Multi-millionaire St Helens MP and Tory turncoat Shaun Woodward has launched a scathing attack on MPs' expenses system, though he is in the fortunate position of being a man of independent means, or rather, he married an heiress!
The Labour MP, whose own expenses were published by the Daily Telegraph, branded the system 'rotten' and an 'unmitigated disaster'.
Mr Woodward's comments are some of the damning from a senior politician since the fuore errupted last week.
He said: "I think the public look at us right now and think we've all got our noses in the trough. Our profession looks shameful - it's embarrassing - and right now if I try and make almost any defence of our collective position or my position it looks terrible.
"We have to look at how taxpayers money is spent generally, so that means I think you should have the right to look at every single one of my receipts. I just want to say I'm sorry, because I think our profession is not made up of crooks, I think it is people who genuinely want to make life better for people."
The MP for St Helens South claimed £98,079 between January 2004 and June 2008 to help pay the mortgage interest on a London flat he stays in when Parliament is sitting and £3,814 towards his council tax. There is no suggestion of any Mr Woodward's claims broke Parliamentary rules.
According to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, one of Mr Woodward's assistants claimed 38p for a Muller Crunch Corner yoghurt and £1.06 for a pizza from Asda in St Helens in November 2004.
Receipts from an office supplier also reportedly revealed that Mr Woodward has regular orders for Family Circle biscuits, Gold Blend coffee, Tetley tea bags and Diet Coke.
However, although Mr Woodward, 50, whose wife Camilla is a member of the Sainsbury's grocery family, is entitled to a ministerial salary of £141,866, he only draws his MP's salary of £63,291.
He added: "We have an expenses system which is an unmitigated disaster. It has allowed people to do things which, when you hold back and look at it, look terrible. I don't think these people are crooks, I don't think they're bad people, these are good people trying by and large to do a good job, but the system we've got is rotten and has got to go."
An external review into the expenses system is due to be conducted before MPs' expense claims from 2008-2009 are made public this summer
Original Article Courtesy St Helens Reporter
Multi-Millionaire Sean Woodward St Helens MP Blasts Expenses System
"Urban Legend" Purple Aki Jailed Again
Here is the latest chapter in the Purple Aki story as reported by the BBC.
To find out what all the fuss is about read the Wikipedia article.
For recent newspaper report see our other posts here
A man has been jailed for 18 months for breaking a ban on approaching young men and touching their muscles.
Akinwale Arobieke, 47, formerly of Toxteth, Liverpool, and known as "Purple Aki", was given a Sexual Offences Prevention Order last year.
But two months later he approached a 17-year-old boy and tried to touch his biceps, Liverpool Crown Court was told.
The order was imposed on Arobieke after he was jailed for six years in 2003 for 16 counts of harassment.
His reputation has spread across north-west England where he is known by the nickname "Purple Aki" and is considered by many to be an urban myth, the jury was told.
His latest victim, now aged 18, said he was left feeling "frightened and sick" after Arobieke followed him in Birkenhead in June last year.
He asked the boy how many bench presses he could do.
The boy told the court: "He pointed to my arms and asked if he could see.
"He then lifted his hand towards my biceps and I realised who it was. I backed away and told him I had to go.
"I felt sick and walked away as fast as I could. I went to a friend's house and looked back but he had gone."
Bodybuilder Arobieke had pleaded not guilty.
It was his second breach of the order and his 72nd offence since 1980, the judge was told.
Purple Aki Back in Court Again (Again)
Thanks to the BBC for this one
A 47-year-old man broke a ban on him approaching young men and touching their muscles, a court has heard.
Akinwale Arobieke, of Toxteth, Liverpool - known as "Purple Aki" - was jailed in 2003 for harassment.
Liverpool Crown Court heard Mr Arobieke asked a 17-year-old to show him his biceps - after a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (Sopo) was imposed.
Mr Arobieke denies approaching the boy and breaching the Sopo in June last year, two months after it was made.
The court heard Mr Arobieke had a "predilection" for approaching young men and touching or feeling their muscles.
His reputation had spread across north-west England and was considered by many to be an urban myth, the jury heard.
'Very frightened'
The prosecution said the Sopo was imposed in April last year and banned him from approaching males under the age of 18, touching their muscles and asking them to squat.
Trevor Parry Jones, prosecuting, said two months later Mr Arobieke approached a 17-year-old in the street in Birkenhead and asked to see his biceps.
When the teenager realised it was "Purple Aki", he ran away "very frightened and very shaken", Mr Parry Jones said.
Speaking from behind a curtain, the teenager said: "As I turned a corner I heard a sound behind me so I turned around and he was there.
"He said he had noticed me around the area and asked me had I been working out.
"He asked me how much I could bench (press)."
Allegation 'false'
The boy told the court that Mr Arobieke then pointed to his arms and asked to see the youngster's biceps.
The boy said: "As soon as I heard that I realised who it was. I backed away and told him I had to go.
