FORMER MP ELLIOTT MORLEY RELEASED FROM JAIL AFTER SERVING ONLY A QUARTER OF HIS SENTENCE

If the sentence served by former Environment Minister Elliot Morley is anything to go by, it seems that crime can pay – at least when it is committed by someone who is privileged. The ex- Scunthorpe MP was sentenced to 16 months in jail last May after robbing taxpayers of £30,000 in bogus expenses claims. Now he is free after serving a mere fraction of his sentence.

He served his few months at HM Ford open prison in West Sussex – no doubt being given every privilege afforded under the system and safe from persecution by hardened criminals. Had he been an unemployed youth and stolen money from an individual in order to buy food it is likely that the punishment would have been more severe –and he would have been sentenced to serve his time in an ordinary prison. But the sentence given to Morley suggests that by defrauding the state when you are in a position of trust is less of a crime. The adopted son of Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour was handed the same length of sentence for rioting and tearing a union flag from the Cenotaph – not a commendable thing to do I grant you – but it will be interesting to see how long he spends behind bars. 

Morley was the first former minister to be sentenced after he had faked mortgage payments for his home in North Lincolnshire between 2004 and 2007. During his trial the judge – Mr Justice Saunders referred to Morley as being ‘blatantly dishonest’ yet this was not reflected in the lenient sentence handed down. It is a matter of conjecture whether the sentence would have been more severe had Morley been an ordinary person - not an MP - but his early release does not send out a very good message about the fairness of our legal system and this is bound to give rise to public anger.

After Margaret Moran’s sobbing appearance in court this week charged with 21 offences – even if she is found guilty it appears she will have little to fear by the time sentence is passed down.

How long did the guilty politicians serve. See the Telegraph

DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO INSPECT YOUR COUNCIL'S BOOKS?

Most councils will not openly promote the fact that the law requires them to make their accounts  available for scrutiny.  But they are and many councils have subscribed to a scheme make them open to you online - but here's the catch - THEY ONLY HAVE TO MAKE THEM AVAILABLE FOR 20 DAYS A YEAR.

This seems to be nonsense to me. Why aren't ALL councils required to make them available online and permanently?

Nevertheless, it does give you the right to see where every penny of your council tax is being spent - not just amounts of £500 or more. Unless  you have an eye for accounts you may find it difficult to understand how the information has been compiled but you will probably still be able to uncover some interesting - and often seemingly unnecessary spending sprees. 

Many people do not realise that they have a right to know what councils are spending your money on. To assist you with finding out, an online search engine has been created to tell you when you have a right to inspect the information that should link directly to information provided by more than 280 local authorities. Despite the law stating that councils must provide this information, not all have signed up to be included on the search engine. Perhaps they should. 

If you want to find out when you can inspect your council's accounts online

I am grateful to the Tax Payers' Alliance for releasing this information.

WE CANNOT MAKE EXCUSES FOR RIOTING - BUT PARLIAMENT MUST TACKLE SOCIAL DEPRIVATION

Additional material as recommended reading: 'The Moral Decay of our Society is as bad at the top as at the bottom' by Peter Oborne

The most poignant scene that came out of the dreadful violence of the last week has been the highly emotive and dignified speech made by Tariq Jahan, the father of Haroon, one of the three men senselessly mowed down in Winson Green, who called for sanity and to urge people not to seek revenge for the tragic events that resulted in his son's death. We must all learn something from this. 

The rioting that occurred across our nation has been dreadful and can never be condoned in any way.  We must make every effort to ensure that the scenes we witnessed in Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Tottenham and many other parts of the country, including some that never made the headlines, will never be repeated. In view of the scope and extend of the violence it is a miracle that so few have been killed or seriously injured but hundreds have become the innocent victims of indiscriminate vandalism and arson that cannot be tolerated.

The debates will continue long into the future and differences of opinion will prevail over the causes of the shocking devastation and the ways that we should be dealing with mindless acts of violence. But the rioting that took place has long been expected and there have been plenty of warnings that civil unrest of this magnitude had been festering just beneath the surface for some considerable time. Community leaders from areas that are particularly vulnerable have been telling the authorities of this but as usual nobody was prepared to take any notice. 

THE PRICE OF FUEL IS CRIPPLING THE COUNTRY

Most of the price we pay for petrol or diesel is tax. FairFuelUK recently carried out research showing that motorists pay excess taxes of around £18 billion over and above the cost they would reasonably be expected to pay for things like road building. This is especially tough for families and businesses as it is now more expensive than ever to do the school run, go for the weekly shop, or for small business owners to go about their work. It also hurts the UK’s competitiveness: European rates of fuel duty are up to 24p per litre less than in the UK. There was a 1p per litre cut in fuel duty in the Budget four months ago but that was little more than a gesture to long-suffering motorists.


