Wacky Jacqui and NewLab expenses

I happen not to think that watching "adult" movies is a particular sin (if one is that way inclined, well....), but the recent furore over the Home Secretary's expenses scam claims actually annoy me for another reason.  That is that the culture of claiming expenses seems so ingrained that everything is thought of as fair game by the average politician.

A report at the Daily Telegraph indicates some of the items on Wacky Jacqui's claim (Jacqui Smith's other household expenses claims):

Two pay-per-view adult movies - £5 each

Two pay-per-view screenings of the Hollywood blockbuster Ocean's 13 - £3.75 each

Pay-per-view screening of the animated cartoon Surf's Up - £3.50

Habitat stone model sink - £550

Bath plug - 88p

Dining room table - £460

Sofabed - £704

Antique fireplace - £1,000. Also claimed for coal to burn in it.

Hotpoint cooker - £399

Connection fee for installing cooker - £15

Hotpoint tumble dryer - £189

Ariston washing machine - £249

Zanussi washing machine - nearly £300

Entertainment centre including DVD players, two Samsung widescreen televisions and two digital set-top boxes - more than £1,100

Well, we wouldn't want our dear Home Secretary to be reduced to the local Laundromat, but why two washing machines.  Why an entertainment centre with two digital set-top boxes? (If she hadn't got that she could have saved £10 on porn movies!).

The truly revealing item is the 88p bath plug - this just reveals in full clarity the expense claim culture in Westminster, in which everything goes on the list.  Same goes for the coal burnt in the antique fireplace (which itself cost us £1000).

The woman is shameless.