Lord knows this isn't one of the blogs that MSM figures read but a plea nonetheless for any interviewers who might be challenging MPs on their expenses over the weekend. Can we knock on the head one of the more pernicious excuses that's doing the rounds - the one where MPs say: 'all claims were made within Commons rules'?

This is clever framing because it lets the speaker immediately shift the discussion onto the inadequacy of those rules (as everyone agrees) and what should be done about it - i.e. it moves the attention beyond his or her behaviour. Can someone please respond thus:

"The rules don't diminish your accountability for your own behaviour; they don't absolve you of the need to behave ethically and responsibly with public money. Accepting that your expense claims were indeed within the rules can you now defend them as a reasonable and fair use of public money?"