[identity profile] atreic.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 01:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Actually, my money genuinely is on incompitence.

"MPs have for years refused to disclose details of their expenses, which average £136,000" ... "[Blair’s] claims for £43,029 of public money covering a three-year period." Which make it look like he's only getting a tenth as much as the typical politician (I think this is muddied because the 43K is only housing allowance, which is capped at 23K, but still, it does mean he's not using a third of it)

So if the expenses come out, we get "Blair spends about as much on his house as all the other politicians", and if they don't we get "What has Evil Blair got to hide?" I would have thought the former was far preferable to the latter from Blair's POV. And even the most crazed daily mail reader will probably conceed it's expensive maintaining a house that has to be safe from trrrrists.
ext_8103: (Default)

[identity profile] ewx.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 01:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Er, we already have how much Blair spent; you just quoted the number. What is lost or hidden is the details of what he spent it on.

[identity profile] atreic.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 01:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, but I can't imagine it's actually worse than the over-active public imagination. I mean, OK, if he's bought a 1K washing machine people are going to tut a lot and say it's a waste of money (which it is) but I can't imagine he's really been stocking his house full of phillapeno sex slaves at the public's expense!

[identity profile] cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 02:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Is the spelling of "phillapeno" a conscious pun, or an unconscious pun? :)
ext_8103: (Default)

[identity profile] ewx.livejournal.com 2008-05-20 05:55 pm (UTC)(link)
They think it's worth keeping secret for some reason.

[identity profile] cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 02:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh no! Maybe they're over the top, but it must really suck for him if he has to give it back now. <-- That really was my first thought, but now it's irony.

Also, wtf? Do they not have, like, copies? That sounds suspicious (although I suppose if they have lots of things to shred, it's plausible).

[identity profile] aardvark179.livejournal.com 2008-05-19 02:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Manic grin, increasing paranoia and messianic delusions... I think you should run a poll on what drugs he was claiming on expenses.