Skip to main content

Commons Crisis - a Window on the Soul of Britain?

The recent scandal in the House of Commons has clearly shocked and angered a lot people. At least some of the expense claims exposed have been widely regarded as fraudulent, and few people will lament the exit of the politicians guilty of them.

The purpose of democracy is to produce political leaders who are servants of the people, and representative of the people they serve. Participation in fraud probably isn't what most people would have in mind when they think of representation. But the sad truth is that events in the House are depressingly typical of what is happening in Britain today.

Consider these figures:
  • In 2004, UK identity fraud is estimated to have cost £1.7 billion (Source: Association of Fraud Examiners)
  • Corporate fraud costs UK businesses £40 million per day (Source: Corporate Fraud Solutions)
  • Car insurance fraud costs the insurance industry over £1.6 billion per year (Source: Royal Sun Alliance)
  • In 2004-5, HM Revenue and Customs estimate that almost £1.2 billion was paid in tax credit claims that were either erroneous or fraudulent
  • Overall, fraud costs each UK household £650 per year (Source: Norwich Union)
The majority of us who have never participated in criminal activities may be shocked and angered by those figures, just as we are by recent events in government. But before you point the finger, stop and think. Have you ever twisted the rules and pushed the boundaries when making a tax or insurance claim? Or played down your role in a car accident? Or sold a dodgy car and concealed its true condition?

Every journey starts with a small step. Maybe our elected leaders are actually more representative of us than we realised. Just not quite in the way we would have chosen!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Robbing The Poor To Feed The Rich?

Now that cuts in spending seem to be on the agenda of all the main political parties, the big questions still to be answered are: how much? And where will the axe fall? According to a recent poll by Ipsos MORI, published by the BBC ( http://bit.ly/d168R ), the most popular candidate with most people is overseas aid. That’s not really surprising. It’s understandable that during severe financial crisis most people want our government to look after our own affairs first. Charity, as the saying goes, begins at home. But is it really right for the poorest nations of the world to be penalised for a crisis that was brought on by the rich? The developing world already spends $1.3 on debt repayment for every $1 it receives in grants (Source: World Centric, http://bit.ly/b5C7f ). Every day at least $100 million flows from the poor of the world into the pockets of the rich. Existing problems like drought and famine will not go away just because there is a worldwide recession, and the poor are mo...
2 comments
Read more

A God Who Needs To Be Praised?

In one of the online forums I visit occasionally, someone recently asked the question, "How can I believe in a God who needs to be praised?" The short answer is, of course, "You can't". What's unbelievable is not so much that the creator of the universe might be suffering deep personal insecurity and be in constant need of affirmation. That would be odd, but not a complete logical impossibility! What's unbelievable is the ridiculous notion that his insecurity might somehow be compensated by a bunch of humans constantly telling him how wonderful he is. If there is a God at all, he surely does not *need* our praise. But if what he wants from us is relationship, that would really explain where praise fits in. First of all, praise is a vital part of any healthy relationship. It's so easy to tear down and criticise each other. We also need to take time to affirm and build each other up. If God has taken toward us the relationship of father, and our relati...
1 comment
Read more

The Ordinariness of Faith

I hit some traffic last Saturday. I don’t mean literally hit, but I do mean traffic. I was driving back from Barnes to Twickenham when suddenly the traffic ahead ground almost to a standstill. Seeing how long and slow moving the queue was, I took a leap of faith. I took a blind left turn and switched on the satnav. Without really knowing where I was going, I followed the satnav to Roehampton, where I hit another major jam. Fortunately on the satnav screen I noticed a side road heading towards Richmond Park. So I swung off-piste again and drove through the park, missing the traffic and enjoying an uninterrupted drive home. The leap of faith paid off.  How is it, I wonder, that some people can write off faith as some sort of mindless and mystical belief, and despise it as unreasonable? They reduce it to something ethereal and strange, and talk about ‘people of faith’ as though there is some other group of people who are not ‘of faith’. And yet we all exercise faith in very ordinary...
1 comment
Read more