Labour MP Chris Carter believes he has received more attention over his travel costs and spousal travel because he is gay, implying the news media have a prurient interest in him.

"Why was there no interest in any other minister taking their partner with them,…

Labour MP Chris Carter believes he has received more attention over his travel costs and spousal travel because he is gay, implying the news media have a prurient interest in him.

"Why was there no interest in any other minister taking their partner with them,…

Labour's chief whip Darren Hughes is prosecuting the issue on his party's behalf without any sense of shame that the previous leadership of his party protected Field up to the point where questions were…

And I was left with the uneasy feeling the whole rationale for the exercise was a sort of patronising "Oh... let's talk to a local hick and let the beltway snicker at his homely advice and Southland drawl".

So now I'm left agreeing with both Tom and Craig. I feel…

Carter is clearly keen to speak up, but perhaps that's what they were afraid of

Hum... perhaps you're right. But, once more, I've got to wonder who the hell is running the media shop for Labour nowadays? Whatever you think of Mike Munro, he was a consumate pro — he'd…

when he won't front to make his case. Its certainly a rather novel definition of 'no comment'. :)

Carter is clearly keen to speak up, but perhaps that's what they were afraid of ...

And I was left with the uneasy feeling the whole rationale for the exercise was a sort of patronising "Oh... let's talk to…

I sincerely don't think Carter is in the same category.

Neither do I, but asking questions about ministerial travel isn't some media beat up either. It's also a little rich of Carter to bitch "Never let facts stand in the way of a good story, journalists!" on a party blog,…

He kind of hasn't got much choice, due to his current position. His argument for needing to be housed along with his family, in Wellington is reasonable. It's the trying to screw every loop hole thats pissed me off. It's not good leadership.

In a fit of whorish self-promotion, you…

Not too poor,he's giving some back.

To his (small) credit, English will at least front up to the media. Just heard, on Morning Report, the bizarre situation where Chris Carter declined an interview to discuss his ministerial travel — which he is perfectly entitled to do, BTW — citing a…

I have never had to pay someone personally to get my passport, drivers license etc under the counter

What, you mean all those Auckland motorists have actually passed a driving test?

Rather: What I mean is we have make sure they keep their hands above the table!!!!

One thing that seems to be forgotten in NZ is that we are relatively – that means practically – graft and corruption free. I have never had to pay someone personally to get my passport, drivers license etc under the counter. That is the way it should…

Mr English showed signs of frustration yesterday.

Poor dear.

Mr English showed signs of frustration yesterday.

Perhaps if you weren't quite so obviously rogering the taxpayer for every cent Bill, and then got called on it, we'd take a bit more interest in your calls for the country to tighten their belt.

Let's move on.

Bill English agrees. From that Herald story Russell linked to:

Mr English showed signs of frustration yesterday.

"After four days of discussing this issue there are bigger things going on in the country like a recession, like thousands of people joining the dole and I think it is…

What race card Rich?

Perhaps an obscure way of putting it ...

But, Mark, Rick, I'm not sure this is in any way a productive argument. Let's move on.

109 words Rich, for what?

To tell you not to play the race card when someone disagrees with you. Which you have done repreatedly.

Did you not get that the first time round?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li3WZXMJaH0

What race card Rich?

And a certain adorable cluelessness about how papers actually work...

Come on genius, share with the group.

Tom: You think there might just have been a mega-dose of snark you missed?

No.

No no no you lot! The Herald editorial –

"...Or, more charitably, might we suppose that new ministers were simply too busy to notice they were not exactly practising the economies they preached?..." -

Tom: You think there might just have been a mega-dose of snark you missed?

"...Or, more charitably, might we suppose that new ministers were simply too busy to notice they were not exactly practising the economies they preached?..." –

today informs us that Bill & co were just to busy setting the country to right to…

Oh wow... that's OK then. /sarcasm. Seriously, Labour might like to STFU with the 'everyone does it, but they're worse' line, front up with a list of their own double dipping landlords and make sure they're fully supportive of a meaningful and credible reform package.

They've said they welcome a…

The previous practice of Internal Affairs was to limit out-of-town ministers living in their own Wellington properties to the $24,000 maximum of an ordinary MP.

Oh wow... that's OK then. /sarcasm. Seriously, Labour might like to STFU with the 'everyone does it, but they're worse' line, front up with a…

109 words Rich, for what?

