“I am not a crook” said disgraced Member of Parliament Derek Conway on the front page of yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph (repeating the phrase on page 12 of today’s Guardian).
“I am not a crook” said President Richard Milhouse Nixon during the Watergate crisis, thus telling one of the Big Lies of history (actually Nixon said: “I am NOT a crook”).
“I am not a crook” said one of the bank robbers in the cult film Point Break, posing for the security cameras and raising his arms in the classic Nixon salute (the gang wore rubber masks and called themselves the Ex-Presidents).
The row over nepotism in the House of Commons continues (and rightly so). The politicians, with their usual subtlety (stooping to conquer) are trying to deflect it into a lesser row confined to expenses. Seventy-four per cent of people in a recent poll said MPs must not employ relatives on public salaries.
An early lunch today, and I went into the Conference Room to watch Andrew Neil’s Daily Politics show while having my Marks & Spencer sandwiches. Sarah (Reception) and Ann (helps Sheila) were also in there, and were not happy at such heavy viewing, but I got to the remote control first. Alan (one of our directors, scruffy and shambling) also came in.
Andrew Neil and co-presenter Jenny Scott are merciless in the way they mock politicians. Andrew Neil in particular has developed an off-camera laugh he uses when absurd political quotes appear on screen. If Britain was a police state they would both have “disappeared” long ago.
Guest on the show was Chairman of the Arts Council Sir Christopher Frayling (“Oh look, it’s Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling” said Alan).
Sir Christopher Frayling talked about redesigning the coinage (“Why can’t they leave things alone instead of mucking about with everything” said Sarah).
A doctor appeared in an item about extended opening hours for GP’s surgeries (“I live in Harlow” wailed Ann, “I have to take half the day off work if I want to go to the doctor, and Sheila always gets shirty over it. They should make them open in the evenings”).
The Derek Conway case was discussed, and yet more revelations about MPs employing relatives came out (“Greedy bastards” said Alan, summing up the general opinion in the Conference Room).
The Daily Politics show came to an end. Sarah and Ann left the room. Alan began eating a pot of yogurt with his fingers (a revolting performance) and so I also left the room.
Politicians seem to be misjudging the public mood over the employment of relatives. In part I think some of the anger comes from general resentment about “the bosses son” (or partner or mother-in-law etc) getting favoured treatment when the rest of us have to make our own way in the world. Talking from experience, “Marketing” seems to get an unreasonable proportion of these freeloaders (they never seem to want to work in warehouse logistics or answer calls on a sales desk).
Sometimes they are harmless teenagers out of their depth, but often they are rude and arrogant and lazy (even after all this time I still get annoyed at the thought of Bobbie Timmermans and his cheeky remarks in that sing-song Dutch accent, and his ridiculous £500 cowboy boots, and the way he would tell me how to do my job…). It’s bad enough having to endure these people in our day-jobs, without having to pay for them through our taxes. Derek Conway deserves everything he gets.
And how did we get TWO Milliband brothers in the Cabinet? And how did the sister of the International Development Secretary end up a senior member of the Scottish parliament? And how can the 80-year-old mother of former minister Peter Hain remain on his administrative staff (she’s EIGHTY and still on the public pay-roll)?
More on Nixon not being a crook: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/articles/111873-1.htm
More on Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Arthur_Streeb-Greebling
More on Point Break (one of my favourite films): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4-Fso2EZq8
2 comments:
Nepotism must be very common in small private companies as well I would imagine.
But it is paid for by the owners own money Joanne. You can't complain if someone who own's the company employs his / her relatives. But politicians are using our money and acting as if they own the country (not just in this but in hundreds of ways). I hope that through electronic voting we will ALL eventually get to vote on acts of Parliament.
Post a Comment