PLEASE, NO MORE HUBRIS!

Listening to the speeches of the hopefuls for Speaker what is interesting is how seriously they take themselves, how deeply they feel the hurt their constituents have experienced, how committed they all are to reforming the House and how they plan to walk barefoot to Canterbury.

This may be the clearest pointer to the very heart of the matter. The absolute bottom line is that the overwhelming majority of people don't give two hoots about how the House works, merely that it works. Similarly, I would suggest that most people don't actually think that buying a duck island is an attack on our democracy and a threat to [insert number here according to your understanding of constitutional history] hundred years of tradition but they do see the expenses farrago (love that word!) as a chance to give those better off than them a good verbal kicking.

It might serve our MPs well to worry a little less about their image and how people perceive them - and thus to stop the faux sackcloth and ashes approach to politics - and instead focus a lot more on how they get their work done and how much work they do, plain and simple.