To tell you not to play the race card when someone disagrees with you. Which you have done repreatedly.

Did you not get that the first time round?

The Wellington family home of Finance…

Phil Goff has also declined to out his tacpayer-subsidised tenant.

It'd be priceless if it was a Nat – or better still, an Actoid. Heatley & Collins might be keeping schtum about their arrangements for fear of revealing similar cross-party rental arrangements.

Craig's right to staunchly push the goose sauce principle…

Perhaps it was even inspired by the creative way the Greens coordinated…

Judith Collins is another who we are paying to rent her Welli apartment to a fellow National MP – whose name she refuses to reveal. And why is that?

"I'm not going to breach other people's privacy"

Seriously. Said with a straight face – see the accompanying clip.

Well, Sacha,…

Them family values fair overfloweth.

Oh how I wish I had Craig's lyrical skills right now...

Heatley's practiced manner gave him away... But I'm a family man, not some barren-femo-nazi-lesbian, I need your money to keep my family together... never mind that I'll cut whatever subsidy keeps your's from sinking...…

English hoped he'd earn our sympathy as a caring father, that's transparently clear.

Talking point? Housing Minister Phil Heatley has his own prairie moment on tv3 news:

"It's important for me to keep my little family together with me in Wellington"

Them family values fair overfloweth.

Judith Collins is another…

Mark – this is uncalled for and out of order.

As far as I am aware, this is the first time you've made any sort of mention of your ethnicity (as opposed to your current country of residence) on this forum.

I doubt TracyMac has (had) any idea what 'colour'…

and I'll add at the end

"So I no longer need to feel any embarrassment for receiving the assistance".

He changed the ownership arrangements for his home in order to increase his allowances; that's the issue. It's compounded by the apparent hypocrisy of the Minister of Finance acting in a way…

Craig, I fear you've overlooked that English made his family the issue, no one else.

Paul; If you're going to bend over and pick up every sticky turd a politician obligingly lets fall, all you get is mucky hands and a sore back.

And I'd rather avoid politicians' children becoming tokens in any kind of game, "fair" or not, thanks.

Craig, I fear you've overlooked that English made his family the issue, no one else.

Yeah, but when he's saying things like "I am not going to allow anyone to require me to send my children away to meet some perception problem" I think noting he can damn well afford to house six kids on that income is fair game.

Lucy: If you think it's…

And it would still be nonsense if Bill English was a bachelor in a betsit with ninety-six cats.

Yeah, but when he's saying things like "I am not going to allow anyone to require me to send my children away to meet some perception problem" I think noting he can damn…

I don't the ministers live in state owned houses, as there second residence. That would leave a better taste in the public mouth, even if it where inefficient.

He should be in Vogel house but there is a squatter in there at the moment according to David Farrar and then…

Sort of. The idea that you'd be hard-pressed to keep a family with 6 kids together on, say, $370k without a $50k rent subsidy on a house that you own... it's nonsense.

And it would still be nonsense if Bill English was a bachelor in a betsit with ninety-six cats.

Don't really see the relevance to any matter of genuine public interest.

The relevance is to Bill's claim that the subsidy has enabled his family to remain together. I call "BS."

Craig, I fully agree... that's kinda what I thought 3410's comment to Glenn Pearce meant... It's not relevant.

Sort…

You're kidding, right?

Yes, my tongue was firmly in my cheek.

I would say though that having 6 kids does add a little weight to English's argument about renting and having to shift twice and not wanting to go through it again.

It can't be that easy to find accomodation…

Moreover, it's Bill English who introduced this into the discussion, no one else. The number of kids they have is their business.

I think the point being made is that they're still a high-earning double income family. Six kids is a lot, and certainly expensive, but let's not overlook the fact that they've been financially secure for sometime.

Paul: Perhaps we should put Bill and Mary English's fecundity to the same side…

But your income at this sort of level isn't in any way affected by the number of children you pop out, and fair enough.

You're kidding, right?

Why would that be a joke?

6 kids

You're kidding, right?

where's the edvidence that without the $50k "rent" subsidy the English family would be unable to stay together due to the hardship of surviving on a mere $276k p.a. + Mary's GP income?

6 kids

Earlier in the column, she lashes English and Key for deploying emotional spin, when no one has ever actually suggested that his family should be broken up.

