Archive - Parliament of Fowls

Tory Julian Lewis on his decorating expenses:

"If you ask me 'is the ACA an absolutely rotten system?', I would heartily agree," he added. "But that was the only system we were given to work with."

So why use it then? There are plenty of decent people who have got by without it.

At least the Labour Party, who made the rules in the first place, don't use this mealy-mouthed excuse for an official line.

On to the bonfire with you, Mr Lewis - your card is Six of Swords reversed, from my upside down pack of cards: Some kind of declaration will signal the beginning of a whole new way of life. Your situation may feel like a stalemate, but know that it is about to change - just be ready to seize the moment. Remember that your determined effort always bears fruit. Mr Lewis knows he needs to change and does so. Although he should have done so anyway - and should now be forced to pay money back, though like the Tories at the moment he may try and weasel out of taking any responsibility for their own culpability, and thus be damned alongside Labour - he now sees the need to do so thanks to the exposure of a corrupt system.

It does not resemble leadership, however, to prattle on about using a corrupt system and only paying things back . I think the Tories should be hammered for this too; a reading for this produces the High Priestess reversed: reversed, the card stands for shallowness, delusion and selfishness - the tendency to assume that one is always right, despite contrary evidence. Poor judgment follows from a gullible acceptance of wishful occult thinking. Or - if we hadn't been caught, it would be all right to put the moat-cleaning on expenses. How much will a credulous electorate buy that we have been lobbying for change? Oh...not much.

Damn.

Must try harder.

Today's card came up reversed - in fact the whole pack was reversed, I was holding it upside down ;). This is just not looking good at all for anyone.

Labour's David Chaytor is the next victim. It is hard not to feel that this is a witch-hunt to rival those featured in The Crucible, but I just can't rouse myself to feel sorry for the people involved - even though the MP I helped campaign for in 2005, Rob Wilson, is so far in the clear over any excessive claims (he cites the fast train between Reading and Paddington as cause not to bother with the second home), he still used his blog for nasty political sniping unbecoming of serious political debate, and therefore I don't even feel anything for him any more. He also spams my letterbox at home with Christmas cards - not even sent to a constituent or member of his association - which are little more than glorified advertisements for the Conservative Party and his wonderful and glorious reign over the electorate of Reading East. They usually get torn up and thrown in the bin. Waste of money Rob - waste of my money. Can anyone say "communications allowance"?

I have decided to support the LibDems as the most palatable of the minor parties to give Labour and the Conservatives a boot. This is a real challenge to me - I have always voted "one or the other", not the "third party", and I did so want to vote Labour this time round - but I'm not currently a member of any party so I currently have, in Michael Howard's words, a Right to Choose.

Knight of Wands reversed

Disruption, conflict, quarrels, and sudden upheavals, either geographical or emotional, are indicated. Expect the painful breaking of old ties, either because of your own fickleness or someone else's.

In which case the card refers also to me, but this is the wave of support for minor parties, with UKIP gaining strength over the BNP, whose toxic reputation may well be a bit too much. Otherwise, this is simply the ongoing conflict up above, a deadly and losing battle against a tsunami of allegations, probes, claims and the destruction of a sitting political elite. The doomed battle between Loki and Heimdall at Ragnarok continues, with the outcome painfully obvious to those watching from below.