They are all at it!

I suppose the BBC employees got it right when they brought out the champagne on May 1 1997. They have benefited hugely from the change in culture that has allowed them to enjoy increased salaries and unlimited expenses. When Stephen Fry told us that everyone fiddles their expenses during the first week of the Telegraph exposure, I assume he was speaking from experience.
This culture of entitlement must surely come to its inglorious end. I'm sure it's going to be painful.
There are still some of us around who can remember when local government officials were modesttly but reasonably paid and when civil servants were slightly more modestly and slightly more reasonably paid. And indeed they spent entire careers in the job without abusing the system.
I am disappointed that it has come to this. The system has been corrupted. Officials help themselves to high salaries and benefits while seeking all the time to cover their tracks. They never fear getting found out because spin and lies can usually get them out of a tight pocket. And nothing seemingly can be done!
In 1824 Henry Fauntleroy, a banker, was tried for fraud and found guilty. His sentence - death!
We may have to recover this rougher justice if we are to correct our society

Institutional takism

At lunchtime today I listened to a senior executive from the BBC confidently assert that licence fee payers would approve the idea of production staff spending their money on a llittle junket to celebrate the end of a successful program.
What?
What prompted this example of talking down to the masses was the information that the crew of The Apprentice had dipped into BBC funds for £260 to have a little party. Yes, I know the amount is trivial but it does convey this assumption of entitlement of just about anybody whose lifestyle is funded by the public purse.
Should we now expect teachers to dip into school funds for a big bash after surviving an OFSTED inspection?
Should the police budget allow for boozy parties every time a team solves a case?
Should hospital teams anticipate a publicly-funded celebration every time someone survives a succesful heart operation?
Our governing classes have set the morally bankrupt standard in these matters and it is perhaps no surprise that BBC executives expect to trough with the best of them.
It won't do, and although the BBC believe they are teflon-coated there is a growing number of us who are fed up with this arrogance. I get better service from my local council - and they only collect bins every two weeks!