Since the expenses scandal is the scandal that refuses to fucking die, I have some thoughts to share. Be thankful you're getting these via the internet because when I run through them in real life, my voice escalates and I gesticulate a lot.

The politicians have been instructed to pay money back. In some cases a lot, in others not so much and then there are honest souls who don't have to pay anything back. Unquestionably, the whole designating your primary residence hoo-hah was completely immoral and they should pay the money back. The problem is that it wasn't actually illegal. Making the rule changes retrospective on the other hand... that strikes me as ever so slightly actionable. Don't get me wrong, I think they're absolute bastards. We're talking about a group of people making a good wage and getting all sorts of perks and yet they continued to wring every penny they could out of the system. That sucks. But it wasn't illegal. This is important to remember.

That said, a lot of the focus has been on the money people have been ordered to pay back for gardening expenses. GARDENING EXPENSES. John Snow pointed out that the amount of money MPs are now allowed to claim for gardening would result in them paying their gardeners less than minimum wage. Which they're not allowed to do. He brought it up several times. Which, fair point, EXCEPT FOR WHERE I SHOULDN'T BE PAYING FOR AN MP'S GARDENING EXPENSES AT ALL! OH MY FUCKING GOD! A garden is a fucking luxury and keeping it in 'good order' is your own fucking responsibility. STOP TAKING MY MONEY TO DO IT.

Politics, man, it enrages me.

(Unrelatedly, I just watched Pan's Labyrinth. Why didn't anyone tell me how depressing the end of that film is?)

So, I'm not entirely sure why I haven't been posting lately. I think I've fallen into a vicious cycle of working and then when I'm not working, bitching about how I have to go to work in a mere matter of hours. And I've more or less fallen out of the habit of yammering away on LJ. Which is stupid. Because I like LJ and I've had so many things that I should have been rambling about.

Like the near incoherent levels of rage I've sustained over the past few weeks in relation to politics. The party conferences have had me yelling at my television (DAMN YOU, QUESTION TIME!), calling entire groups of people cunts (seriously, could the Conservatives be a bigger shower of cunts if they tried? UNLIKELY!) and crumpling the defenceless Guardian when the rage causes hand spasms.

The anger has reached such epic levels at times that I have actually gotten angry at the fucking sports section of The Guardian. The SPORTS section... (But seriously, the British and Irish Lions is NOT the same thing as a rugby team GB and fuck you for saying so, British rugby union.)

Absolute confusion as to why Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Price. Did he bring peace to the Middle East when I was mired in one of my fits of self-indulgence?

There's also been all the television watching (Stargate: Universe - this is seriously what the cancelled SGA for? Wow. The deep urge to indulge in physical violence when confronted with the new adaptation of Emma (it's a good adaptation, I just fucking hate Emma). The vast inappropriateness of outing someone on The X-Factor (and wtf? He's totally likable you jackasses) and the piss-poor apology that was made after the fact.)

Then there's the recent reading in which I have inadvertently stumbled across the best science-fiction book EVAR. And, it turns out, it was written by a Glaswegian. Aces.

My continuing poverty and the bludgeoning myself over the head with the fact that it's no one's fault but my own that my loan repayments are sneaking closer and closer to £400 every month. (Well, I can also blame the fucking Euro and the motherfucking UK for their continued EuroScepticism (SO MUCH RAGE) and refusal to join the Euro for reasons which THEY CANNOT ARTICULATE.)

The dawning realisation that I undervalue myself, my skills and my experiences and fuck if that isn't a depressing thing to slowly worm its way into your consciousness.

So, yeah, you know... stuff!

Okay, so Ireland has ratified the Lisbon Treaty. Which, generally, I am in favour though I have a few doubts. The main one being that Tony fucking Blair is apparently poised to be the first president. Fuck off Blair. Fuck right off. And, really, I liked the rotating membership we had before. It was... egalitarian. And then there's the whole thing that the government were going to keep making us vote until they got the answer they wanted (man, did my mother bitch about that on the phone to me the other day). But, all doubts aside, when the Czech president said "Because after today's Irish referendum there will never be another referendum in Europe" he was wrong. Wrong. Because that was one of the things that Ireland insisted be clarified before the second referendum took place. Oh, and David Cameron? You can fuck off too. Ireland was smart enough to ask for the ability to hold referendums for certain issues when it joined the EU and the UK wasn't, so get over it. And stop fucking me off by constantly being on my TV being smug and fucking vague.

Oh, politics, you're so much fun!

EDIT: Saying that "adult smokers should be able to see what they buy" is a really weak argument for getting rid of the ban on cigarette displays in shops. Come on now, you go 'hello, shopkeeper. Can I please see a pack of *insert name here*' and they hand it to you, you look at it and then you decide whether or not to buy. The annoying thing about the changes in licensing laws, the smoking ban, the smoking advertising ban etc. is that we have to suffer through them in Ireland and then, a few years later, Scotland or the wider UK gets in on the act and I have to sit through all the shit these issues churn up all over again. It's really very annoying.