Why does it cost £200,000 to campaign to be Deputy Leader?

Peter Hain has had to own up to accepting at least £200,000 to fund his campaign to become Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. Well, it might be £200,000. On the other hand, it could be more. No one seems to know for sure and the two people who should know - his ex-Campaign Manager and his successor - are too busy blaming each other to provide a sensible answer.
Of course, the truth of the matter is that Peter Hain himself should have made absolutely certain that evrything about his campaign was above board and conducted strictly in accordance with the letter of the law. As should Harriet Harman when it came to the conduct of her own Deputy Leadership bid. The fact that neither bothered to do so tells us a great deal about both of them - either they are terminally arrogant or just plain stupid - or both. Either way, they should be held to account for what they did. If they were small business owners who failed to declare income to the Taxman, claiming or feigning ignorance would not an acceptable defence. Neither should it be in their case.

Leaving aside the probable criminality of their actions, the question needs to be asked just why such eye-watering amounts were thrown at an election carried out within what amounts to a closed society. Between them, the half-dozen candidates spent £500,000. That's half a million pounds, for God's sake.

Where on earth did it all go?

According to the Electoral Commission, noo Labour had a membership of around 120,000 when the Deputy Leadership contest was held. That was 100,000 down from the previous year and about 300,000 fewer than the membership figures for 1997. In fact, the rapidly declining membership rolls were one of the factors that made illegal loans so essential to the party's survival.

Given such a huge defection rate, the 120,000 who remained must have been dyed in the wool Labour supporters. The kind of people who eat, sleep and drink politics. Most would probably have been able to quote chapter and verse on each candidate's background and what - if anything - they stood for. The BBC and the papers covered the campaign in some depth. All of the candidates had access to web sites, blog spots and e-mail. In terms of reaching and influencing the people that mattered -i.e those with a vote - they couldn't have had more weapons at their disposal.

So, what exactly did they spend the half mil on? What in Hain's campaign soaked up £200,000?
If Hain can spend so much on what amounted to a closed election and then not know exactly what he spent the money on, God forbid that we should ever let him have access to public funds in his role as a Government Miniter.

Whose country is this, anyway?

I returned from a visit to America over the weekend. After landing at Gatwick, we had to walk about a mile to reach the Passport Control. Now, the walk didn't bother me. After 8 hours on a plane, it was a relief to get the legs moving again .
What exercised me more was a bloody great sign at Passport Control that informed me and everyone else that we were approaching the "United Kingdom Border".
What is that all about?
Is it there in case people might mistake London Gatwick for Lisbon or Port of Spain- or wherever it is they are flying to ?
I don't think so.
Or might its real purpose be to demonstrate that we - by which I mean the Government - are "doing something"?
That's probably more likely.
This administration may not be able to expel foreign murderers and rapists; they certainly can't keep track of legions of 52 year old Iranians entering the country to study Computer Sciences and then forgetting to leave once their visas expire. In fact, there isn't a great deal of anything particularly useful they can achieve at all when it comes to keeping immigrant numbers to tolerable levels.
But they can erect a bloody great sign that wouldn't have looked out of place in some outpost of the old Soviet Empire, to reassure the natives that they are indeed, Doing Something. What is really strange and something that neither the Immigration Service or the Home Office seem able to explain, is the location of the sign.
If the UK Border starts at the Passport Control desks, what is the great swathe of Gatwick that you have to cross before you reach " the Border"?
No Man's Land, perhaps.

As a footnote, if anyone reading this happens to be of non-GB extraction and want a simple way to get to stay perfectly legally once you are in the UK, irrespective of your eligibility, here's all you need to do.
Get down to Oxford Street in London and simply hang around for a while. Fairly soon you will be approached by a young person waving a sheath of handbills Take one. You'll find it's from some sort of Language School or other offering you an English language course for the knock-down, never-to-be-repeated price of £350. Go along, register at the school, pay them the money and Hey Presto, you're suddenly a bona fide student, eligible for a Student Visa and, as things stand, eventual full-time residence in the UK. If you are really lucky, you'll never even have to attend a single class.
It beats the hell out of all of the hoops you have to jump through to be allowed to stay in any other country in the developed world doesn't it?