Hi, if you have access to BBC iplayer, BBC Four presented an hour long docudrama about the persistence of Heather Brookes in getting details of MPs’ behaviour through the 2000 Freedom of Information Act. It’s available until next Monday 1st March I believe.
For regular readers, you’ll know I did a series of posts using the MPs’ expenses to consider social patterns of behaviour. The docudrama [for want of a better description] ‘On Expenses’ written by Tony Saint, tells the story [some bits are fictional, a lot is factual] of Heather Brookes five year efforts to get transparency on the way parliament spent taxpayers money.
Her efforts lead to the leaks to The Daily Telegraph that occupied the UK for a large chunk of last year. In spite of protestations from MPs early on, and comments of ‘oh, it’s nothing’ and the like – bear in mind that criminal proceedings are being brought against four MPs and that is in consideration of expenses that do not include the flipping of second homes.
All the best,
David
PS: I enjoyed it having kept an eye on the whole panoply of articles and commentaries at the time, and it has a quirky side to it, probably constrained by the limitation to 1 hour. It would have been great to have had something longer and possibly more black comedy which I’m sure would have been possible without further creation of stuff – perhaps even including some of the challenges such as the Speakers own expenses issues which were only briefly alluded to.
PPS: It could also have played a little more on the possible pressure brought to bear on staff to pass expenses or comply with MP requests – eg: those MPs who re-submitted expenses more than once in an endeavour to get them signed off.
Tags: Governance, Group behaviour, Information, Leadership, Responsibility, Values
Buy:Female Pink Viagra.Lasix.Lipothin.Seroquel.Zetia.Prozac.Amoxicillin.Nymphomax.Acomplia.Benicar.Aricept.Ventolin.Advair.Female Cialis.SleepWell.Buspar.Zocor.Cozaar.Wellbutrin SR.Lipitor….