P60

I received my P60 today, which is a helpful little document produced by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs department to tell me how much tax I had paid in the year 2008-2009. How much I had paid To Menzies Campbell. To David Cameron. To Hazel Blears. To Jack Straw. To Peter Mandelson. To Tam Dalyell. To Tony Blair....

I know that the MPs expenses claim scandal has infected all MPs across the country and this song is completely unrelated, but I can't help thinking of Rabbie Burns' ditty - "Such a Parcel o' Rogues in a Nation":

Fareweel to a' our Scottish fame,
Fareweel our ancient glory;
Fareweel ev'n to the Scottish name,
Sae fam'd in martial story.
Now Sark rins over Solway sands,
An' Tweed rins to the ocean,
To mark where England's province stands-
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

What force or guile could not subdue,
Thro' many warlike ages,
Is wrought now by a coward few,
For hireling traitor's wages.
The English stell we could disdain,
Secure in valour's station;
But English gold has been our bane-
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

O would, or I had seen the day
That Treason thus could sell us,
My auld grey head had lien in clay,
Wi' Bruce and loyal Wallace!
But pith and power, till my last hour,
I'll mak this declaration;
We're bought and sold for English gold-
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

ORDER! ORDER!