I don't want to call English a serial liar, but even if someone was suggesting that, where's the edvidence that without the $50k…

I'm so glad you all voted National! It was terrible being looked after by Labour – they were like nannies compared to Action Man John and his best buddy Bill. Puke!

Andre: I don't know if you've been paying attention, but there's not a lot of sympathy flowing in either…

Audrey Young

Righteous bitch-slapping all round. Now Goff and Key can claw back some credibility by retracting the pointing fingers, serving fuckupachinos to their caucuses and hammering out a serious and credible reform package. Please — you folks broke it, now you can get real about fixing it.

MP's get paid so much that you'd think that the job came with no other perks. Once you add in the VIP treatment they expect for the rest of their lives it's worth about $500k a year. And you can retire after 6 years…

Phil Goff did his best to suggest that the rules under National have changed and that Labour minister cost the taxpayer a lot less than the current lot, which is, of course not true.

The annual leases of Labour ministers' taxpayer funded ministerial homes last year has just been…

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Wayne Mapp has admitted his family trust receives taxpayer funds from a Wellington property he lets to another MP.

The disappointing thing about the news that has come out about English, Mapp, etc, is that there clearly is a system for getting as much as possible out…

I've tried to be resolute in not moaning about the fair cost of representative democracy, but this case really stretches my tolerance.

I really can't see how it can or should be tolerated. It looks to me like simple greed if not outright theft.

Is there any way we can…

I've tried to be resolute in not moaning about the fair cost of representative democracy, but this case really stretches my tolerance.

But if a mega-dose of good old-fashioned embarrassment leads to meaningful reform (which I'm just cynical enough not to count as a done deal), at least some good…

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Wayne Mapp has admitted his family trust receives taxpayer funds from a Wellington property he lets to another MP.

Dr Mapp collects more than $700 per week towards his accomodation, at the same time as his trust received almost $10,000 in rental income.

The Labour…

Undoubtedly, the highlight of the Prime Minister’s brief press conference yesterday was this classic exchange between Key and the Dom-Post’s Vernon Small.

Small: When you said he [English] changed the trust arrangement [ with regard to his…

His worst crime,…

Or perhaps practices have actually changed somewhat under this government. It might be worth considering that possibility while you're strenuously extrapolating what he said.

Could be, but it might actually be more useful — and smarter politics — if Labour articulated a serious proposal for reform. Meanwhile, if the rules…

I'm just a bit perplexed as to where Murray McCully stays when he's he's visiting his Albany electorate, given that his main home is 150km away. Do we put him up in a hotel?

If the expense disclosures for the first 6 months of this year are…

Or perhaps practices have actually changed somewhat under this government. It might be worth considering that possibility while you're strenuously extrapolating what he said.

That's as I understand it but I think it does need exploration. If it is the case that the rules have been changed then all this…

There's a "Stop the Night Class Cuts" (cuts planed to ACE) march in Wellington today. From 2.15 at Wellington High School, getting to Parliament about 3 pm, if any of the capital readers are interested.

Well obviously in that tale, Jenny Shipley did.

Kyle: Coming back to abolishing provocation, Charles Chauvel is on the record saying that he's pleased that it's been taken up as a government bill which will have Labour's support, and therefore an overwhelming parliamentary majority. Sorry, but I'm giving big ups…

Phil: You know something, as I've said elsewhere: Who gives a shit?

Well obviously in that tale, Jenny Shipley did.

But Darren Hughes keeps saying the rules changed after the election.

Labour MPs are also saying Clark kept a watch on the issue, which wouldn't be surprising given that she had two ministers — Marian Hobbs and Phillida Bunkle — stood down for an inquiry over Wellington accommodation expenses in…

I don't want to see MPs eating grass and sharing a urine-scented doorway with Blanket Man but a little fraking modesty wouldn't hurt.

Yeah. And not this kind of enforced modesty.

Not all MPs, of course. Just those we don't like :-)

Hey, I don't dislike Blanket Man that much. :)

I don't want to see MPs eating grass and sharing a urine-scented doorway with Blanket Man

Not all MPs, of course. Just those we don't like :-)

Where’s the fun in that? Sophistry is Mark’s bag.

Yeah, but does it matter if he gets there in the end.

Seems to matter him, judging by his response to you. I’d just suggest he cut the robbery-like rhetorical style (not that he’s likely to want advice from me).

