Regular Rat and Mouse readers might remember me busting a blood vessel over the details of Tory man-and-wife MPs Sir Nicholas and Ann Winterton's London living arrangements... the £700,000 property they own outright, the "family trust" they moved the property into in order to avoid inheritance tax, the £165,000 of public money they've managed to get their trotters on, paid as rent to themselves. Let's go back and revisit Sir Nicholas's indignant repost to the Standard when challenged regarding the arrangement:

I happen to rent a property that I own outright.

Well, today's news is that the Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges happens to believe the couple broke expenses rules. However - and forgive me if I lose another vessel at this point - the committee "accepted that the breach regarding the £700,000 London property was accidental" and "the couple can continue to receive expenses against the costs of the flat until September". Is it me, or is this continuing exploitation of a lax and inefficient system entirely and obviously unacceptable while - in the real world - much of the country wonders how it will pay its fuel and heating bills?

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