I went to the hurdy-gurdy/bagpipes gathering at Audlem yesterday, hence I'm a bit late getting back to this thread, and hence perhaps Gareth's frustration.

Gareth raised two points with me. On the question of Ms Abbott's income, I'm afraid I relied on a BBC report, maybe in Jeremy Vine's Sunday politics slot a week or two ago. So far as the reporter could ferret out (because the info is withheld from the public domain), the typical MP rakes in about £190k a year in salary and allowances/expenses, a large proportion of which area at fixed rates and can be claimed without receipts, regardless of whether the expense was actually incurred. Being an MP also opens up other potential sources of income - for instance the Telegraph said this week that Ms Abbott's fee for flogging her story of the present episode will probably equate to the £10,000 school fees she is forking out.

The other point was something I read in one of the broadsheets this week but I can't remember which. I'm just heading off to the Balkans for a couple of weeks so I'll PM Gareth with a bit more on this if I remember. (While I'm away, I trust he'll find someone else to fill his life.) From Gareth's links on this point I assume he is saying Abbott had covered the telly money in her reference to "occasional journalism," but I may have overlooked something in my present haste. Gareth may think that full-programme participation every week in a televised politics show is covered by a reference to "occasional journalism," but I'm afraid I don't. Commendably responsible thought about the parliamentary commissioner, Gareth, but I couldn't be bothered.

Ake, Gareth is offended that my income has sometimes come from journalism, but he's as well rambling here as in bed. I'm sorry if our spats sometimes demean the threads, however. Just skip any posts from him, and from me too, because I do occasionally retort.