No sympathy for you and your ilk, ma'am

As many as 200 Members of Parliament over in Great Britain are in heap big trouble for using the peasants' money to cover such wacky over-the-top personal expenses as: Paying for, furnishing and maintaining both lavish country estates as well as apartments in London; hiring family members as employees who did no work; keeping "constituent offices" 300 miles away from the district they represent (that one's a real head-scratcher, isn't it?); and, of course, the ol' "I didn't figure my taxes right, so I owe the government some more money" scam that we've seen so much of lately among our own politicians. (Funny how the mistakes are never in the politicians' favor, forcing the treasury to cut them a check.)

Now one of the embattled members, Nadine Dorries, is beseeching the press and public to lay off, claiming that the avalanche of disclosures is creating an "atmosphere of terror", and even intimating that one of her fellow members may soon kill themselves over the embarrassing scandal:

"'People are seriously beginning to crack,' Ms Dorries told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. 'The last day in Parliament this week was, I would say, completely unbearable'... 'There's a really serious concern that this has got to a point now which is almost unbearable for any human being to deal with.'"

Cram it, ma'am. The finances of members such as yourself being subjected to official scrutiny is part of the job, Ms. Dorries. Either you did nothing wrong, in which case you have nothing to worry about, or you out-and-out stole from the people you represent, in which case you have quite a lot to answer for, both politically and criminally. If the stress of handling such a simple situation is getting to be too much, Ms. Dorries, you are free to quit and go back to being a regular peasant at any time. Of course, the gravy train of perks will come to an abrupt end, but you and your colleagues will no longer have to stress out about Cousin Nigel's no-show position at the local office being uncovered, or how the landscaping and moat cleaning at Snobcroft Manor was paid for (chores for which one recently resigned ex-member, the aptly named Douglas Hogg, actually billed the unwashed). Are those terms a fair exchange? We'll soon find out, as the resignations are currently coming fast and furious.

"Another Labour MP, Ian Gibson, also offered to stand down if the voters demanded it after claims that he had sold his taxpayer-subsidised second home to his daughter at a knock-down rate." (Emphasis mine)

How generous of you, Mr. Gibson, since that would only save them the task of bouncing your elitist butt out of office at the next possible election, since (in case you forgot) you "serve" at their pleasure.

Maybe after a large percentage of these unrepentant thieves are forced out of office in shame, a new and more honest generation of Parliament members will be able to restore some level of sanity to that government.

We can only hope that will be the case, as we truly miss the real ale served over there but refuse to visit until the tax, immigration and crime epidemics of that country are brought under control.