I have refrained from comment on the deplorable state of affairs about expenses claimed by Members of Parliament at Westminster. There is little I can add to the condemnation made by almost everyone who has an opinion and who has commented.

I am however also disgusted that the Speaker (it is said) appears to be making it a condition of his resignation that his son be selected by the Labour Party for the (currently) safe Glasgow seat the speaker currently represents. The Labour Party (or any other party for that matter) should not manipulate the system whereby a parliamentary seat is treated as part of some sort of fiefdom belonging to the present incumbent. There was a similar ploy recently in Hull for the seat to be vacated soon by John Presott. To the credit of the Labour Party members in that constituency the idea was rejected. I hope the Labour Party members in the Speaker's constituency will exercise similar sound judgement and the Labour Party machine will not be leaning on the local association to become party to such an arrangement.

That the Speaker will of course be 'rewarded' and take up a seat in the House of Lords is deplorable and to compound that calumny by manipulating the system to try and get the Speaker's son elected to the House of Commons would be a disgrace totally.

Mr Speaker is due to address parliament later today and one hopes he will retire immediately but I will not be rushing to the bookmakers.

Two days later -
For anticipating political events and betting advice I have awarded myself nul points.

Jack Kemp who at one time was a prospective United States Vice Presidential candidate and who served nine terms as a Congressman for Western New York, from 1971 to 1989 and who was Housing Secretary in the George H. W. Bush administration has died after a long battle with cancer.

He was fond of saying that President Kennedy in 1962 declared that

'It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise revenues in the long run is to cut tax rates now. The purpose of cutting taxes now is not to incur a budget deficit but to achieve the more prosperous, expanding economy which can bring a budget surplus.'

The idea is as relevant today as it was in 1962. A reduction in the basic rate of tax would benefit the less well off and give an economic stimulus to the ailing economy because the less well off would spend the tax reduction. The idea is not apparently attractive to either Mr Brown or Mr Darling or surprisingly Mr Cameron or Mr Osborne.