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

Jealousy or Generosity - Which One Wins?

I was struck just recently by the contrast between two particular people who met Jesus, and his response to them. One was a prosperous official who had acquired many possessions. Jesus' advice to him was, "Sell everything you have and give to the poor" (see my post of 27th May for a take on what that might mean). This man could have done so much to help those less fortunate than himself, but when Jesus suggested doing so he went away sad. He was far too jealous of his own wealth to consider sharing it. I would like to think, after he had time to reconsider, he was at least motivated to do more than before. But we don't know. His contact with Jesus and the gospel sources seems to end there. The other person was a poor widow who literally put her last two pennies into the temple offering (Luke 21:1-4). Of her Jesus said, "She, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on". She had no way of knowing how her tiny offering would be used. It might
Post a Comment
Read more

The Birth of Jesus - a Smoking Gun From History?

Some say that Jesus of Nazareth is just a myth and a legend. Others, a historical figure who was born in Bethlehem, probably around 5 BC.  Wouldn't it be great if we could find his birth certificate and settle the matter once and for all?! Oddly enough, it's not such a daft idea. The Roman Empire was assidious about keeping records, and the birth of Jesus would certainly have been noted in its archives. Unfortunately, between the sackings of Rome and Constantinople almost all of them were lost. That wasn't always the case, though. Several times in the first three centuries AD the Empire made concerted efforts to erase the story of Jesus from history. For all this time the records were available - as the Christian apologist, Justin Martyr, was at pains to point out in an open ketter to the Emperor: "Now there is a village in the land of the Jews, thirty-five stadia from Jerusalem, in which Jesus Christ was born, as you can ascertain also from the registers of the taxing
Post a Comment
Read more

God the Omnipotent and Stupid?

One of the questions you will often hear raised about God goes along the lines, "If there is an omnipotent God why doesn't he do X?", where X may be anything from stopping wars or preventing earthquakes to curing cancer. Often there is a deeply personal reason behind the question, which makes a purely rational answer wholly unsatisfying. All the same, it's a rational question and some kind of rational answer is deserved. But two things make it a complex question to which no simple answer is possible. One is the extraordinary diversity of the things that 'X' may represent, all of them having different causes with different and completely unrelated solutions. The other is the sole focus on God's omnipotence. Because God, if he exists, must be so much more than just that. There is an old philosophical conundrum on the same subject, of the kind that philosphers love to pose and to ponder. If God is omnipotent, can he create an object so massive that he himself
Post a Comment
Read more