Something that may be of interest to some of my older readers (or the parents and grandparents of my younger readers). Until December 11th return train tickets from any station on the network are available for just £15 on Arriva Trains Wales to those over 55 years old.
I know this because some witch with a capita B offered me the deal for a journey to Cardiff from Llandudno on the day of my 51st birthday!
The ticket for younger people costs £54 - if I was too poor to be proud I could have gone to the capital and returned for just £15! I refused the offer!
Have I gained a conscience since that time long ago, when I use to take a bus to Barmouth as a 17 year old teenager and insisted to the driver that I was under 16 in order to get a child's fair, before insisting to the landlord of the Last Inn that I was over 18 in order to get a pint?
Am I just a proud old fool for refusing the offer of a cheaper ticket because the ticket seller thought that I look older than I am?
No!
The cost of my train ticket for this journey will be paid by through Crown expenses, so I don't give a fiddler's how much it costs!
But there may be a shopping trip to Cardiff by a young man unlucky enough to look over 55 y.o. before December 11th!
Showing posts with label Expenses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Expenses. Show all posts
25/09/2010
02/07/2009
The Tax Payers Alliance
Whenever there is a news story about public expenditure one can almost guarantee that the report will contain a comment by a spokesperson from the Tax Payers Alliance, as has been seen today in reports about AMs using expenses to rent office space from their own parties.
The impression given is that the Tax Payers Alliance is a grass roots organization who's objective is to speak up for the ordinary men and women who pay the taxes that government spends. This is a very false impression.
The TPA is, in fact, an ultra right wing organization founded by loyal Thatcherites for the purpose of promoting the most discredited and unacceptable aspects of Thatcherite economic policy.
Whatever the rights or wrongs of the way that Assembly Members rent offices one has to remember that in commenting on the story the TPA is doing so from a political position of being ideologically opposed to the existence of the Assembly. Their comments should be seen in that context and the journalists using their comments should make that context clear.
The impression given is that the Tax Payers Alliance is a grass roots organization who's objective is to speak up for the ordinary men and women who pay the taxes that government spends. This is a very false impression.
The TPA is, in fact, an ultra right wing organization founded by loyal Thatcherites for the purpose of promoting the most discredited and unacceptable aspects of Thatcherite economic policy.
Whatever the rights or wrongs of the way that Assembly Members rent offices one has to remember that in commenting on the story the TPA is doing so from a political position of being ideologically opposed to the existence of the Assembly. Their comments should be seen in that context and the journalists using their comments should make that context clear.
19/06/2009
The Mother of All Wigs
Valley's Mam, Glyn and the Three Dewis have been wondering what Lembit's mother of all wigs looks like. Happy to oblige:
Also available in black, red and blond.
NOTE:
The wig illustrated above costs £18.69, the tax payer paid £19.99 for Lembit's wig. The Welsh MP's wig was more expensive because of barnet formula consequentials.
Also available in black, red and blond.
NOTE:
The wig illustrated above costs £18.69, the tax payer paid £19.99 for Lembit's wig. The Welsh MP's wig was more expensive because of barnet formula consequentials.
Whiskey Galore?
I am disgusted by the most recent Welsh MP's expenses scandal.
If I was in a job where I could get away with putting a crate of whiskey on expenses I would go for it at least once a month.
Huw Irranca Davies has been an MP for 7 years, and in that time he has managed to claim for just one measly crate! - Pathetic!
Bloody armature Welsh Labour MPs - can't even milk the expenses properly.
If I was in a job where I could get away with putting a crate of whiskey on expenses I would go for it at least once a month.
Huw Irranca Davies has been an MP for 7 years, and in that time he has managed to claim for just one measly crate! - Pathetic!
Bloody armature Welsh Labour MPs - can't even milk the expenses properly.
23/05/2009
It must be Lembit.....!
Cash in the Attic is a UK television show on the BBC. In the show, the presenter visits a family's house to find out what they need to raise money for. They then explore the house and its surroundings, finding antiques and valuing them, with the help of experts.
The finds are taken to auction in order to raise money.
Given that the good people of these islands seem to be totally pissed off at the moment with MP's filling their houses with unneeded valuables at the taxpayers expense, one would think that this is the last programme on earth that any MP would wish to appear on, given the present climate.
Not So according to Glyn's blog!
Cymraeg
The finds are taken to auction in order to raise money.
Given that the good people of these islands seem to be totally pissed off at the moment with MP's filling their houses with unneeded valuables at the taxpayers expense, one would think that this is the last programme on earth that any MP would wish to appear on, given the present climate.
Not So according to Glyn's blog!
Cymraeg
22/05/2009
MP's hold PM to account shock horror
The front page of today's Daily Post is a further example of the expenses scandal getting out of hand. Wanting to get their bit of the action the Daily Post has "exclusively" discovered that the three Plaid MPs used some of their incidental expenses allowance to pay for legal advice regarding the Iraq war.
The Daily Post seems to think that this is wrong, because it means that "Labour supporters forked out" to fund a campaign to oust the Prime Minister. Rather a pathetic claim to make. As all tax payers pay towards all MP's costs, Plaid supporters will pay a damned site more per head to Labour Tory and Lib Dem MP's than than any taxpayer pays for the cost of Plaid MPs. And all of the MP's expenses put together will be chickenfeed in comparison to the billions that opponents of the illegal war have had to fork out to finance the military campaign.
What ever one's opinion of Plaid Cymru, Tony Blair or the war in Iraq, it should be clear to any unbiased observer that getting legal advice about the activities of the government of the day is a legitimate way for oppositions politicians to hold the government to account.
This is a non story and is more of an embarrassment to the Daily Post for reporting it than it is for the three MP's concerned.
