It appears that I have to make an apology, because in my previous
entry I stated that I had not received a reply from James Purnell, Secretary of
State for Work and Pensions, and I suggested that this was because he was too
busy trying to fleece the British public for all that he could get. I was
wrong. It appears that he had already done that when he evaded paying the Capital Gains Tax when
he sold his London flat.
However, he is not alone, as there are at least two others to
partner him in his crime, Geoff Hoon, a man whom I met just before I went to Iraq as
he was Defence Secretary at the time, and Hazel Blears. Interestingly, whereas Gordon Brown appears to
be hanging Blears out to dry, it seems that he's backing both Purnell and Hoon.
But then the latter two haven't criticised Chairman Broon or laughed at his
YouTube appearance.
The other thing that I find completely unbelievable about this
whole thing is that these parasites have been robbing us for years. Now that
they have been found out, despite the fact that they did their utmost to cover
up their wrongdoing, and all of a sudden it’s a case of them all being very
sorry and don't worry, they'll pay it all back.
Actually, I do believe that they are sorry, but they are only
sorry that they have been caught out. Would they have changed their ways had
the Speaker and his cronies' attempts to block the Freedom of Information Act from
having any sway in Parliament succeeded? Of course not!
And as for the paying back the money that they have stolen, I
think that this could well set a very dangerous legal precedent. Whilst MPs
make the law, they are still subject to that law. If, by repaying the monies
that they have obtained either deceitfully or in many cases fraudulently, they
evade prosecution, then surely the precedent is set that anyone who commits a
crime and benefits financially from it merely has to pay back the monies
stolen, or return the items that were stolen, to avoid prosecution and jail.
Personally, I believe that all those that are found to have been
less than 100% honest in the expenses claims should be prosecuted and, if found
guilty, subject to a harsher penalty than their fellow criminals. After all,
they are the ones that make the law, so if you break it, you face a harsher
penalty.
However, will it ever get that far? Unlikely. No doubt Chairman
Broon and his Politburo will come up with some fiddle to ensure that all the
crims are given some sort of Parliamentary immunity.
The biggest problem that faces the British public at the moment is
that with so many corrupt MPs, there have been many calls for the Government to
stand down and a General Election held. But who would replace the current lot?
When all of these revelations first came about, there were several
'mainstream' MPs trying to scare the public that if they didn't accept the
situation and voted them out, then the 'extremists' would get into power.
Again, I think it unlikely. If you look at the current make up of
Parliament and recent by-election results, the only credible options seem to be
the British National
Party, the Green Party and the UK Independence Party. The BNP is not a credible option as it is just
too extreme (I would hope) for most voters, bearing in mind that this is the
party that recently claimed that L/Cpl Johnson
Beharry VC was only awarded
his Victoria Cross because of his colour!
As for the Greens and UKIP, I think that both of these parties
simply lack the credibility, which unfortunately, leaves the only option being
the three 'Snouts in the Trough' parties.
Perhaps some trust and confidence could be regained in these if
there was a definite move to deselect all those MPs whose actions are found to
be less than honourable prior to the next election. However, as it appears that
none of the three Party leaders come out of this squeaky clean, I doubt that
this will happen.
Going back to Purnell, it appears that the CSA obviously have insight
into just how inactive this moron is, as my problem still hasn't been resolved.
I did telephone last week but got through to another of the 'special' people
that they employ.
He informed me that he had no idea what was happening with my case
and that he had no idea who was dealing with it. There then followed a period
of him looking to find out who was dealing with my case before I heard him
laugh and announce to a colleague 'Oops, it’s me'. At this point I was put on
hold.
When this idiot came back onto the line, he informed me that it
was him that was dealing with my case and sounded surprised when I told him
that I knew as I'd heard every word and that this summed up the efficiency of
the CSA. Clearly not happy at this point he became quite verbally aggressive
and informed me that he didn't have to do anything for 15 days from receipt of
my complaint.
As 15 days was up I asked what he intended to do. However, CSA 15
days is not like normal people's 15 days, as they only count Monday to Friday
as days, so CSA 15 days is three weeks, not just over two. Clearly the
'special' people at the CSA need their own 'special' calendar. The upshot of
all this is that they will be doing nothing before next week.
I, on the other hand have been less idle. There is a programme on
the Beeb in the evening, and they recently investigated the fact that the CSA
are often pursuing men who are not the fathers of the babies that they are
being forced to pay for, and that they are often pursuing the fathers on the
say so of the mothers.
One of the things that the show was doing was asking fathers that
have had this experience to contact one of their researchers. Whilst I haven't
been falsely accused of fathering a child, I did take the opportunity to email
the researcher and suggest that they may want to investigate and highlight the
general incompetence of the CSA. Watch this space.
Mind you, my ex-wife actually spoke to me for the first time in
about three years, not through lawyers or via email, but on the telephone. Unfortunately,
the reason was that No.2 son, Drew, was admitted to the hospital where I work
and had his appendix out. Very bizarre, really, as there is almost exactly four
years difference between them, Alec's birthday being the 20th July and Drew's
the 21st. The bizarre thing is that it was almost four years to the day since
Alec had his appendix out.
It was also typical that he was admitted on the one day that week
that I wasn't at work, as I had taken time owing to do some TA stuff.
Fortunately, I was recceing an exercise area nearby so was able to detour into
the hospital on the way back, which surprised a few of the staff (I was in
uniform) and caused one Dr to greet me with the words 'What the f*ck are you
doing dressed like that!'
By the time I saw Drew, it had already been decided that he was
going to theatre that afternoon, so I was able to help him get changed and
settle down. The heat coming off him was incredible.
After a short visit I headed back to the Sqn and didn't see him
until later that evening, by which time he was appendix free and very sleepy,
although he did have enough strength to gesticulate at his brother, whom I'd
taken in with me.
To my surprise, he was discharged by lunchtime the following day,
less than 24hrs post-op, and seems to be doing fine.
The reason that I was doing the TA stuff is that last weekend I
did my first 'proper' field exercise with the Sqn since February last year. I
say 'proper' because we were visited by a Brigadier and the Regimental CO and
in the evening we left the training area, changed and went out for a meal at a
local Gastropub, before changing back and returning to the
exercise area.
Not only was this the first exercise I'd done in a while, it was one
that I'd organised, the emphasis being on primary health
care, which, from
experience, I know will be the majority of the work that the medics will have
if they deploy.
It was also the first of a series of five exercises, all
emphasising the primary care role, that I was to organise, but I have also been
appointed as the Second-in-Command (2ic) of the Sqn and, although I will be
running the next exercise in July, I will be handing the organisation of the
remaining three to one of the other Officers.
I was surprised at just how rusty I'd got with my enforced break,
from just the military point of view. It took me a while to pack my Bergen as I
was convinced that I'd forgotten things. It all came flooding back over the
weekend though, and I'd planned for everything to be done in slow time anyway.
Apart from the Gastropub meal on the Saturday evening, the
remainder of the weekend we ate rations, including some of the Halal rations,
which I thought were far better than the old rations (apart from the mushroom
omelette. I hate mushrooms!). There were even tubes of strawberry jam and
Vegemite in some of the packs!
The downside was that on Monday I had a bit of a 'gastric upset',
although, as it didn't hit until the evening, I suspect that it was a bug
rather than something that I'd eaten. What it did mean was that I only worked
for two days this week, as hospital policy is that if you have D&V, you
don't go back to work for 72 hours, even if you feel fine.
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