Nigel Farage - pay docked for cheating on his Euro expenses

[JimbobVFR]

djc206 said:

he’s just a scrote who happens to have a way with words.

Ooh, can I change charismatic in my previous post to this, more accurate statement.

Edited by JimbobVFR on Saturday 13th January 05:40

[mx5nut]

ClaphamGT3 said:

I have always said that Farage was fundamentally dishonest. All the usual fanboys have queued up to defend him. Now you can't - it is there for all to see; the guy is a grubby little thief

The perpetually offended always come out to defend him.

[anonymous-user]

That Le Pen is a fascist can scarcely be denied. That Farage is a racist bigot is obvious. Is he also a fascist? In youth he showed enthusiasm for Nazi songs and so forth. You might call that mere youthful folly, but in his political career he likes to share platforms with far right leaders across Europe. In addition there is his support for Trump, a wannabe authoritarian who attacks the institutions of the United States, encourages political violence, and endorses race hate groups. So, either a fascist or a fellow traveller with fascists - take your pick.

funkycoldribena's whinge about this was an obvious diversion, as the main point here is that Farage and his party have been shown to have misused public funds for political ends. Farage is if nothing else one of the most shameless liars and frauds in contemporary politics.

[mx5nut]

Farage arrives in Brussels ready to answer for his wrongdoing, clutching a gift from his supporters in one of his hands.

[V8 Fettler]

Farage is just another politician: not to be trusted.

[anonymous-user]

I disagree. Not all politicians are alike. Some are trustworthy. Some seek to act in the public interest, even if they have bad ideas about what that is. Farage is, as noted above, a demagogue. The Athenian reference is apposite - the demagogues there destroyed their own city by inciting the voters to choose disastrous policy. Farage is a self interested careerist who cares nothing for the public interest, and a purveyor of falsehoods and odious views, pandering to the worst instincts of ignorant and frightened electors.

One element of Farage's schtick is to trade on public ennui with politics, and to masquerade as a non-politician, despite politics being his career.

[TooMany2cvs]

Einion Yrth said:

Smollet said:

citizensm1th said:

In a past life i murdered a nun......or was it a penguin i never can tell the difference.

One smells of fish.........the other lives in the Arctic

Nuns live in the Arctic? Who knew?

There probably are convents within the arctic circle, especially orthodox ones in northern Russia.

It's certainly a lot more likely than there being penguins so far from their natural southern-hemisphere territories...
and a hell of a lot more likely than Farage being any kind of innocent.

Edited by TooMany2cvs on Saturday 13th January 08:45

[bitchstewie]

Now Farage is on LBC 5 days a week it's easy to hear more of him.

Once you do hear more of him you realise he's a one-trick pony and he doesn't like or stand up well to being challenged on pretty much any of the things he says.

[anonymous-user]

As on so many political subjects, references to Athens (or really to what Thucydides tells us about Athens) resonate in Brexitland. The Mytilenian Debate is bang on point on the subject of a second referendum. Democracies can change their minds. Suggesting otherwise is the authoritarian position of Cleon.

[Coolbanana]

Breadvan72 said:

I disagree. Not all politicians are alike. Some are trustworthy. Some seek to act in the public interest, even if they have bad ideas about what that is. Farage is, as noted above, a demagogue. The Athenian reference is apposite - the demagogues there destroyed their own city by inciting the voters to choose disastrous policy. Farage is a self interested careerist who cares nothing for the public interest, and a purveyor of falsehoods and odious views, pandering to the worst instincts of ignorant and frightened electors.

One element of Farage's schtick is to trade on public ennui with politics, and to masquerade as a non-politician, despite politics being his career.

100% correct, well said!

Boris and Gove are cut of the same jib. Zero interest in their Country and only for their own personal advancement - indeed, traitorous wretches who seek to deceive and lead those who behave like Lemmings that they claim to represent.

[eccles]

Breadvan72 said:

Farage is if nothing else one of the most shameless liars and frauds in contemporary politics.

Not sure I'd agree with that, I'd say he's just the same as many other Politicians, the one who don't blatantly lie, they 'mis-speak' etc.
At least when Farage lies it's fairly irrelevant as he's not anything important, he's just a bloke on the radio and a MEP.

[citizensm1th]

Breadvan72 said:

As on so many political subjects, references to Athens (or really to what Thucydides tells us about Athens) resonate in Brexitland. The Mytilenian Debate is bang on point on the subject of a second referendum. Democracies can change their minds. Suggesting otherwise is the authoritarian position of Cleon.

Sorry dude but that just went about a million miles above my head,i hate you sometimes now i have to go and read some.

[gooner1]

Loathe him or love him,the reaction here certainly proves his effectiveness as far as the E.U is concerned.

How is Farrage's offence any different to our Mp's expenses fraud?
Because as far as I can tell, there aren't many politicians that
wouldn't fill their pockets with taxpayers money given the slightest chance.