…So…

That doesn't mean MPs are overpaid, though.

Up to a point, Lord Copper. :) "Overpaid" isn't the right word, but I've little patience for the argument that 'we're entitled to it, because we've taken such a huge paycut to enter politics'. In most cases, I think any halfway competent MP…

That doesn't mean MPs are overpaid, though.

I, personally, think there's something very, very wrong when elected officials are earning above even the 85th – never mind the 95th! – percentile of national income distribution. We're not the developing world, for crying out loud.

But Darren Hughes keeps saying the rules changed after the election.

Mr Head, let me introduce you to Mr Desk. Slamdance!

I don't see what's wrong with MPs earning a good salary.

Don't think most people do — within reason. I think what does get people's hackles up (which we saw in the UK) is politicians who think they can get on the public teat and there's no quid pro quo…

I'd also be interested to know what the practice was under the previous government. Labour MPs are not openly attacking English, which makes me suspicious.

It appears there may have been an informal agreement not to make a meal of it, in advance of the publication of the figures. But…

Then we get this .

Hate to say it, Sofie, but I'll hold off the celebrations until I've seen the terms of reference — the malicious little fuck of a demon being in the details, and all that. But I guess one thing Key has learned from Moat-gate in the…

I don't see what's wrong with MPs earning a good salary. The majority of them work long hours and make enormous sacrifices in terms of family and social life.

I don't have a particular problem with the salaries earned by our MPs. And most ministers would probably be able to earn a lot more if they were in the private sector.

I don't have a problem with them earning a lot of money. I'd just like it to be…

I don't have a particular problem with the salaries earned by our MPs. And most ministers would probably be able to earn a lot more if they were in the private sector.

I've always liked the idea of MP's salaries being zero with all relevant expenses being covered and a…

I'd also be interested to know what the practice was under the previous government. Labour MPs are not openly attacking English, which makes me suspicious.

To be fairly cynical, Scotty, remember when Labour tried to make hay out of the MP for Helensville living in a Parnell "mansion" — only…

Good on Heather Roy, Chris Finlayson and Peter Dunne for not renting out their Wellington houses and getting the rest of us to shout them another one. Not that I want either families being split up or all our representatives living in Welli and further isolating them from the…

But Craig, as any conservative would tell you, there's a big difference between you keeping more of your own money and you helping yourself to some of mine ;-)

But there's also forms of tax avoidance that aren't so bad when nice middle-class people do it. :)

I've often thought…

And most of the expenses being claimed seem reasonable. But there appear to be a couple of examples…

I've sometimes daydreamed that an ideal way to determine MPs' salaries would be to link them directly to the average full-time wage.

I'd go one further and make it a multiplier of the minimum wage.

If I weren't mistaken I'd guess you're just having a go because I'm yellow.

Mark – this is uncalled for and out of order.

As far as I am aware, this is the first time you've made any sort of mention of your ethnicity (as opposed to your current country…

One of the biggest rorts of all is that the GG, in addition to being paid very handsomely for a job that is all but redundant, and having mansions in both Auckland and Wellington, pays no income tax.

I'm just a bit perplexed as to where Murray McCully stays when…

Well, Russell, you might be right — but quite a few media folk, as well as politicians, might want to make sure their own *cough* tax minimization instruments are not only in order but fully disclosed before getting too sanctimonious. Hypocrisy isn't a very good look either.

But Craig, as…

Auckland CADS are good people. Holmes is off his tree dissing them

Well, quite.

The fact that CADS, who help thousands of ordinary people, got slagged in the same documentary that gave Tom Claunch and his rich-folks clinic an extended free advertisement is ... poor.

e.g.,

"Regular" MP – 2x avg full-time salary

Cabinet minister / Leader of Opposition – 3x

PM – 4x

That way the only way their circumstances could improve…

Personally, I'd be more impressed if Parliamentarians passed legislation linking their pay increases to inflation and/or average pay increases in the civil service.

No argument from me Craig.

I noted on the Island Life thread last Thursday that Lianne Dalziel's bill to do the same had been drawn from the ballot. Shame the Herald didn't report that fact.

Shades of a cartoon (Tom Scott?) brilliantly portraying Shipley on labelling. You'd have thought it was about labelling food, until…

As for you, Mark, take a jump. I left home when I was 17, in 1986, and it was fucking hard. </blockquote>

So you left home at 17 too. minus the 12.5% interest.

so I don't see what the fucking problem is with a hand-up at the right time (unlike…

Wow. Even if there's an innocent explanation, that's not a good look.

