Curly's Corner Shop, the blog!

[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MrFV4c_sVY&fmt=]

Via Liberal Conspiracy

See, it’s become a culture thing with most MPs, it’s a way of life, they use our taxes to feather their own nests, and don’t say I’m not even handed. Conservative Chairman Eric Pickles is, err, in a right pickle in this video shot in Newcastle.

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I concur

Kids should all be made to watch Newsnight instead of the rubbish churned out by other programme makers, and then dragged along to South Shields Town Hall for a council meeting to see how real children behave!

However, if you would like to see the results that our teachers appear to be complaining about, look no further, (Jimmy Foreman please take note.)

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Sports Direct to open in South Shields

I protest!

I will also continue to buy my Sunderland shirts at the club’s official outlets and ensure my money goes directly to benefitting the luxury lifestyle of Premiership footballers who work part-time!

I am of course glad to hear the news that Ashley’s company Sports Direct is to open in South Shields, despite the fact that he is also Chairman of the Dark Side (Newcastle United), he will be needing as many customers as possible to help get his struggling oufit into the Premiership next season after their disastrous relegation in May. At least half of South Shields will visit the former Woolworth’s store in KIng Street to buy their new “barcodes” to stamp on their fat beer bellies.

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Additional costs for South Tyneside’s Labour MPs

Available here

Please note that Mr. Miliband’s claim for Communications Allowance should read £10388 (my mistake) and these figures do not include salaries or travel expenses.

Mr. Hepburn, MP for Jarrow claimed a total of £14874 for travel and Mr. Miliband, MP for South Shields and Foreign Secretary claimed a total of £4884 for travel.

So the total additional expenses for our two MPs was, Stephen Hepburn £157165, and David Miliband £134993.

Total cost to the tax payer (including salaries) for South Tyneside’s two MPs last year was £497,315 (£220,456 for Mr. Hepburn and £276,859 for Mr. Miliband.)

Half a million quid for two MPs!

I’d be interested in knowing why the office of the Jarrow MP costs so much more to run and staff than that of the South Shields MP and Foreign Secretary.

Guido has reported that half of MPs claim within 10% of the maximum on the second home allowances, and that on average Conservative MPs cost us the least. Conservative MP Philip Hollobone continues to employ no staff whatsoever and carries out his duties entirely on his own, reports Con Home.

• Do you feel like you are getting good value for money?
• Do you agree that the system for MPs expenses needs to be urgently overhauled?
• Do you think they should get a higher salary and no expenses?
• Do you think that MPs who live in Greater London should get any allowance at all for a second home, or just for overnight stays in the constituency?
• Do you think that MPs who do not live in Greater London should only get an allowance for overnight stays in the capital?
• Is it right that MPs should be able censor their receipts?
• Do you think that MPs should accept a pay rise in the current economic climate?
  

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Well it looks like the topic de jour wherever you go

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Odd traffic drivers

It is sometimes intriguing and amusing to see which posts are attracting the most traffic and where the traffic is coming from. Now and then a huge surge arrives when one of your posts features in Boing Boing or Gawker, or in a slightly less frenetic fashion when someone decides you have presented something which deserves to be in this weeks Britblog roundup.

More to the point, where does the poor soul who does the round up find the time to get through the UK blogosphere, or even to look through hundreds of other folks’ nominations? Anyway that’s how a lot of people are looking at fluorescent yellow dayglow vests these days (better get them in the window Ahmed.)

If you’d like to see what else is hawt in the UK, this week’s Britblog roundup is at Trixy’s place. (Thanks m’dear)

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I liked this video – but not the nasty after taste

[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LHqpzjMTDY&fmt=]

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Nazi death van (Chinese prototype)

Backtracking has already started

The serious talks to “save the world” have not even got under way yet, but the Business Minister is already backtracking from Gordon Brown’s pre-prepared positions as the government sees that the rest of Europe is in no mood to carry on throwing good money after bad. The Prime Minister may well be still talking about “doing whatever it takes” but his colleagues and leaders in the EU don’t appear to be too willing to join in the party. Angela Merkel the German Chancellor has said:

“I will not let anyone tell me that we must spend more money,”

and Pedro Solbes, the Spanish Finance Minister, said that there was

“no room for new fiscal stimulus”.

Fu Ying, the Chinese Ambassador to London said:

“There is a misunderstanding of the reserves in China. The reserves are not the money of the Government. The Premier cannot write a cheque on it. ”

So instead of following Gordo and Obama in a mad dash to print money and scatter it around nationalising sectors of the world’s economy and propping up failed bankers, they will probably have talks about further talks, and talks about regulating the regulators with even more failed regulators! Needless to say, the markets have not been very encouraged.

In the mean time Londoners will be asked “Vere are your papers?” They will be warned “Ve haf vays of keeping you out” by the Metropolitan Police who somehow have managed to introduce legislation ahead of schedule requiring the good citizens living in the shadow of the Excel centre on Royal Victoria Docks to produce two forms of ID, including a photo card to navigate road blocks. Just where have they found the legal authority to require people to carry ID papers?

Oh well, I guess while the Chinese are here, Lord Mandy might want to talk about their automotive industry.

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Justice Seen Justice Done

The Justice department has a new scheme where residents can vote to choose which areas of their communities they would like to have cleaned up by criminals, a laudable idea whilst the prisons are full I guess.

There are five schemes in South Tyneside from which you can choose, so do get along to the council’s website and take your pick. I’ve gone for the Harton Mineral line in South Shields, and I’d like to propose another environmental scheme for the next time they are looking for options, it’s a rare occasion when we take a walk in what are our nearest tracts of countryside in this urban area of ours and some of those areas are criminally littered.

Most of our bridleways and footpaths in the little bits of green belt that we have left are littered with black bags full of rubbish, discarded beer tins, plastic pop bottles and supermarket trolleys. I’d like to propose that a scheme be put together to clean up the whole of the course of the River Don within South Tyneside’s boundaries, at low tide one can see that the supermarkets have surely lost thousands of pounds worth of metal, and the banks and footpaths are strewed with more household waste than the giant skips at Middlefields. A clean up operation would be hugely beneficial to our wildlife and to the number of people who enjoy a quiet walk away from the hustle and bustle of town life.

I like the thought of Jack Straw and Jacqui Smith coming up here to do a bit of “leadership by example” – any chance?

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No comment -really, none at all.

The Timney Smith porno video story is still making all the headlines in the newspapers this morning, and South Shields MP and Foreign Secretary David Miliband is having nothing to say about it, other than that Jacqui is doing an “outstanding job” of wasting our money.

Watch his interview with Andrew Marr here

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