I heard something today that would put a smile on the face of delinquent Councils the length and breadth of our fair isle. Evidently Dumb & Dumb have decided, as part of their package to renew the electorate's faith in their elected representatives, that they will "..... abolish the Standards Board regime...." or something of the sort. Now the word that is creating the greatest interest here is the word 'regime'. In some quarters this is being interpreted as referring not just to the Standards Board itself but to the 'code of conduct' which the Standards Board might have referred to in the consideration of any claimed infraction.
How bloody wonderful. We've had to put up with our elected representatives charging the taxpayer for double mortgage relief, expenses for houses that didn't exist, moat cleaning, duck housing, the rental of porn videos, kit-kat bars and uncle Tom Cobbley and all. The public has been genuinely dismayed at the greed and venality of some of our elected representatives and generally wouldn't trust an MP further than they could throw them. And the new Administration's answer seems to be to get rid of any standards of ethical behaviour so that our elected representatives will do what? Probably behave just like the last lot of moat-cleaners and duck-housers.
I look back at Tony Blair and remember just how let down and betrayed I felt by his crass behaviour. But we set ourselves up for it because we had put up with the Tories for 18 years and they had redefined greed and self-interest. So Blair trots in with his Pepsodent smile and perfect children and we all think, Hallelujah, we are saved. And the next thing we know we are up to our armpits in Iraq, Afghanistan and extraordinary rendition. So, once again, after 13 years, we turf out the remains of the Blair rump and we get the 'Nick&Dave' show. And they all want to clean up politics. And how are they going to do that? By throwing away the rule book.
Where are The Who when you need them?
Till next time, I think that I'm Niall Connolly