Tuesday 8th September 2009

Tory MP Alan Duncan has been demoted from shadow leader of the Commons after the comments he made last month whilst being secretly filmed. Duncan caused a stir in the wake of the expenses scandal by claiming MPs were expected to live off "rations". He will now take on the role of shadow prisons minister, while former transport secretary Sir George Young replaces him as shadow leader of the Commons.
I'm sure Tory leader David Cameron was reluctant to demote Duncan, who is seen as part of the modern and liberal wing of the party. He is the first openly gay Conservative MP, which means he has a big following in the gay community, so plays a big part in helping the party appeal to that area of the electorate. However, this whole "MPs living off rations" business was one gaff too many for Duncan, who has been heavily implicated in the expenses scandal. He has a big public profile thanks to his regular appearances on Have I Got News For You, a show which has seen him been ridiculed on due to his role in the scandal.
This is the second time this year Alan Duncan has attracted negative media attention after opening his mouth and saying the wrong thing. In April he made some questionable comments about Miss California USA 2009 publicly opposing same sex marriages on Have I Got News For You.
This expenses scandal is no doubt the political story of the year and refuses to go away. Cameron has pledged to cut costs by ending subsidised food and alcohol for MPs and cutting ministerial salaries if he becomes Prime Minister. This continues to ask the question are Members of Parliament paid too much or too little for the amount of work they do? Ministers, who have many more responsibilities than the average MP, can earn between £92,000 and £139,000 a year, a nice amount to take home, but not as much as investment bankers, footballers Chief Executives of some firms.
A political expert I spoke to recently about the matter of politicians pay said that MPs are poorly paid and he was not surprised that they had been abusing the system by claiming expenses on ridiculous purchases. However, I'm sure the general public will feel it should be an honour and a privilege to serve the UK in Westminster and the amount MPs get paid should not be an issue.


This week I've been re watching the brilliant BBC sitcom The Office on DVD and had forgot how genius the show is. At the time, the fly on the wall format of the show was unique and groundbreaking and has been copied on many other shows internationally. Ricky Gervais has since gone on to make it big in America, but he'll do well to write anything better again than The Office. There are some truly cringe worthy moments when you watch David Brent's antics through your fingers and think "what the hell is he doing?!?" and everyone knows a Gareth Keenan. In fact, just the other day my friend was telling me he works with a "Gareth" at Somerfields and from what he tells me there are many similarities between the fictional office worker and the supermarket checkout assistant. The Office was first shown on our screens in 2001 and I believe that since then the only sitcom that has come close to the genius and brilliance of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's work is The Thick Of It, which also goes with the fly on the wall style, but set in a government department. If you liked The Office then chances are you'll love The Thick Of It as well.