No wonder he's laughing.

Laughing at us all

There's been a smug silence from politicians North of the Border over the current expenses uproar. Part of that is due to the fact that Holyrood undoubtedly has a more open system of accounting for MSPs expenses. Perhaps they imagine that the public will think that automatically means Scottish politicians are more honest.

Don't you believe it.

They're more open at Holyrood because they're forced to be, but given a sniff of the Westminster trough they're in like Flynn.

Take Alex Salmond -

Alex Salmond, Scotland's First Minister, claimed £400 per month for food when the Commons was not even sitting. No wonder an SNP activist commented at the recent party for Osama Saeed that the First Minister was piling on the pounds. This is the guy that claims the maximum amount allowable for food (no receipts required of course) and yet picks up £145,000 a year in salaries for his multiple jobs.

Just what the hell does he think his wages are for?

Then we've got Eric Joyce, the most expensive MP in Britain. Eric Joyce, the Labour MP for Falkirk, has emerged as Britain's most expensive member of parliament after claiming £187,334 in allowances and expenses in 2007-8. You'd be forgiven for thinking he comes from Orkney, Shetland or even Kuala Lumpar with a bill for travel at £40,637 a year, but this guy's constituency is in Falkirk - slap bang in the middle of the Central Belt!

He spends more than double the UK median wage just gadding about!!

Scottish politicians are as bad as the rest of them. Give them a whiff of your money and they trouser it. Maybe when the English press have grown tired of lambasting their own MPs, we'll start to hear about the piggy excesses of the Scottish lot.