Kerre Woodham: Not the 80s now, Roger

Sir Roger Douglas. Photo / Hawke's Bay Today

Roger, Roger, Roger. Of course it's fair enough that as a former Member of Parliament you receive heavily subsidised travel from the taxpayer.

Those were the rules pre-1999 and there are many former MPs who enjoy that perk of the job.

But when you're a sitting MP, and when you're a member of a party that calls incessantly for reduction in government expenditure, and when we're in a recession, and when you yourself sneered in a speech recently at the privileged who get others to pay for their whims and fancies, do you not think you could have paid for the trip to Britain to see the grandies yourself?

And saved the taxpayer funded jaunt until;

a) you weren't in office, or

b) when people weren't losing their jobs at the rate of hundreds per week?

It's not the 80s any more and greed is no longer good.

* www.kerrewoodham.com