Battle of the exes

Somewhere there must be a special college where all MPs, senior civil servants and management consultants are sent to learn how to speak complete and utter cobblers - a somewhat more polite word than the one I was about to use.

MPs have done everything but torch the office where the records are kept in an attempt to prevent any information about their expenses and second home details being revealed under the Freedom of Information Act. The latest lame excuse in what is a three year battle to avoid any scrutiny is that to reveal details of their homes could compromise their security.

I would suspect that your average terrorist or angry constituent, as long as they had an IQ running into double figures, would be able to track down an MP with some ease without having to rely on a photocopy of their train fare receipts and decorating bills - so that suggests that much more likely to be compromised is their integrity.

In any case as we appear to be paying for these second homes it seems only fair that we see what we are getting for our money. I am sure that not all MPs are taking the system for a ride but the more they protest the more we are likely to believe that some of them, at least, would rather we did not find out what we have been paying for while our own income is eroded by the endless stream of corrosive taxes and rising prices.

As a final irony we, the taxpayers, will be picking up the entire bill for the MP's High Court appeal to prevent us, the old taxpayers again, seeing how they are spending our money on big screen tellies and toasters. Guy Fawkes might have had the right idea after all.