The gravy train that keeps on a-puffin'

So the expenses of the Cabinet have been released and we now know how Gordon Brown and co spent our money.

Lord Mandelson tried to downplay the revelations, insisting the claims would not have been approved had they been against the rules.

But the rules are helpfully published - one clearly states: "Claims must only be made for incurred expenditure that is necessary for an MP to carry out his or her parliamentary duties."

Can anyone explain to me how a patio heater is necessary for Jacqui Smith to carry out her "parliamentary duties"? Or why Gordon Brown needs a subscription to Sky Sports or Sky Movies to carry out his. Brown is also said to have claimed for variety of household items, including wallpaper, a fridge, lightbulbs costing £15 and a John Lewis vacuum cleaner worth £265. Why does he have to spend almost three hundred quid on a vacuum cleaner?

And still they don't understand why the public hold them in such contempt.