Last week, the scandal over MPs' expenses became a constitutional crisis, with the resignation of Michael Martin as Speaker of the House of Commons. How thoroughly British, declared overseas observers, to see the nation convulsed by taxpayer-funded purchases of dog food, and some deft jiggery-pokery over housing allowances.
But as with so much else – sport, dancing, viticulture – foreigners turn out to do it better by far. On any of the issues raised by the expenses scandal, from pay and benefits to housing and workload, the politicians of our fellow democracies make British MPs look as amateurish as a bunch of Fenland ski-jumpers.
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