Cost of Parliament falls

New figures revealed in a written answer from Baroness Royall to the peer Viscount Tenby show that the cost of running Parliament fell by just over £30 million in the last year. The House of Commons went up by more than £12 million, in part because the total cost of MPs' salaries and pensions rose by £6 million, but the Lords dropped by to £46 million£106.5 million leading to an overall cost to the tax-payer of £498.4 million compared to £531.8 million the previous year.


MPs' salaries and pensions cost a total of £157.2 million, while Lords administration costs dropped from £152.5 million to £106.5 million. Wonder what the figures will be like next year, now that they have to declare expenses and aren't quite so keen on screwing us for every penny they can?

We'll be very surprised if there isn't at least one minister on the news later droning on about how these figures demonstrate what good value Parliament is - so we'll probably watch something else instead.

British Citizenship Eligibility Test

People who wish to enter the UK and to live and work here permanently will now have to sit a test to see if they are eligible for the right to do so. The test features 24 questions which the entrant must complete within 45 minutes - answering more than 75% of them correctly means they may be eligible for citizenship.

If you were born here, making you British, have you ever wondered how well YOU would do in the test? Well, now you can find out...

Click here to take the test

Acid Rabbi scored 67%, Mrs. Rabbi scored a more respectable 71%. As such, we will both be leaving the country as soon as possible. Expect future posts to be sent from our new home in the Seychelles.

Embarrassed Government in ID cards climbdown

Home Secretary Alan Johnson has announced that plans to introduce compulsory ID cards for staff and pilots at Manchester and London airports will not now go ahead, right after the announcement that ID cards for British citizens will be voluntary - which is a bloody good thing as far as those of us here at Acid Rabbi are concerned, since it'll save us the fines we'd end up paying sooner or later due to our absolute refusal to carry a card proving our right to live in our own country.

Compulsory ID cards are widely thought to be intrusive and an infringement of civil liberties amongst the British population.

"Holding an identity card should be a personal choice for British citizens – just as it is now to obtain a passport," says Mr. Johnson, "Accordingly, I want the introduction of identity cards for all British citizens to be voluntary and I have therefore decided that identity cards issued to airside workers, planned initially at Manchester and London City airports later this year, should also be voluntary."

He also admitted that the current government have allowed the cards to become thought of as what he termed a "panacea" that could prevent terrorism. Amongst politicians at any rate, Mr. Johnson. Most of us out here amongst the electorate never saw them as anything but a severe infringement on our civil liberties. This forms yet another embarrassing climbdown for the Government, who have had to change their plans due to public opinion on several occasions recently.

However, he also stated his wish to speed up the introduction of a voluntary scheme for young adults across North West England, where the £30 cards have already been introduced in Manchester.

Hmm. ID cards (albeit voluntary) for a particular (and much maligned) demographic group in society and a fascist MEP? The North West of England could be mistaken for 1940s Bavaria were it not for the local accents.