Monday Moan 44

The Hodge Diary

Just a run-of-the-mill week for that consummate seeker of a headline, yes, our very own Margaret Hodge, Labour MP and Chair of the Public Accounts Committee.  See last week’s Moan for the most recent story and for links to other Moans.

Only two reports from her Committee this week – on Managing the Academies Programme and on Tax avoidance and the role of large accountancy firms.

The tax report allowed the news channels to go over again the ‘it’s not fair that they don’t pay any tax’ issues that she milked so well last year (see Moan 27) and the report itself continued with the same line, despite there being no suggestion that what those companies or their advisors are doing is illegal – they are simply reading the laws that apply and then working within them to avoid paying tax that they don’t have to pay.  In other words, doing what every individual does in regard to their own tax position.

Not content with the media opportunities that these events provided, Hodge manufactured another dose of self-publicity with her attack on Parliamentary colleagues as being lazy (that plays well with the media and voting public).

But maybe I am the one out of step with the public mood here, at least with sections of the Guardian-reading public, if the gushing article about Hodge last week by Aida Edemariam is any guide? “Every age searches, however ironically, for heroes, and in a time lacking in such old-fashioned things, Margaret Hodge, Labour MP for Barking, and, since 2010, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, has emerged as an unlikely candidate.”

 

Have I missed something?

 

 

Vanity knows no bounds

A recent study, commissioned by the Department of Health, has suggested that there is a crisis waiting to happen with procedures such as injections to plump up the skin and remove wrinkles. Part of the problem seems to be that you don’t need to be medically qualified to be able to perform such procedures.

 

A BBC report on this last week included an interview with a lady who had just had some injections in her face - “everybody where I live wants to look good” was her explanation. Hmm.   

 

And then we had the episode of Masterchef, where the contestants had to prepare a meal at the Savoy for 12 Bond girls.  The picture we have in our minds of those we have seen on screen is one we have seen preserved for all time in the films themselves.  So, one of the fascinating things in this programme was to see the differences in the ways that the ladies had aged.  Many gracefully, some resisting in subtle ways.  And then there was Britt Ekland.  The price of cosmetic surgery appears to be an unnatural look and an inability to produce much by way of facial expression.

Everybody wants to look good.

 

Is it that difficult to take your trolley back?

There appears to be an epidemic of laziness or maybe it’s just lack of consideration, when people go to the supermarket for their shopping.

You know, you pick up a trolley either from one of the many trolley collection points dotted around the car park or from the neat line of them waiting for you at the entrance to the shop.

But once you have done your shopping and emptied the contents of the trolley into your car, it seems that an increasing number of people can’t be bothered to return the trolleys to one of those collection points. Instead, they either leave them where they are or perhaps move them a short distance from their car, and then they drive off. 

Is it too much to ask that people walk a short distance to return their trolleys, so as to avoid them blocking parking spaces, or scratching the paintwork of the cars they roll into when the wind blows? 

Lazy (why should I walk that distance) or untidy (someone else can do it for me)?  You tell me.

 

Farewell to …….

… Barnet FC, as they bow out of the League following their narrow failure to beat the drop in the last game for the fourth season in a row.  Their points total of 51 is a record high for a team being relegated from this division – that’s no consolation to them at all, I am sure.  Will they return some day?  Big question for a team that has struggled to attract crowds, being in the shadow of illustrious neighbours in the shape of Arsenal, and neighbours who think they are illustrious, in the shape of Tottenham. They have also had to contend with a local Council that has been so unhelpful that next season Barnet will open their new ground in a different Borough, so a big test as to whether their supporters will stick with them.

… ‘Honest Harry’ as his QPR side are relegated from the Premiership, despite their money and the supposedly magical powers of their manager.  No doubt he’ll do his usual wheeling and dealing in the summer. Wonder how many of the highly-paid people he brought in earlier in the season will be kept on board?

… Robin van Persie who was, apparently, disappointed with the reception he received from Arsenal fans when he returned to the Emirates Stadium for the match at the weekend.  Oh really?  Did he expect the fans to overlook what they see as his disloyalty and his decision to up sticks to one of their fiercest rivals, rather than repay the club for the loyalty shown to him over countless years of personal problems and seasons where he was injured so often he barely played?  Fans don’t expect players to stay forever, but they respect class. This is why Thierry Henry will always be loved by Arsenal fans.