"I felt sick and walked away as fast as I could. I went to a friend's house and looked back but he had gone."
The following month the youngster picked out Mr Arobieke in a video identity parade organised by police.
Mark Barlow, defending, told the jury that Mr Arobieke had once been convicted of the manslaughter of Gary Kelly, a distant relative of the victim, but the conviction was later quashed by the Court of Appeal.
Cross-examining the teenager, Mr Barlow said: "Your allegation is a false one, borne out of connection between Gary Kelly and your family and an opportunity to get back at Mr Arobieke."
The trial continues.
For more background see our previous story
Government To Issue Swine Flu Advice To St Helens Residents
Leaflets containing information about the swine flu virus will be distributed to households across the UK.
Dozens of people across the country are being tested for the infection, with the first two confirmed cases being Iain and Dawn Askham, of Polmont, near Falkirk, who had been on holiday in Mexico.
People have been advised against all but the most essential travel to Mexico as the outbreak worsens worldwide.
A total of 159 people have died in the South American country as a result of the outbreak.
A DH spokeswoman explained: "The leaflet will be sent out next week, cover the whole of the UK, and will contain information about this flu outbreak and preventative messages."
She added: "We are talking to a number of manufacturers about procuring face masks. We are not in a position to provide further details at this stage."
It is intended that the extra masks will be used by health workers.
The spokeswoman added: "Although we are aware that facemasks are being given out to the public in Mexico, the available scientific evidence does not support the general wearing of facemasks by those who are not ill whilst going about their normal activities.
"We are urgently looking into how we can increase our current stockpiles of facemasks for healthcare workers who would come into close contact with symptomatic individuals during an influenza pandemic."
The Face of Sutton Manor Draws Worlwide Attention to St Helens
It's been a beautifully sunny few days here in St Helens as the builders have been putting the finishing touches to our new sculpture.
Read more about it here in a BBC News Story
Man Charged With St Helens Morrisons Murder
A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a supermarket worker died hours after she tackled a suspected shop lifter on Merseyside.
The woman, 47, was injured at Morrisons on Baxter Lane, St Helens, on Saturday afternoon when she tried to stop a suspected shoplifter fleeing.
The woman later collapsed at home and died on Sunday in hospital.
A spokesman for Merseyside Police said a local man, aged in his 40s, was being questioned by detectives.
Police want to speak to anyone who may have been in the supermarket at the time.
A spokesman for Morrisons said it was "saddened" by the woman's death and that it would fully support the police in their investigation
It's Bonkers - Reaction to The Face of Sutton Manor
Work has already started on The Dream – an enormous white bust of a woman's head that will stand 20 metres tall alongside the M62 motorway at St Helens.
The Dream has been commissioned from a Spanish sculptor by St Helens Borough Council with cash from The North-West Regional Development Agency (NWDA).
NWDA is the government-funded quango that is meant to create jobs and stimulate the economy in the North West.
But critics say taxpayers money would have been better spent in creating jobs in the town where more than 5,000 are jobless.
June Lornie director of the Liverpool Academy of Arts said, "This is supposed to be an iconic sculpture but it says nothing at all about the area.
"The artist clearly did not do much research into the history of St Helens or he would have come up with something in glass.
"There are hundreds of local artists who could have done much better job for a lot less."
North-West Lib-Dem MP John Pugh said: "The backers of this project seem to be aiming for some kind of Angel of the North phenomenon but they're way off.
"All too often projects like this build up momentum and are waved-through without any proper consideration for what it will look like or what ordinary people really want."
Southport MP Dr Pugh added: "Creating new jobs in the North West would keep this money in the local economy.
"Instead we are getting a folly with a large proportion of the funding going to a Spanish artist.
"It shows a lack of realism about what is required to tackle economic regeneration in the North West."
Locals in St Helens have mixed opinions about 'The Dream' which has been designed by award-winning artist Jaume Plensa at his studio in Barcelona and is being built on a hill in "Community Woodland" – a former spoil heap at the Sutton Manor Colliery which was closed in 1991.
Janet Jones, 56, whose home in Union Bank Lane, overlooks the site said, "It's bonkers. We will have to look out at this every day and it will stick out like a sore thumb. It's huge and it's white, it will look totally out of place with the trees around it. It will be a blot on the landscape and will probably end-up covered in graffiti."
The sculpture will be assembled from 90 blocks that are being cast at a concrete works in the East Midlands.
Catherine Braithwaite, spokesperson for "The Dream" project said, "This is going to be an iconic structure. Its had a really positive response from local people.
"We've taken a model of the sculpture around local libraries and had really positive feedback.
"Obviously it is a lot of money, but we have to be completely sure that this is a top quality piece of work, and it's not going to fall apart."
Peter Mearns, executive director at the North West Development Agency was keen to point-out that NWDA had not decided the nature of the sculpture.
He said, "We've provided the funding to redevelop the land, but we haven't been involved in choosing the actual artwork.
"Hopefully The Dream will stimulate local pride and generate regional identity."