The Daily Post seems to think that this is wrong, because it means that "Labour supporters forked out" to fund a campaign to oust the Prime Minister. Rather a pathetic claim to make. As all tax payers pay towards all MP's costs, Plaid supporters will pay a damned site more per head to Labour Tory and Lib Dem MP's than than any taxpayer pays for the cost of Plaid MPs. And all of the MP's expenses put together will be chickenfeed in comparison to the billions that opponents of the illegal war have had to fork out to finance the military campaign.
What ever one's opinion of Plaid Cymru, Tony Blair or the war in Iraq, it should be clear to any unbiased observer that getting legal advice about the activities of the government of the day is a legitimate way for oppositions politicians to hold the government to account.
This is a non story and is more of an embarrassment to the Daily Post for reporting it than it is for the three MP's concerned.
11/05/2009
Meibion y Teligraff
There was a time, apparently, when Welsh Nationalists burned down second homes. On Palm Sunday 1980 I, amongst others, was arrested for being one of the perpetrators!
At the time the Daily Telegraph hated our guts, and couldn't see that there was a human rights issue in the fact that a person could be arrested just for being a Welsh Nationalist - we were all guilty by association. Burning down Second homes was a crime against humanity.
How things have changed. The Telegraph's campaign against MP's second homes is much more vociferous and damaging than anything Meibion Glyndwr ever achived!
I can understand the public anger at some of the excesses of MP's expenses but Meibion y Teligraff have gone overboard in their anti second homes campaign!
Whilst I live in the United Kingdom, I WANT somebody for my patch to represent me in Westminster. She or He can't commute to London on a daily basis, so it is only fair that she / he has a London home paid for through the cost of democracy.
Meibion y Teligraff trying to burn down my MP's Second home is an affront to democratic representation for my little part of this Kingdom!
A Much worse crime than my non existant role in Meibion Glyndwr ever was!
So why haven't they been arrested?
At the time the Daily Telegraph hated our guts, and couldn't see that there was a human rights issue in the fact that a person could be arrested just for being a Welsh Nationalist - we were all guilty by association. Burning down Second homes was a crime against humanity.
How things have changed. The Telegraph's campaign against MP's second homes is much more vociferous and damaging than anything Meibion Glyndwr ever achived!
I can understand the public anger at some of the excesses of MP's expenses but Meibion y Teligraff have gone overboard in their anti second homes campaign!
Whilst I live in the United Kingdom, I WANT somebody for my patch to represent me in Westminster. She or He can't commute to London on a daily basis, so it is only fair that she / he has a London home paid for through the cost of democracy.
Meibion y Teligraff trying to burn down my MP's Second home is an affront to democratic representation for my little part of this Kingdom!
A Much worse crime than my non existant role in Meibion Glyndwr ever was!
So why haven't they been arrested?
23/04/2009
NI Conundrum
I have never quite understood the politics of the north of Ireland.
I am an unashamed Protestant in my religious beliefs. I can understand the "Home Rule is Rome Rule" worries of Unionists. There is no way that I could live in the Irish Republic where all democratic decisions appear to be subject to the Pope's veto.
On the other hand I am also a (Welsh) nationalist and I have 100% sympathy with Irish nationalists who campaign for Irish Independence in the same way that I campaign for Welsh Independence.
As a protestant nationalist I don't know who the good guys are in NI politics, so I tend to ignore the thorny subject.
However there is one issue that has been raised on the Pint of Unionist Lite blog that has left me gobsmacked.
I had always respected the integrity of Sinn Fein MP's for refusing to take their seats in the British parliament. It is not a position that I agree with, but one which I can respect.
But I am told in the comments section of the Pint that despite the fact that SF MP's don't attend Westminster, they still claim the London home allowance!
You can call me stupid, but I don't understand the principal of refusing to sit in a British Parliament, whilst taking money for sleeping in a British parliamentary expenses bed!
To add to the fun, in her review of the way that parliamentary expenses are paid, Harriet Harman is considering having different rules for Northern Irish MP who don't attend the House of Commons!
Whilst the MPs for Land's End and John o'Groats will have to justify expenses for living in London, and will lose out if their far flung constituency duties mean that their actual attendances in London are limited, SF MP's will get a non attendance allowance.
Despite the sympathy I have with the Irish national cause I have to say that this is wrong, very wrong!
I am an unashamed Protestant in my religious beliefs. I can understand the "Home Rule is Rome Rule" worries of Unionists. There is no way that I could live in the Irish Republic where all democratic decisions appear to be subject to the Pope's veto.
On the other hand I am also a (Welsh) nationalist and I have 100% sympathy with Irish nationalists who campaign for Irish Independence in the same way that I campaign for Welsh Independence.
As a protestant nationalist I don't know who the good guys are in NI politics, so I tend to ignore the thorny subject.
However there is one issue that has been raised on the Pint of Unionist Lite blog that has left me gobsmacked.
I had always respected the integrity of Sinn Fein MP's for refusing to take their seats in the British parliament. It is not a position that I agree with, but one which I can respect.
But I am told in the comments section of the Pint that despite the fact that SF MP's don't attend Westminster, they still claim the London home allowance!
You can call me stupid, but I don't understand the principal of refusing to sit in a British Parliament, whilst taking money for sleeping in a British parliamentary expenses bed!
To add to the fun, in her review of the way that parliamentary expenses are paid, Harriet Harman is considering having different rules for Northern Irish MP who don't attend the House of Commons!
Whilst the MPs for Land's End and John o'Groats will have to justify expenses for living in London, and will lose out if their far flung constituency duties mean that their actual attendances in London are limited, SF MP's will get a non attendance allowance.
Despite the sympathy I have with the Irish national cause I have to say that this is wrong, very wrong!
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