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Tuesday 2 June 2009

European Elections 4th June 09

There are European elections coming up, and I would expect a large turnout following the expenses scandals of the past few weeks.

I ask you to be reasonable.
There are some MPs who have effectively committed fraud by taking money when they were not allowed.
And there are also MPs who have taken money that you might not agree with, but they have stayed within the rules. I feel sorry for MPs on that. Anyone would take money if they were offered it, so it's hard to judge them badly for using the expenses system they were given. Many asked for advice from those in charge. Everyone in the country has been examining them and they haven't had the chance to defend themselves as they would have done if the expenses system had been investigated internally.

If you want to change the system, then fine, but don't vote for a silly party as a protest - because they could get into power! It's proportional representation in the European elections, so they don't need many votes to get an MEP.

For a critique of the BNP, for example, have a look at several articles that bristling badger has written on it and in particular this one

1 comment:

Rachel said...

John! It's terrible, I tried to write you an email and I don't have a proper email address for you, only your old uni one :(. Hmm. I just thought of something it might be, but it should have come up when I started typing your name in the box. Oh well, I will have to give you some links here: this is a wonderful place we should visit, well worth a trip to London I think and this is a song you might already have heard but I think you will enjoy it nonetheless. Someone showed it to me on their Googlephone at a picnic the other day. It's really good that the weather is nice enough for regular barbecues and picnics now! We had one at work yesterday, for the 5th anniversary of the company, and had so much food left over that we did it again at lunchtime today. When are we having a matsci reunion? Duncan said he might be in England in the first couple of weeks of August, but I won't be :(. Your text made me laugh a lot, by the way. I'm so glad our game was useful in your time of need - and that is a lot of melons.