Guy’s posterous

The latest MPs' expenses have been revealed. Much juicier findings will be available elsewhere, but I just wanted to draw attention to a minor but telling detail I came across which goes some way to explaining why Parliament is held in such contempt by the public these days.

James Plaskitt is "my" MP. I have little complaint with his Additional Costs Allowance claims, as far as they go. I can't countenance paying for politicians' mortgages, but that's the system currently in place and is not what I want to discuss here.

Here is the PDF document containing the scans of all of his latest claims. Take your time reading through it if you like; it's only recently we gained this right, after all, and it should be savoured.

At length you will reach the last page. There are many redactions throughout this document, but given that the items are redacted, it is quite impossible to know whether those redactions are justified or not. However, on this last page is a letter to Mr. Plaskitt from an (anonymous) Assistant Validation Officer of the Department of Resources of the House of Commons, informing him that his broadband won't be paid for (even though telephone calls will be, for some unfathomable reason). At the top of this letter are Mr Plaskitt's contact details -- or, rather, part of them. The last few digits of his phone and fax numbers are hidden, as is the first part of his email address. The second part of his email address, however, is shown, and it is:

@parliament.uk

So it's his parliamentary email address being kept private! Why would it be kept private?!? This is an especially stupid state of affairs because his email address can easily be found (as it should be), at the BBC, along with those phone and fax numbers. Here they are again, along with other information available from that site:

Constituency:
Warwick & Leamington

Party:
Labour

Date of birth:
23 June 1954

Office address:
Department for Work & Pensions, Richmond House, 79 Whitehall, London , SW1A 2NS

Office phone:
020 7219 6207

Office fax:
020 7219 4993

Office e-mail:
plaskittj@parliament.uk

Constituency address:
First Floor, 2A Leam Terrace, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV31 1BB

Argh. When will this ridiculous culture of secrecy finally disappear? I sincerely hope it's before there's a revolution.