Newspaper Crowdsources 700,000-Page Investigation of MP Expenses

projector writes with an interesting project from the UK: "The Guardian are crowd-sourcing the investigation of 700,000 pages of UK MPs' expenses data. Readers are being invited to categorize each document, transcribe the handwritten expenses details into an online form and alert the newspaper if any claims merit further investigation. 'Some pages will be covering letters, or claim forms for office stationery. But somewhere in here is the receipt for a duck island. And who knows what else may turn up. If you find something which you think needs further attention, simply hit the button marked "investigate this!" and we'll take a closer look.'"

Comments

Re:Duck Islands

[sumdumass]

As it happens though the claim for the duck island does not appear in the official expenses data as it's blacked out along with, I would guess, almost anything else likely to cause embarrassment for the MP.

How about because it was denied reimbursement? The article links to specifically states that.

Apparently once the fees office had blacked out the bits they didn't think the public should see the MPs had several months to look at their own claims and recommend any other sections they didn't think should be public so when you look at the actual claims, and some MPs are much worse than others, there is an awful lot you can't see.

I bet your sorry that all those people in your country was making fun of the US idiots who were placing digital lines over the information instead of removing it only to be discovered later by someone simply removing the black line.. at least then your government offices may have done the same thing and you would know for sure instead of just guessing about it and acting as if it actually happened. But hey, now that there is less information, it just provers your contempt even more right?

What really pisses me off is the string of MPs saying

"Well my claim was completely within the rules and I have done nothing wrong however I now realise the rules were horribly wrong and fundamentally flawed so what we need to do is change the rules to make them stricter."

No ! What you need to do is behave in an honest and honourable fashion and not try to screw the system for as much as you think you can get away with.

Following the rules is an honorable and honest fashion. If you a bowl of candy that said take one, you wouldn't consider yourself a thief if you took one would you? How about those have a penny take a penny trays that are helpful in keeping the small change out of your pocket? Surely you wouldn't want to stop at a stop sign while waiting for the right of way in traffic and get a ticket because you were blocking trafic behind you.

Whatever the rules say, is the measure of honesty and honorable. You can't expect anyone to follow unwritten rules that meet your ideals and expectations. Retrospect, or hindsight, often allows us to reflect on things in ways not possible until after other people's reactions. The first clue to this is where the MP says "I know realize". You see, without the public outrage or even your outrage, they didn't know that a set of rules in place before they even took office and a set of practices just as old, was offensive to many people. Now he knows, and now he realizes.

Re:I know this isn't the point....

[ammit]

I think the proper response to this is "fuck you".