Dragged into the mire by donations (From Swindon Advertiser)

Dragged into the mire by donations

4:45pm Friday 30th November 2007

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So it appears someone in Government has been taking money in an illegal manner. While there has been one hell of rumpus, I have to ask the question: Are we surprised?

OK, we were surprised when Terry Wogan was to be paid a fee of around £10,000 for hosting Children in Need while everyone else did it for nothing. After criticism he waived it.

We are also surprised that people still like Who guitarist Pete Townsend despite his studies into child pornography.

But politicians and illegal money go together like flies and dog dirt.

Be they Labour or Tory, there's always someone putting their hands in the cookie jar and expecting to get away with it.

It seems there is no such thing as an honest politician, or even a competent one, and it was always thus.

But I get the feeling that Gordon Brown is different and might be that rare commodity - a straight politician.

Admittedly he's in the brown stuff at the moment, pushed there by his so-called colleagues.

I admit feeling sorry for him after 10 years of Teflon Tony, but I would rather he run the country than the boy wonder from Witney who can't even make up his mind about which way to part his hair.

I actually met Mr Brown when he was Chancellor when I attended a function at Number 11.

He had given up his home for a function which only touched him indirectly, but he made sure he spoke to everyone in a gathering of around 80. Ah, I thought, the charm of a politician.

But when I went to see him to say a thank-you for his hospitality he was doing a normal blokey thing. He was looking at the football results.

It was something as normal that which swung my vote for him - more than the vomit-making guitar-carrying Tony on TV on his way back from his holidays.

Now this is a waste of money

So 500 members of staff out of 5,000 at Nationwide in Swindon were disciplined for handling an email which was deemed to be offensive because of racist overtones. Apparently it involved Osama bin Laden.

It was tough because employees were disciplined even if they just received the email without even asking for it.

The people at Nationwide who should be disciplined are those senior members of staff who thought it was a good idea to put money into sponsoring the England football team.

If ever there was an example of perfumed underachievers this was it and Nationwide should have been censured for pandering to them.

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