I dont bloody well think so

[Grumpmeister]

So in addition to the generous wage you get for doing bugger all for your constituents, the more then generous expenses package and the extra £10,000 a year you gave yourselves to pay 'extra staff' you are now saying we should pay for you to have free blackberry's and laptops. You can sod right off and take the money out of your budgets. 

A Labour MP has called for handheld Blackberry computers to be made available - for free - to herself and everyone else with a Commons seat.
Sharon Hodgson, like all other MPs, can borrow a personal digital assistant (PDA) from Parliament's IT department.

But the gadgets loaned were "not in the same league" as a Blackberry, she said.

However the Commons Commission, which oversees the provision of services to the House, said its present set-up was "incompatible" with Blackberry devices.

Liberal Democrat MP Nick Harvey, on behalf of the commission, explained that the provision of "mobile computing services" had gone out to tender about five years ago.

At the time, none of the contractors which submitted bids offered a service for Blackberry computers, he added.

"In the years since then, the House has gone on to invest a good deal of time and money supporting Microsoft-based handheld devices," he said.

"Blackberry operates on a completely different system which would not be compatible with the infrastructure we've developed."

'Maximum choice'

Ms Hodgson, who represents Gateshead East and Washington West in north-east England, admitted she had been "an avid Blackberry user since 2005".

She stressed she did not want to "necessarily endorse any particular product" in the Commons.

"But I have to say that the PDA I have received... is not in the same league as a Blackberry, in my opinion."

For the Conservatives, MP Bob Spink said parliamentarians "should be given the maximum choice so that they can best serve their constituents" when it came to technology.

The rules in the Commons were relaxed last year so MPs could use portable devices to keep up to date with their work while waiting to speak in debates.

[Snoopy]

Winston Churchill managed to run a country and win a war with little more than a hand cranked telephone and a bottle of brandy but then he and his MPs weren't a self-serving, overpaid, self-opinionated, blowhard crowd of useless career politicians like the current bunch of tossers and ne'er-do-wells.

[Barman]

Winston Churchill managed to run a country and win a war with little more than a hand cranked telephone and a bottle of brandy but then he and his MPs weren't a self-serving, overpaid, self-opinionated, blowhard crowd of useless career politicians like the current bunch of tossers and ne'er-do-wells.

Well said Snoopy!

 

[Grumpmeister]

Given that MP's dont have to provide reciepts for food purchases under £400 I wouldnt be surprised to find that most of them have already bought themselves PDA's and PC's and hidden it under food.

[Uncle Mort]

Given that MP's dont have to provide reciepts for food purchases under £400 I wouldnt be surprised to find that most of them have already bought themselves PDA's and PC's and hidden it under food.

Surely that would be dishonest. 

[tel]

I would be more than happy for them to have Blackberrys, suitably modified with a small charge of C4.

There is an option on the Blackberry to "NUKE" these devices - could now be put to a more suitable use.

[grumpyoldsoldier]

Winston Churchill managed to run a country and win a war with little more than a hand cranked telephone and a bottle of brandy but then he and his MPs weren't a self-serving, overpaid, self-opinionated, blowhard crowd of useless career politicians like the current bunch of tossers and ne'er-do-wells.

Bloody hell snoops! That was good, I almost cheered..and worth of an applaud 

[grumpyoldsoldier]

I would be more than happy for them to have Blackberrys, suitably modified with a small charge of C4.

There is an option on the Blackberry to "NUKE" these devices - could now be put to a more suitable use.

Tell I am worried about this detailed knowledge of things that go bang, but it's cool, you can't be done for downloading that sort of stuff now.

[Darwins Selection]

Given that MP's dont have to provide reciepts for food purchases under £400 I wouldnt be surprised to find that most of them have already bought themselves PDA's and PC's and hidden it under food.

Well, blackberries are edible.

[Snoopy]

Given that MP's dont have to provide reciepts for food purchases under £400 I wouldnt be surprised to find that most of them have already bought themselves PDA's and PC's and hidden it under food.

Well, blackberries are edible.

As indeed were the old code books ... Eh GOS Eh?