The damp squid or should we care?

Yesterday's revelations on the expense claims of 16 prominet politicains turned out to be rather a damp squid.

As Michael White writes in the Guardian

No illegality or scandal was exposed when the Speaker, Michael Martin, bowed to the information commissioner's ruling that it would be wrong to withhold them.

So should be worried that our politicians get their sky subscription for free?

Well the Express reports on its front page that it is

the shocking scale of how senior MPs stuff their pockets with your money was published for the first time.

and the Mail says

Peter Hoskin over at Coffee House takes a more philosophical view

Despite the lack of Derek Conway-style revelations, the release is welcome – if only because it’s one in the eye for Michael Martin. But – for good or ill – things still aren’t as transparent as they could be. Martin continues to fight against the release of “receipt-by-receipt” breakdowns; a battle that will be adjudicated in the High Court. Hopefully it will be resolved by the time all MPs’ expenses claims are released in October.

The figures raise awkward questions for the party leaders and will intensify pressure for sweeping reform of the way MPs pay themselves

Why not a Matalan list?

The credibilty of Parliament and MP's has onec again come under attack over the John Lewis list revelations.Released under the Freedom of information act,the list, given as a guide to what members of Parliament can claim for redecorating second homes and domestic expenses, has produced condemnation from all areas.

How Parliament could ever of thought that the public would expect a shop better known for its wedding gift lists to be the bench mark for claims expenses seems far fetched.

Alan Cochrane writes that

Most people who've covered the House of Commons over the years have known about - but generally kept quiet about - the tidy sum that MPs were making through having their second homes in London effectively paid for by the taxpayer

Red Box describes

It was named such, because staff used the John Lewis website as their guide to "reasonsable prices". Rather than Matalan.

Meanwhile this could only be the start,Nick Robinson reports that

The detailed expenses of every Member of Parliament are likely to be made public for the first time. An all party committee chaired by the Speaker looks set to recommend that the claims made by MPs over the past three years should be published later this year.

How many more revelations are we going to get and how much further down our esteem list is Parliament going to fall?