this from the Salter ("there is no prospect of my ever blogging") blog on the Telegraph site.
With two young women working largely on their own in the office for the best part of the week, it seemed only responsible to utilise the security budget that the Commons authorities had introduced for the installation of panic buttons, an intercom and security shutters. The equipment was duly delivered, only for us to discover that just 50 per cent of the cost was recoverable from the designated budget. The only way the full £6,000 bill could be met in full was either by cutting the wages of my staff or, as was eventually the case, to pay for it myself.
In Doris Lessing's "The Golden Notebook", which had a great influence on me in my younger days, there is a mock writing competition, to continue a piece which has as its first line "The two women were alone in the London flat". In 1950s London, where the book was written and set, there would presumably have been many, not all of them men, who did not realise that that sentence was meaningless. But in 21st-century England? Er, Mr S, if there were two of them in your office then neither of them was "on their own". So what did you mean then? Misogyny in Parliament has lost a faithful friend in you, Mr S. I see that the resentment at paying your own money for something still festers - despite the 40K plus claimed in the first four years for a non-existent London property. Which is criminal fraud.
6 comments:
I think we need to know exactly WHY all media sources refuse to even ask Salter the question about the £40,000.
Is any journalist in this land not frightened of Salter?!
So what about you, Paul Staines, Guido or whoever you think you are? Scared of Saletr are we? SHAME!!
Quite the pussy cat, Guido!!
Only smokes out easy and tame prey like McBride. Afraid to take on the big beasts like Salter.
And what about you, Ian Dale?
Are you Salter's pussy too?
Miaaaaow.
When I quoted Jane on the subject, I was told I would be sued.
martinsnottheone - listen, you need to know something about libel and suing for it.
Most people spend their whole lives WITHOUT ever considering matters of libel either suing or being sued. It is all about what they read in the papers - Naomi Campbell taking out an action or Elton John etc. We read in the press about the thousands of pounds that those who lose a libel case have to pay. Some that we read about may go bankrupt - like William Roache ( Ken Barlow in Corrie).
To bring a successful libel suit, the bar is extremely high. That is why, in the days of the newspaper Diary peak, columnists such as Matthew Norman of The Guardian and Kevin McGuire of The Daily Mirror could get away with murder. The same was also true of Ian Dale when he used to write a Diary column for the New Statesman. If you are on the wrong end of the innuendoes, it is very annoying and may most certainly be damaging to your reputation. But it is a fact that unless a columnist or diarist actually says , for example 'Mr X MP was seen ( not 'could have been seen') eating new born children instead of muesli in the Commons cafeteria, then the writer is not going to be sued.
The layperson does not know this, therefore, it is extremely easy for those who do not wish their behaviour to be investigated - or even aired for debate - to attempt to silence critics by threatening 'To sue'.
This is presumably what the ex MP for Reading West is doing in this case.
If you have questions, martinsnottheone - then ask them. Do we live in a country that cherishes the freedom of speech or not?
I repeat - step forward journalists wherever you are. Ask the questions. Print the answers. Or state why you are frihgtened /who is bullying you/who is telling you not to pursue this line of enquiry and why.
We are waiting.
Ho Ho.
Deathly silence on part of journos to include named journos.
And blogsters to include named blogsters.
Eric Illsley has today been charged under three counts and will stand trial.
At the veyr least, someone should ask Salter about the £40,000 if only for the pleasure of printing his denial.
Is he God?
The Messiah?
Gandhi?
Barack Obama?
Who the hell is the God Salter that he is deemed to be immune from scrutiny by press or police?
Come on you boys in blue!!
Stop locking up your daughters and lock up Salter!!
I am still waiting.
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