Well, Russell, you might be right — but quite a few media folk, as well as politicians, might want to make sure their own *cough* tax minimization instruments are not only in order but fully disclosed before getting…

Close enough is good enough and all that.

I'm sure that's ironic Matthew. I doubt the public will be as tolerant. Perhaps had Tolley, Bennett and English been less zealous in their mantra, we must tighten the belt, we'd all be more tolerant of a double income family being subsidised…

In the same way that you might save someone a broken nose by kicking them in the nuts instead.

And a chortle all the way from page one.

Mikaere and his dad wrote me my whaikorero for this year's Foo Camp, and I loved speaking the greeting part.

Still sad I missed that part (despite my best Shapeshifter-inspired driving efforts).

However, I was thoroughly delighted last week when a colleague used the non-christian karakia raised here last year.…

Not that I want either families being split up or all our representatives living in Welli and further isolating them from the rest…

Korero

Sorry, but I think this should officially be declared management-speak, and not in a good way. I have frequently heard "let's have a korero about that" (or similar) used as a way to head off or shut down disagreement while appearing inclusive and culturally sensitive. It really grates.

YMMV.…

The scene where (Holmes) sat weeping angrily over harm minimisation advice in some CADS literature was not only dishonest

Auckland CADS are good people. Holmes is off his tree dissing them. He may be a nice bloke, but some klepto should nick off with his ego. The righteous dwarf needs…

It sounds like he removed himself as trustee and beneficiary, in order to fit within the expenses rules. I'm not sure who the beneficiaries of his trust now are: probably his kids and maybe his wife. Key has apparently claimed…

Maybe it's changed a bit since your friend was 16. Or...perhaps the policy is solid & the execution is lacking funding.

I'd say that's probably the case, my experience of this thing is pretty warped dating back to 97-98 I had no fewer than 5 flatmates on this benefit, 3 of…

Feeling the love.

Ah the warm glow of love by state demand, that’s some quality caring and sharing!

Considering Matthew's first response was directly following;

this exchange. ...

Yeah, in which Nic provided a good reason for retaining the benefit, to which you responded with your glib “live with a…

People going and getting counselling for alchohol abuse and any other types of counselling that we may think…

What kind of good reasons?

A real-world example: In 2007 a young relative of mine brought a school friend home with her. The shy and rather distressed teenager had been ordered out of the family home by her mother, who hailed from an Asian country with the possibly…

provocation will be scrapped by a government bill.

I noted on the Island Life thread last Thursday that Lianne Dalziel's bill to do the same had been drawn from the ballot. Shame the Herald didn't report that fact.

Shades of a cartoon (Tom Scott?) brilliantly portraying Shipley on labelling. You'd…

But wherever reasonable I feel family is the best port of call

You're making the assumption that the state doesn't think this way. Had a quick look at the Ministry of Youth Development site; there was a bit in 2006 outlining the improvements they were making specifically for people on…

"te mea, te mea, te mea" literally means 'the thing" x 3 – but 'mea' is one very complex wee word. Generally when used in that 3fold fashion it means "and so & so" or "and so forth" or "and so on"-

As someone said before, he has this image of himself as a little kiwi battler

Who has a thoroughly distorted view of the circumstances genuine Kiwi battlers face. A former producer tells the tale from about '93 or '94, a time when tax rate policies were being publicly discussed.

The…

we would be buggered if it weren't for grandparents, for example

I'm sorry to hear that Jackie and yet at the same time I'm glad that it is the grandparents and not state that are intervening, maybe I'll get blasted for saying it. But wherever reasonable I feel family is…

Finlayson, Roy and Dunne already lived in Wellington so would not be eligible for the 'living away from home' housing allowance or expenses.

ThaDude, if that benefit was really easy to get, every rebellious 16-year-old with a bee in their bonnet about being told off for smoking a joint would be on it. C'mon.

.
And that's my distant memory too, that the application required evidence of near irreparable break-down of the family unit.…

Feel the love

Your completely naive assumption that all members of families are both known to each other and in full possession of aroha for each other and the capacity to feel and express it. I suppose the examples of dysfunctional families that have been presented to you…

Plus, NO benefit is easy to get in NZ.

