I would love to enjoy the salary, expenses, pension and other perks that they get presently, let alone expect it to be increased by almost a third; especially when there are so many unemployed or, working part time because that's all that is available.
Perhaps we should introduce some "market forces" into our general elections with each candidate tell his or her potential constituents what salary package they would be willing to be elected to.
So we might see applicants not only competing on party lines but also on cost to the electorate.
Also if they are going to get an increase at this sort of level I think we should definitely have the right of recall as well.
What the hell is going on with our counter terrorist police officers?
First we had my old mucker Andy Hayman having to resign under a cloud which also included the NoW phone hacking affair.
Now we have April Casburn, another Met counter terrorist officer, actually facing time inside. Once again the NoW phone hacking scandal features prominently as the cause of her downfall.
Was the NoW the public face of SPECTRE and they have successfully "fitted up" two of our leading counter terrorist experts?
Or was it a case of two incompetents getting over promoted at the Met?
Answers on the back of a plain wrapper fag packet to the usual dead letter box.
Well the sub prime mortgage fiasco and the robo-signing scandal have certainly made a mess of the American dream of owning one's own home.
Now for some it's turning into a nightmare as they are stalked by the homes they thought they had lost to the banks.
Instead it would appear that in some cases the banks couldn't be bothered to fully carry out the foreclosure proceedings, maybe because it wasn't worth the costs or, because it looked better for their books by selling the mortgage off and claiming off the insurance.
So they too just abandoned the properties.
These zombie houses are now coming back to haunt the owners whose names are still on the deeds/title as debt collection agencies and local governments pursue them. In some cases with the threat of probation or jail!
Hopefully it's something we wouldn't see over this side of the Pond, but I wondered how many home owners/mortgage payers heaved another sigh of relief at the BoE's decision not to increase interest rates.
Interesting piece over on Der Spiegel suggests that it wasn't plague, nor the ending of the Medieval Warm Period that led to Greenland being abandoned by the Vikings.
It was just homesickness!
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