Expensesgate

With all the talk of dying newspapers, I am proud to report that it was a British newspaper – The Telegraph (or Torygraph as it is fondly known in the UK for its political bent) – which exposed the scandalous abuse by British Members of Parliament of their expense accounts and has brought the British government to its knees. The speaker of the House of Parliament, Michael Martin, has finally quit amid heated calls for his resignation for mishandling the scandal. The outlandish expenses claims – which include thousands for home renovations, plasma TVs, a thousand pound rocking chair – were secret until this week when The Telegraph published details of the expenses claims which were leaked to them. Here’s the coverage in The Telegraph. Other newspapers have picked up the story, the British public is said to be disgusted by the misuse of taxpayers funds and Gordon Brown’s government is in tatters.