Apologies for the recent silence.  Last week I took Mrs J. and the Junior Jobsworths to Southwold, Suffolk, for a brief holiday.  I had every good intention of posting whilst away but couldn’t get WiFi access.  I have to admit that I didn’t try that hard either. 

Without internet access I was a bit short on employment issues to write about, apart from the one emerging political story on MPs expenses as published by the Daily Telegraph. I have been particularly struck (like with a  cricket bat) by Hazel Blear’s defence of her own failure to pay Capital Gains Tax on a residence she sold on which she was claiming expenses.  She said (as all MPs seem to be doing) that she hadn’t broken any rules but the “system was wrong”.  No one seems to have asked her at what point she realised the system was wrong; perhaps it was when she was found out? Did it not occur to her at the point she elected to choose the London flat as her main residence for CGT but not for parliamentary purposes?  She must think the electorate is stupid.

Why I am posting on this?  Simply because in an employment context any employee doing the same would probably face disciplinary proceedings and a real risk of dismissal. If you want to get rid of an employee, take a look at their expense claims is what I was once told.  What has been happening in Parliament just demonstrates how out of touch they are there. 

Rant over.

Related posts:

1. Friday musings: The Apprentice

Monday musings originally appeared on Jobsworth by Michael Scutt on 11/05/2009.