Weekend links.
There is only one story this weekend, and I don't think I really need to tell you what it is. On the blogs, Sunny says we should welcome the expenses scandal, Craig Murray says the Telegraph has only occasionally managed to hit a cow's arse with a banjo, and it's hard to disagree when the likes of Margaret Moran claimed for a house in Southampton when her constituency is in Luton, and Barbara Follett claimed an astonishing £25,000 for security after she was mugged, when the paper has instead highlighted Brown's perfectly legitimate paying of his brother to pay a cleaner who worked for both of them, and Woolas's explanations for his buying of women's clothing and comics. Murray also criticises Harriet Harman for bigging up the BNP, as does Mr Eugenides, Paul Linford examines them as well as the earlier hilarious comparison of Thatcher with Hazel Blears, Paulie has two posts which most will likely disagree with, as does Hopi Sen, while just to be different for the last link jihadica looks at the response on the jihadist forums to the purported arrest of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.
The theme is the same in the papers. Matthew Parris says increase salaries by £30,000 and abolish all expenses, The Times' leader makes a point made repeatedly that this threatens the political process in its entirety, Steve Richards argues much the same, Andrew Grice calls it both farce and tragedy, while Michael Brown also advocates a proper salary for MPs, although considering they are already paid around £64,000, £40,000 more than the average wage, that's not likely to go down well either. Peter Oborne calls for the money to be paid back, the spivs to be sacked and for the thieves to be prosecuted, Alistair Graham also notes the plummet of faith in politics, while Polly Toynbee connects Labour's failure to deal with poverty with the lack of fairness shown by the expenses. Finally, Martin Bell asks where the shame is. On different topics, Deborah Orr talks a personal connection with swine flu, Howard Jacobson writes on anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, and Marina Hyde covers the week's Home Office travails.
As for worst tabloid article, Lorraine Kelly easily wins for yet another pointless piece on the McCanns, doing all the things it criticises others for doing.
The theme is the same in the papers. Matthew Parris says increase salaries by £30,000 and abolish all expenses, The Times' leader makes a point made repeatedly that this threatens the political process in its entirety, Steve Richards argues much the same, Andrew Grice calls it both farce and tragedy, while Michael Brown also advocates a proper salary for MPs, although considering they are already paid around £64,000, £40,000 more than the average wage, that's not likely to go down well either. Peter Oborne calls for the money to be paid back, the spivs to be sacked and for the thieves to be prosecuted, Alistair Graham also notes the plummet of faith in politics, while Polly Toynbee connects Labour's failure to deal with poverty with the lack of fairness shown by the expenses. Finally, Martin Bell asks where the shame is. On different topics, Deborah Orr talks a personal connection with swine flu, Howard Jacobson writes on anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, and Marina Hyde covers the week's Home Office travails.
As for worst tabloid article, Lorraine Kelly easily wins for yet another pointless piece on the McCanns, doing all the things it criticises others for doing.
Labels: weekend, weekend links, weekend round-up
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