The campaign FairFuelUK has been set up to try and change this. Robert Halfon, MP for Harlow, has also set up the FairFuelUK All Party Working Group in the House of Commons. On Wednesday, the group rolled a car down Whitehall to ‘push’ for lower pump prices and draw attention to the issue. The group then delivered a letter outlining their concerns to David Cameron at Number 10. We joined them to show our support for lower fuel taxes.

If you think that petrol and diesel prices are too high then add your voice to their campaign. They have a petition on their website which you can sign here. Additionally, you can write to your MP and ask if they are joining Mr Halfon’s FairFuelUK All Party Working Group.

A GREAT WAY FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO INCREASE CRIME

What is the Government now doing to carry out their plans to remove shirkers and fraudsters from the benefits system?

The entire system is bizarre. The most deserving cases - those that have worked most of their lives and have been made redundant - or those that ran their own businesses that have failed, get little or no help while the scoundrels and fraudsters that have always been intent on living off the state will continue to do so. The Government's promise of action to remove the long term unemployed and those claiming they cannot work because of incapacities is nothing more than a load of hot air. I notice that IDS, who initially had been very vocal about his plans, appears to have gone silent now that action to prevent fraudsters from claiming benefits has been overtaken by more newsworthy issues.

The Government appears to be missing a fundamental point.  The public understands but the Government fails to appreciate that nobody will be prepared to employ anyone who has been 'working the system' by claiming long term benefits and with no intention of ever taking a job. Most of these are unemployable, if not undesirable, so what jobs does the Government think they could do? 

Politicians must be realistic about this and face up to reality. If those who simply have no intention of finding work have their benefits stopped - where will they get the money to buy their cigarettes and booze? The only way will be for them to sponge off others or to commit crime - probably both.

BRITAIN'S BOSSES SCARED OF HIRING OLDER WORKERS

It was announced yesterday that the number of unemployed has dropped yet those claiming Job Seekers' Allowance has increased. This sounds like a bit of a conundrum to me and suggests this is another attempt by the Government to cover up the truth. Do they really know how many people are now unemployed? I don't think so, and this is because thousands will either not be claiming Job Seekers' Allowance or, more to the point, they no longer qualify. This includes plenty of well qualified middle-aged men and women who are being ignored by employers yet are unable to claim Job Seekers' Allowance once they have been out-of-work for more than a year. 

I believe employers are largely to blame for the high number of professional people who cannot find work. Ageism, in spite of legislation devised to prevent it, is still rife and it easy to use any of many excuses to mask the real reason for dismissing a job application. The majority of unemployed senior people will concur with this view and will be familiar with 'too experienced', 'the standard of applicants was extremely high' or 'you do not quite match our requirements' as being tantamount to being 'too old'. But there is another issue. Experience usually comes with age and this means that thousands of extremely capable people are being by-passed by companies because of a fear factor. The chances are that when an experienced older person applies for a job his or her application will be scrutinised by somebody much younger. A more experienced applicant can present a challenge to  less experienced employers that could create a situation that undermine their authority. This may be intentional or psychological - but often those that short list job applicants feel it may be better to cast aside anyone that could pose such a threat. There is evidence of this all around. We only need look at just one aspect of business - that of customer service - to see how poor it has become in many organisations. It is my belief that this is because the leadership in many companies is appalling and that many of the people they employ lack the experience or training to do their jobs properly.

UNPAID COUNCIL TAX & NON DOMESTIC RATES & THE ROLE OF BAILIFFS

This important article is republished from the Consumer Action Group newsletter.

We are in the grips of the worst recession that we have ever seen. Many people have lost their jobs and many more jobs are under threat. The astonishing price of fuel  has meant that we are limiting the amount of driving that we do, food prices have once again increased this month and just last week, we heard that electricity prices will increase by 20% this winter. The High Streets are not immune. Woolworth’s were the first big name to go out of business at the start of the recession with well known names such as Moben Kitchens, Habitat etc closing down. Families are unable to afford a holiday and this is confirmed by the profit warning from Thomas Cook Travel. Families are really struggling financially and this is leading to many of them finding themselves in arrears with their council tax and small businesses that struggling to survive are finding themselves in the same position with non domestic rates (NNDR).