The MPs are really stressed

[FabulousBakerGirl]

Bless.

The rules were fine.

The MPs took the piss.

Apparently the media, the public and the papers are to blame.

Oh dear.

LOL - I was just checking when they have to declare their earnings from their outside activities (it is July) and found this classic quote from one MP defending his earnings from other activities:
"I work more than 90 hours a week on my shadow responsibilities and on behalf of my constituents. Any outside interests are undertaken in my own time - they in no way impinge on my main duties."

Blimey! So he works 13 hours a day, 7 days a week on being an MP but also acts as an adviser to 3 private companies where he earns around £80k (let's assume that figure is across all 3 consultancies). So how many hours can he possibly spend on those? Either about 2 hours in which case they are the highest paid positions in the world or he never sleeps.

Of course there is a third possibility which is that he is shockingly bad at maths

Looking at the City law firms the lower end starting salary as a trainee is around £30k, going up regularly over the 2 years, rising to £82k in some of the more highly paid American firms after 2 years training. On qualificaiton there is another jump, so newly qualified City lawyers are will be between £60-90k depending on the firm.

Assuming these people have not had gap years etc then the new trainees will be only 24 when they qualify.

'Assuming these people have not had gap years etc then the new trainees will be only 24 when they qualify.'

And the number of hours they're going to put in to earn that salary would put to shame any MP.

Remember many require a certain number of billable hours in order to keep their jobs.

And their expenses are gone over with a fine-toothed comb.

Yep. Been there!

I once did maternity leave cover for a top partner's PA (big firm in Edinburgh).

I felt soooo sorry for the partner's assistant and trainees.

Man.

They were there all the time.

Well, all the other trainees were.

A friend's flatmate was a trainee at one of the MEGA firms. He did not see her for three weeks, because she was literally at work, all the time. She was sleeping in the office, every couple of days they would send her to the in-house "spa" for an hour, make her look less dead and send her out again for a few more days work. MPs don't really do that in my experience.
And, most people do not have the option of getting a second job. Lawyers, accountants, GPs etc. are contractually prohibited from taking on a second job, and do not have the time to either.

No you're wrong bleh - as the quote from the MP shows, it's perfectly possible to work every waking hour and still find time left over to do not one but two other jobs. Honestly, these young interns have got it easy!

When I was a legal secretary at one mega firm in Houston, our offices had a full gym with very generous shower rooms and saunas.

Convenient for trainees and newbies to wash up after another all-nighter.

We had any number of delivery contracts so the attorney could just ask and the secretary would ring up and have just about anythign delivered or service provided onsite. No more excuses to leave the office!

We even had a laundry, ironing and dry cleaning service.

You could drop off your clothes in the morning by 9 and they'd be back in the copy room for 5PM, ready to wear.

I think the way expenses were handled was better, too.

Most firms I've worked with have contracts with service providers, including travel agents.

So actual expenses are kept to a minimum.

Or there was a credit card or credit cards for employees, so it was easy to keep track of what was being spent and by whom.

Expense claims, that is, are kept to a minimum.

When cash was required it needed to be requested from Accounting, although the department secretaries had control of an alloted amount of petty cash to use when a paralegal or attorney might need to access a service or good that needed to be paid for in cash.

Same where I work expat. There are the following amenities:

• gym
• showers in most buildings
• laundry and dry cleaning service
• shoe cleaning service
• cafeterias
• contracted take-aways
• in-house coffee shops
• travel services

You could pretty much live in here. And I think that's the aim

And if anyone was found to be abusing the system, it was grounds for reprimand or warning, possibly written.

and now also a beauty salon. And the gym has massage people coming in twice a week (you have to pay for all these things)

I had to do all my partners' expenses if they had any or examine their company credit card statements, of course, as that is part of a legal secretary's job (in some firms, it is also the legal secretary's role to do her partner's billing to submit to A/P), and never once been in a firm where a solicitor was adverse to having his/her secretary query something if they saw anything that might not pass muster. And I've worked for some real battleaxes.

But it's well undertood that fiddling expenses is a quick way to get sacked, blacklisted and even prosecuted.

Oh, yes, I forgot about that part, bleh!

Yes, you had to pay. Everyone.

Of course, because of the contracts it was usually at a lower cost than what you'd pay on the street, but there was still a cost.

I miss the catering!

After the conference or meeting was over, free goodies for everyone to pick over!

bleh - where I work we have a cashpoint and a vending machine that sells toothbrushes and other essential toiletry items. Never need to go home!

OMG, just LISTEN to the arrogance of Bill Cash.

What an utter twat.

Get rid of the lot of them!

But that's part of the problem -- a lot of them did ask for advice, guidance from the Commissioner and were told that the claims were fine.

For instance, there was nothing in the rules about a husband and wife claiming different homes in order to claim the 2nd home allowance. For instance, they cross claim so both count as second homes. Morally wrong though.

Adultery isn't illegal, either. Doesn't make it right. And anyone with a modicum of education knows that.

Well, c'mon, these MPs are not under-educated.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that moats and Aga servicing and dry rot treatments are not appropriate.

And everyone has friends who work in the private sector and would never dream of trying to expense such things.

It isn't education; it's manners

I've met some extremely educated people with appalling manners.

One of the MPs round here, Anne Main, is now claiming that her daughter doesn't really live in the second home full-time, despite said daughter being on the electoral roll and registering her company at that address.

Clearly Ms Main knew perfectly well her daughter was living rent-free at the taxpayers' expense. No-one would think that an appropriate use of public funds.

If Ms Main or any of the others want to provide a home for adult children they should use their OWN money. How on earth can they claim they didn't know it was wrong, even if it was inside the very elastic rules?

Oh, the irony of Mr Cash being caught lining his pockets at our expense.

I missed earlier questions about how much trainee lawyers/acctnts earn

Okay, newly qualified lawyers and accountants (as opposed to trainees) earn as much as or more than MPs, give or take a few gran. I still think that our law makers out to be on a decent packet.

And to answer the question about whether I am an aspiring MP; i wouldn't rule it out but I think that my propensity for unpopular causes such as this one and my defence of the McCann's, says something about my political instincts! In modern politics you need to be a Blair or a Cameron and latch on to whatever the most recent political surge is. A sort of pulsar of the focus groups. I prefer the hard graft of trying to find reasoned solutions to the difficult problems. Altho' i recognise need for consensus. Actually Obama is doing a bad job at finding the right balance - e.g. at present he has to take on the insiders in Wall Street. Also his team is making a good effort at building towards Midd East peace.

Anyway I am going off on tangent...

MPs sadly don't make most of our laws though - the % quoted by different people varies but a substantial proportion of UK law is by EU Directive - and the House of Commons makes very little attempt to scrutinise European legilsation.

should be ...Actually Obama is isn't doing ....

Random question for a lurker on this thread: Is the Telegraph going to look at the expenses of all the MPs? I hope so. they haven't yet scrutinised my MP who voted very strongly against transparency.

He also is one of the highest claimants for staff. I'd love to find out what his 'staff' does for the money.