Not only are benefits not easy to get, even when you're on them you're screwed if you need extra money for, say, dental work. A friend's a DPB mother (three kids to the same father, who she divorced because he was…

Dude, if that benefit was really easy to get, every rebellious 16-year-old with a bee in their bonnet about being told off for smoking a joint would be on it. C'mon.

I'm not saying it's easy to get, never did, I'm simply maintaining that the people I know who've received…

because I think we should take a closer look at how and in what manner benefits are administered to under 18s

Dude, if that benefit was really easy to get, every rebellious 16-year-old with a bee in their bonnet about being told off for smoking a joint would be on…

(A neighbour just brought me her own fresh bread, and pikelets, and homemade pumpkin soup...I was able to give organic ANZ garlic(which she neeeded) for such an unasked for-but-deeply appreciated koha- an example of manakitaka if ever. eh?)

So, the rant part of…

where someone can be obliged to take on care of a person just because they‘re related

Feeling the love.

He was refuting a point you made earlier, and what he said is directly related to the issue of the need for the benefit.

His point being he think's I'm saying…

isn't "trust" an odd term for something which often seems to come down to tax avoidance?

It's a very, very old term, possibly one of the oldest in "English language" legalese, given that it dates back to the Crusades. Back then, when the head of the household was heading off…

The mere existence of a benefit does not automatically mean that it's being thrown around willy-nilly at individuals in the absence of other avenues of support. Likewise, just because you heard of someone that's flagrantly abusing it, doesn't mean that every beneficiary is.

Obviously there are plenty more…

what Matthew Poole said-

I'm thinking it means "agree, support, affirm, appreciate", that about right?

Thanks Islander.

Me too. I've known the word for a long time and always thought it was pretty handy, but this reminds me I should take advantage of its utility.

That would have been a good angle for last…

Of course not no. Sorry. Expecting a family member to be happy or even ok to take care of another family member? In New Zealand? What was I thinking?

Because of course it’s easy to just take on the care of another person’s teenager, who may live in another city…

…or indeed "why not?"

Sorry, not sure what you mean, Steve.

O nothing. Or you werent thinking. Those comments are on a par with your earlier one apropos (precis) "it's accepted that…

Plus he seems to have made the assumption that the relie would be happy to take on this responsibility.

Of course not no. Sorry. Expecting a family member to be happy or even ok to take care of another family member? In New Zealand? What was I thinking?

"Of course…

Even if there's an innocent explanation

I look forward to hearing it.

ww, that's certainly how it read to me. His position is consistent with an abolition of the welfare state, relying on familial charity to support those who are unable to support themselves.

Plus he seems to have made the assumption that the relie would be happy to take on this…

All this "trust" business (isn't "trust" an odd term for something which often seems to come down to tax avoidance?) is confusing (as intended?), but, can Bill English at some time in the future become a beneficiary of the trust once more?

And at that point does something…

Had he remained a beneficiary of the trust, he would not have been eligible for much or all of the money he's getting.

I understand it's gone from $400 p.w. to $900-$1000 p.w. since the change of circumstances, that'd be while we're to tighten our belts...

Tautoko Matthew Poole

I've been searching for the spelling of that word on and off for a while. I learned it, to the extent that you understand a concept from a language you don't speak, when studying and I often think it's precisely the word/concept I most want to use…

Mark, in which utopia do you reside where young people have convenient relatives who can take them in?

Pretty much most countries excluding the new world.

Hell, maybe the nearest family members are no better than the parents from whom they are so eager to escape.

seems you have a…

Had he remained a beneficiary of the trust, he would not have been eligible for much or all of the money…

Back to Holmes. Does he write well sometimes? If not, how did he win the Qantas Award for best columnist when there are brilliant writers out there who are so very much better than he is. He seems to have one main subject – himself.

I recall the gasp in…

If I had kids (which I don't) and if those non-existent kids had to stop living with me for whatever reason, you'd ship them back to the UK – cos that's where my nearest rellies live...

Makes you wonder what's going to happen when they scrap it, eh?

Wind-up gramophone at 78rpm with crackly needle – but you try telling the kids of today that!! Them and their fancy portable I-p3 players.....

Let's avoid the cheap shots about Holmes' family.

I always love it when people say "Just throwing money at it won't cure the problem". Of course it will! It's just that we hardly ever throw enough – possibly because…