In the UK, in the wake of swine flu no-story, a number of British MPs were discovered to have been claiming from the UK tax payer things like moat-cleaning expenses and for mortgages that they had already paid off. The Prime Minister claimed rather too much for two toilet seats and someone else claimed a large amount for some light bulbs to be fitted.

The press, who paid for the information from a civil servant leak, are horrified. I am indifferent, because my bench-mark for things like police brutality and government corruption is low. Clive James in 'A Point of View' put it rather well:

"In liberal democratic societies, where the free market is regulated by government, there is a limit to corruption. What we are all being asked to be amazed at right now, is that there is such a thing as human dishonesty, but really we should be amazed by how it is being kept in bounds. In countries where no bounds are set, and corruption remains unchecked, hardly anyone can afford to be honest. The terrible truth is that the full force of corruption is doing its dirty work even among us. We, however, have the luxury of being able to call it crime, not politics. The apparent scam of MP's expenses looks bad but the fact that it looks bad is the very thing that makes it not so bad. The outrage that we are encouraged to feel means that we live in a country where corruption is not the norm. If it were, some members on the front bench would be laughing at us right now, not sweating."