Getting my (scape) goat
There had to be a public beheading, and every MP hoped it wouldn't be them. In the end, it was David Chaytor, former MP for Bury North who took the blow for the whole house. Now, by his own admission, his expenses were certainly as crooked as that funny church spire in Chesterfield, but I can't support the judge's decision to SEND HIM TO PRISON WITH THE RAPISTS. Personally, I find the whole duck house/wisteria trimming revelations far more revolting than Chaytor's fiddling, but then I am not a judge. I am no where near fat or old enough for such high office.
The idea that he is being put away, to eat boiled cabbage and halal curries at taxpayers' expense, is preposterous. You wouldn't get that for assaulting someone in the street. You wouldn't get it for poking a stick at the Duchess of Cornwall through the window of her Rolls.
To say that his jail-term "serves as a warning" is also ridiculous. It doesn't serve as a warning, it is just to satisfy an (apparent) public appetite for blood. I wouldn't be surprised if it hadn't in some way been ordered by David Cameron, or more likely one of his stooges. This idea that someone has to suffer in an out-of-proportion fashion for the misdeeds of a larger group sends my blood pressure soaring. Chaytor must be a relatively well-off man - surely an enormous fine is the most apt way to punish fraud? Take away the man's John Lewis account and confiscate his ride-on lawnmover instead. Aren't our prisons overflowing? Even Ken Clarke has admitted "banging them up" doesn't really work.
The idea that he is being put away, to eat boiled cabbage and halal curries at taxpayers' expense, is preposterous. You wouldn't get that for assaulting someone in the street. You wouldn't get it for poking a stick at the Duchess of Cornwall through the window of her Rolls.
To say that his jail-term "serves as a warning" is also ridiculous. It doesn't serve as a warning, it is just to satisfy an (apparent) public appetite for blood. I wouldn't be surprised if it hadn't in some way been ordered by David Cameron, or more likely one of his stooges. This idea that someone has to suffer in an out-of-proportion fashion for the misdeeds of a larger group sends my blood pressure soaring. Chaytor must be a relatively well-off man - surely an enormous fine is the most apt way to punish fraud? Take away the man's John Lewis account and confiscate his ride-on lawnmover instead. Aren't our prisons overflowing? Even Ken Clarke has admitted "banging them up" doesn't really work.
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