To be honestly stunned by that Tory minister(Mark Simmonds)'s sense of entitlement?

[AskBasil]

That bloke voted for the bedroom tax. He thinks people have no right to have an extra room in the house for their disabled children's equipment. He thinks if you're not prepared to take any shit work (including shift work where you will never see your children) your benefits should be cut. He doesn't worry too much about the nurses, police officers, lorry drivers, shift workers etc., who find it incredibly difficult and stressful to try and work and have a family life.

And yet for him, it's unacceptable and unfair that the taxpayer won't fund a family-sized apartment within walking distance from the house of commons, because he's too fucking precious to get on a tube.

I am so staggered by this. I thought nothing about these shameless gits could surprise, but they've proved me wrong yet again.

It's not that I'm unsympathetic to the idea that being a MP is deeply difficult if you are a parent. But where was he when women MP's were fighting for the right to breast-feed in parliament, to change the working hours so that they were more family-friendly, arguing for job shares for MP's so that more parents who actually do their fair share of parenting, can also be representatives? Where is he when women fight for family friendly workplaces and employment policies? Fucking nowhere. No, he thinks the way to tackle the antiquated working culture of the House of Commons, is for taxpayers to fund family sized apartments which will very rarely be used to their full extent, in one of the most expensive areas on earth.

The shamelessness of it is just ... I just can't...

Yes- given the lack of understanding to others he sounds a selfish twat entitled.

But the tax payer does fund it. According to the times, there were 116 properties with 4 bedrooms under 5 miles within budget.

He could drive to Grantham and get a train to King's Cross - take about 2 hours to get to work. MPs aren't in all the time anyway so he'd maybe need to make the journey twice a week.

He's lazy and self-entitled and I hope the people in his constituency give him a verbal kicking.

There's this well within budget and only 5 minutes walk to The Houses of Parliament. I suppose it's not "nice" enough for him.

I just kinda wonder if the family thing is just an excuse and there were other reasons that he went... I don't know... It just seems a bit odd

And I'm not hinting at anything negative. Just that perhaps it was the job but he had to use family as an excuse If you see what I mean

Otherwise it's hard to fathom

If I was deeply cynical I would be thinking about his constituency (Boston), thinking of some of the biggest issues/tensions in the area (was discussed on question time when it was in the vicinity and then I'd wonder which party did well in the last elections and whether that maybe had any bearing on the timing of his resignation

But obviously I'm not cynical at all and whilst I sympathise with him wanting to spend more time with his family I think most of us would also like to spend more time with our families too. Unfortunately life isn't like that and we do what we have to in order to put food on the table and a roof over our heads.

Not stunned. They're all cunts.

There does seem to be a terrible sense of entitlement amongst the political 'classes'.

It feels to me that politicians believe they are actually in a class of their own, completely separate from the 'commoners'.

Hence this twat believing he is entitled to special privileges at the tax payers expense... the expenses scandals... vital documents pertaining to allegations of paedophilia and naming senior politicians mysteriously disappearing...

Also, they are public sector workers.

Why are they entitled to all sorts of perks and an increase in wages when other public sector workers such as nurses are on a wage freeze [for about 3 years running] and are given absolutely no perks whatsoever?

And yet for him, it's unacceptable and unfair that the taxpayer won't fund a family-sized apartment within walking distance from the house of commons, because he's too fucking precious to get on a tube.

I think it is untrue to say he thinks this. I don't pay much attention to the news, but as far as I know he has not actually said the taxpayer should fund this. He has merely resigned because they don't. That's a completely different thing. He knows there are plenty of other people willing to do that "job" for that pay, and is happy for them to have it. That's a perfectly reasonable and honourable position.

We're not a communist country. People have different levels of wealth and income. You don't have to know much about economics to know that this will affect your priorities. Whether someone is willing to put up with living away from their family or commuting on the tube depends on how much they need the money.

Earlier this year I turned down a roughly 100K a year job, that I could have done from the computer in my spare bedroom. It was more or less the same job I had been doing for the previous 20 years, except that I had commuted 2 or 3 of hours a day to do it from an office. (Well, to be more accurate, it was the stressful part of the job without the nice bits.) I decided I would rather do nothing, for £0 pay. That doesn't make me morally deficient, it just means I have different priorities now to those I'd had for the previous 25 years.

It feels to me that politicians believe they are actually in a class of their own, completely separate from the 'commoners'.

This is an attitude I have come across in the admittedly few ex public schoolboys I know. One even argues that it us his right to drink drive because he is entitled to live as he chooses. He will publicly and vociferously Mand this claim even though his own grandfather hit someone when drink driving. They are fucking disgusting.

I hope his constituents end any of his entitlement next May.