Anyone wondering where all these announcements regarding dodgy expenses of MPs is actually going to lead to?

Wasn't it Eisenhower or some other US President that says that "everything that happens in politics happens for a reason, there are no mistakes?".

Am I being paranoid in thinking something is going to happen in the weeks to come which will make these expense claims look like a tea party?

Possibly it's a cover.

I think though it's a symptom of the times.

The media has never been under more prssure to compete with each other as they face an uncertain future and are exposing things that they previously ignored.

The Ian Tomlinson case is one. Nothing the police did that day is anything different from what they have done in the past .It's just never been exposed before. The media always knew the police lied through their teeth about figures and their own role in promoting violence but they finally got caught out because of the public's access to their own means of exposure.

Remember-the media simply accepted without question the police's account.The public exposed a great lie.

For several decades now we have had politicians switching from largely dedicated believers in whatever theory from the left to right to men and women who have been using politics as a spring board to a furure career.

Tony Blair probabably exemplifies that. I can't see any difference between him and a far-right politician from the Tories in the 70's except superb packaging.

I reckon half today's politicians join whichever party they feel they may succeed in.

The Iraq War has opened the eyes of the public in many ways and they simply won't accept what has been dished up even by the BBC who were flag wavers for that illegal war.

So a simple thing, like politician expenses, which they should be entitled to but has become a debacle and a rort while they moralise to the general public is too tasty a morsel for the media.

But BR may be able to tell us how it's another step towards the NWO.

I'm glad you asked this Steve because I find the recent media coverage of EVERYTHING strange. We seem to move from crisis to crisis - MP expenses ("the public are shocked" - no they are not, they don't give a fuck) - Swine flu ("public panic" - no it's not, we don't give a fuck) - credit crunch and banks crisis ("the world collapses" - no it doesn't, we don't give a fuck).

And then we see the reality (police act like pigs and kill people - that, we care about) and it gets brushed under a carpet...

Media faking of stories hits an all time high ("12 year old father") and they think we don't notice.

Is it a conspiracy or just, as I suspect, rank incompetence?

It's just a story about MPs being caught with their fingers in the till. We've known for ages that it happens, but now the media have got the individual itemised details and are milking it. No real surprise that they are doing this, and I do care if our MPs are being dishonest or acting improperly (even if within their own rules). I agree with one official that Parliament should now be dissolved and a general election called, because all MPs have been publicly discredited and so they must answer to the public.

As for swine flu, I'm in no panic but I am interested, even if it turns out to be just a normal flu bug.

I don't think there is any conspiracy.

Maybe you should change your "wee" to "I", JK, just in case I'm not the only one you don't speak for.

I suspect you may well be right Emma and this country is full of people who care about trivia and don't care about things that matter - or can be tricked into wasting mind space on swine flu and dog food costs rather than injustice and job losses.

The conspiracy theorists believe these stories are to take the "sheeple" and basically direct their energies towards fear and other negative emotions.

This hides the true agenda which is the growing gap between rich and poor - and the enslavement of most people to corporations.

The capitalist system has broken down - so they trundle out loads of meaningless scares to try and cover this up.

If we think for ourselves then we are singled out as "weird" and in many cases we are now arrested if we dont hold the "politically correct thoughts" of the ruling party. TV and media is now becoming a soup of cover up and fear for the eventual NWO agenda which is :

a. One World Government
b. World DNA database and eventual chipping of all humans
c. Wealth concentrated in ever smaller numbers of people and/or corporations. ( Take TESCO as an example of food selling in the UK ) these corporations are becoming global so to create a New World Order.
d. The end of War but the beginning of the war on terror where terrorists are defined as those who dont agree with the Governments view.
e. All major Political parties having a similar view and being judged on personalities and efficiency rather than any orginal policies. Radical thought is deemed dangerous.

I don't know why it's not possible to care about the small things AND the big things.

I'm pretty sure some sort of one world government is a great wish for many with a countries present government becoming like administrative state council but I feel the "1984" type control may not be the sucess planned for.

With the downfall of the USSR we saw the Russian Mafia spread worldwide to a point where it's now impregnable and untouchable. The old Mafia dons of the US mustlook on in envy.

We see with credit card fraud-which was always a thousand times bigger than we were ever told, that whatever new measure is put in place, crime gangs can circumvent it within months.

I reckon most politicians are really flailing around like chooks without heads and dreaming up any new law or policy they think may divert the public from their basic uselessness.

And the media is likewise. JK points to the infamous Alfie tale..in some ways that was almost a watershed. I reckon the tabloid media is on a downward slide that will accelerate dramatically.

Yes I really feel we will look back fondly on 12 year old "Dad" Alfie as the moment when the media lost the plot forever.

Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm beginning to get just a little jaded hearing MP after MP talking about "the system being rotten". Nothing happens by accident. The system didn't make them take advantage of it, and if they tried that argument in court they'd probably get an extra couple of years for contempt. Every single one of them made their own decisions to claim as a matter of course. Ten years ago I did stupid things that resulted in my learning in the hardest possible way that you have to take responsibility for your own actions. As someone who crossed the boundaries of decency I take full responsibility for mine. The lawmakers, it seems, have yet to take a similarly honest approach to their own offensive and offending behaviour.

And people think I'm scum...

Not so long ago I was doing a course which involved reading old newspapers from the mid 1800s. Similar shock and gossip stories to today, just no pictures to help with impact. The Alfie story is amazingly insignificant on the scale of things. It happened, it's over, and it'll be forgotten. Just like all the other supposedly sensational stories over the past 200 years.

There was also a lot of parliamentary corruption back then. As the saying goes - Power corrupts.