Question Time

[Menelaus]

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/question-time-audience-marc

QUESTION TIME AUDIENCE MARCHES ON LONDON

THE audience from BBC1's Question Time was marching on London last night, carrying the head of housing minister Margaret Beckett on a pike, like some kind of ghoulish mascot.


Question Time was first broadcast in September 1979Amid growing signs that things might be about to kick off, the audience spilled out of the Grimsby Institute at 11.20pm and immediately headed for Market Rasen via the A46.

They then carried on for about 15 miles before taking the Lincoln bypass and finally joining up with the A1 just south of Newark.

Earlier they had stormed the stage, grabbing presenter David Dimbleby and locking him in the ladies' toilet before beheading Mrs Beckett and firing senior Tory MP Teresa May through a stained glass window using a makeshift catapult.

Their fellow panellist, the former Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell, has been stripped naked and is being transported to London in a tiny cage made from bamboo.

As of 8am this morning the Question Time audience had stopped at a service station near Biggleswade for refreshments, a toilet break and a chance to wipe some of the gunk from Mrs Beckett's head.

The audience is being led by Grimsby loud-mouth Roy Hobbs, mainly because it's his pike.

Mr Hobbs said: "I went to the trouble of bringing a pike to Question Time so I think it's only fair. And obviously when we get to London they are going to want to talk to whoever is carrying the severed head."

[The Lone Gunman]

"I would also lose the 2 year rule bit. In that particular case I think the MPs have a point."

I don't - I'm happy enough with the 2 years regarding a single client, but it is location based. Effectively it prevents me from taking another role with a different client if they happen to be based in the same geographical location as the last one. This is a problem if that geographical location happens to be London. It means that I can do 2 years in London claiming expenses, but if I want to continue claiming them, I have to get another in a different location for 6 months to reset the clock.

"I wrote to mine and also made the point that I could not claim costs on a property which I own (even partialy) and that I was laible for tax on BIKs if I used any of my expensed items for personal use so could not have the family over for weekends at my flat. The size of the flat was also questioned, but I can make allowances for MPs on these points due to the nature of their job."

Why? What is so special about their job which means that they can have an expensed property for personal use?

I am not happy about the 2 year rule for me, but can see why it should not apply to an MP.
The job of an MP necessarily means they have to work both in parliament and in their constituency. It is not a 9-5 5 days a week job either.
Their period of office runs well beyond 2 years so if they were subject to that rule they could claim no expenses at all and that in my opinion would be wrong.
I said I could make allowances, not that I would give carte blanche. MPs often have to spend extended time at either their constituency or Westminster. I believe it is fair to allow them remain at their flat and have the family over instead of doing a weekend commute when this is the case. I also see no reason why their friends and family should not visit them and thus they shoudl be allowed a big enough place for the odd visit.

I would like the same rules for me mind. I have not been able to get home for weekends on my current gig and would love to be able to expense visits for my missus.

[Central-Scrutiniser]

Crises : The British Political Class have been discredited - Parliament has no crediblity - 'democracy' is a sham

Solution : Put your trust in the New World Order

[Churchill]

Crises : The British Political Class have been discredited - Parliament has no crediblity - 'democracy' is a sham

Solution : Put your trust in the New World Order

Britain is not a democracy.

Hth.

[Menelaus]

Revolution?

Who's up for it?

We'll all wear V masks (as from V for Vendetta) and march on the Houses of Parliament.

[expat]

What is so special about their job which means that they can have an expensed property for personal use?

What is the situation for one of us if we actually have to work regularly in 2 different locations for 1 single job? That is, I think, the reasoning behind MPs being allowed to buy and furnish 2 homes, as against just claiming subsistence expenses.

(I am ignoring the aspect that we think that our contracting as a whole is 1 single job, whereas the authorities seem to take it that a succession of contracts is a succession of independent jobs)

[expat]

Crises : The British Political Class have been discredited - Parliament has no crediblity - 'democracy' is a sham

Solution : Put your trust in the New World Order

Jesus, I wish I thought that was funny

The history of countries that lost all faith in their politicians is not encouraging. As a guy on the BBC said, is this the week we became the Weimar Republic?

[Pinto]

I'm going to ask my MP how he can justify the 2nd home expenses

I'm about to send him...

With all of the furor surrounding MP’s expenses I’d like to know how MP’s can seriously justify the second home allowance and costs which get charged back to the public purse. I work through a limited company and like a MP I too have had to spend considerable amounts of time working away from home. Between 2000 and 2004 I worked in London, commuting down on a weekly basis. Unlike a MP there were strict rules, enforced by the Inland Revenue as to what I could and could not charge back to my company by way of expenses. I would have loved to have bought a flat and furnish it with all of the nice things I have at home but there is no way on this earth that I would be allowed to do so at my companies expenses. All items my company expenses for me have to be wholly and exclusively attributable to my business. A new TV or sofa for my 2nd home would not be seen as allowable. Why then are MP’s a special case? Why is it that I as a tax payer have very strict rules as to what my company can provide for me while working away from home while a MP seems to be able to replicate all their belongings at the taxpayers expense? Also it is interesting to note that after 2 years of working away from home all my expenses had to stop because the Inland Revenue rules dictate that if you are working in a single location for longer than 2 years then this becomes your primary place of work .

________________________________________

Feel free to add anything I have missed

Nice one! If we're helping with errors, here are a few I've spotted:

MPs
company's expense
taxpayers'

[wurzel]

I don't - I'm happy enough with the 2 years regarding a single client, but it is location based.

Is it? I thought it was client based. If that's the case, I may have fallen foul of the rules over the last few years.

How do they define same location? To remain within the rules, does your next client have to be x no. of miles away from your previous one in order to get a clean slate with respect to the 2 year rule?

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Who's up for it?

We'll all wear V masks (as from V for Vendetta) and march on the Houses of Parliament.

IIRC from Devil's Kitchen, this has been done already