[TooMany2cvs]

gooner1 said:

How is Farrage's offence any different to our Mp's expenses fraud?
Because as far as I can tell, there aren't many politicians that
wouldn't fill their pockets with taxpayers money given the slightest chance.

Simple. The vast majority of the expenses "fraud" was within the rules - it was just that the rules were piss-takingly loose.

Farridge is breaking the rules. He was claiming for the cost of employing an office assistant who was doing things that were unrelated to his job as an MEP - and was, coincidentally, a UKIP staffer.

[JimbobVFR]

citizensm1th said:

Sorry dude but that just went about a million miles above my head,i hate you sometimes now i have to go and read some.

Do what I do, nod sagely and pretend you understand the reference and think you've got away with it without looking Dumb. I just console myself that while I may not have the classical education I bet BV72 can't design, install and test an electrical installation or do complicated fault finding 😃

[gooner1]

TooMany2cvs said:

gooner1 said:

How is Farrage's offence any different to our Mp's expenses fraud?
Because as far as I can tell, there aren't many politicians that
wouldn't fill their pockets with taxpayers money given the slightest chance.

Simple. The vast majority of the expenses "fraud" was within the rules - it was just that the rules were piss-takingly loose.

Farridge is breaking the rules. He was claiming for the cost of employing an office assistant who was doing things that were unrelated to his job as an MEP - and was, coincidentally, a UKIP staffer.

Can you tell me another industry where this piss taking wouldn't have ended in legal
action? However you want to spin it it was taxpayers money they were grabbing.
How was maintaining a moat pertinent to an MP's job?

[JimbobVFR]

So Garage gets over 100k a year salary, he's getting a pension worth over 70k a year and is going to get a nice little 117k payment when he has to step down (almost like a redundancy payment) and yet he rarely bothers to turn up and do his actual job, whatever that might be. I'm fairly sure I'd quite pointed questions asked if I behaved like that and I earn considerably less.

The irony is he's right about the EU being corrupt and wasting money. He's proof of one of his own arguements.

[gooner1]

citizensm1th said:

Breadvan72 said:

As on so many political subjects, references to Athens (or really to what Thucydides tells us about Athens) resonate in Brexitland. The Mytilenian Debate is bang on point on the subject of a second referendum. Democracies can change their minds. Suggesting otherwise is the authoritarian position of Cleon.

Sorry dude but that just went about a million miles above my head,i hate you sometimes now i have to go and read some.

It's just BV's way of reaching out to the common man.

[TooMany2cvs]

gooner1 said:

Can you tell me another industry where this piss taking wouldn't have ended in legal action?

The question you should be asking there is another employer where the expenses rules would be so piss-takingly loose. Can't take legal action for what's permitted...

Where MPs were found to be breaking the law, they were prosecuted. Four (and two Lords) were jailed, remember?

gooner1 said:

How was maintaining a moat pertinent to an MP's job?

MPs for constituencies outside London need two homes - one in London, one in the constituency. They pay for one themselves, they claim up to a maximum for the other. He nominated his London home, and claimed the maximum for the other. It was all within the rules... Does that mean the rules were right...? No, of course not. But they were the rules in place.

At the time, I lived in a constituency that crossed the M25. The MP lived damn near at the end of my road, within spitting distance of the platform of the tube station - one platform-crossing change to Westminster. He claimed slightly under the full allowance towards his London home, because the rules said he couldn't possibly be expected to commute... like all his neighbours and constituents did. That was just as much of a piss-take - especially when he then crowed about he hadn't had to repay a single penny... After years of being a treasury minister, he's just been promoted to Justice... But it wasn't nearly as headline-worthy...

[eccles]

TooMany2cvs said:

gooner1 said:

Can you tell me another industry where this piss taking wouldn't have ended in legal action?

The question you should be asking there is another employer where the expenses rules would be so piss-takingly loose. Can't take legal action for what's permitted...

Where MPs were found to be breaking the law, they were prosecuted. Four (and two Lords) were jailed, remember?

gooner1 said:

How was maintaining a moat pertinent to an MP's job?

MPs for constituencies outside London need two homes - one in London, one in the constituency. They pay for one themselves, they claim up to a maximum for the other. He nominated his London home, and claimed the maximum for the other. It was all within the rules... Does that mean the rules were right...? No, of course not. But they were the rules in place.

At the time, I lived in a constituency that crossed the M25. The MP lived damn near at the end of my road, within spitting distance of the platform of the tube station - one platform-crossing change to Westminster. He claimed slightly under the full allowance towards his London home, because the rules said he couldn't possibly be expected to commute... like all his neighbours and constituents did. That was just as much of a piss-take - especially when he then crowed about he hadn't had to repay a single penny... After years of being a treasury minister, he's just been promoted to Justice... But it wasn't nearly as headline-worthy...

I thought there were quite a few MP's that had claimed for stuff that wasn't allowed and they were just allowed to pay it back because it a 'mistake'.