Andrew Dismore MP and further expense row

Dear readers,

Further to my yesterdays posting regarding this subject, you might also be interested to know that Mr Andrew Dismore Labour MP is also the London’s most expensive MP who drew £147,650 in expenses last year on top of his salary of £54,725. Nevertheless his attendance record is pretty poor, despite being a London MP he manages to come in the bottom half of attendees, missing a third of all votes. The 35 minute journey on the Tube would cost £20 a week if he came in every day – which he clearly doesn’t – so for the period parliament sits it would cost around £700 – yet his travel expenses are £4,959. Mr Dismore, the MP for Hendon, north-west London, claimed £2,144 for mileage in 2007-08. MPs can claim 40p a mile for travelling to and from Westminster and around their constituencies.

This meant that Mr Dismore claimed for 5,360 miles — the equivalent of 487 journeys between Parliament and his constituency home 11 miles away in Burnt Oak. During that year the Commons sat for 145 days. Since 2001, the MP, who has consistently opposed reforms to the MPs’ expenses system, has claimed more than £30,000 in travel allowances — far more than his neighbouring MPs.

The London Evening Standard says the Labour member for Hendon pushed up his total by spending £38,755 on stationery and postage – six times more than most colleagues – equivalent to the cost of 133,320 second class stamps, or about 800 letters every day the Commons was sitting – two per year to each of his north London constituents.

From: Deepak

Conduct watchdog MP in expenses row

Dear Readers,

Another member of the committee that regulates MPs' conduct is facing questions over his expenses. This time Andrew Dismore MP (Labor, NW London) reportedly claimed £34,000 in second home expenses for a west London flat that hosts his girlfriend's homeopathy surgery, while declaring a property just a few miles away in his north London constituency as his main home.

Mr Dismore - who serves on the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee and is Labor MP for Hendon - then allegedly "flipped" his second home designation to the north London property and claimed a further £31,000.

He split a total of £65,000 in second home allowances between the two London properties over an eight-year period, according to the Daily Telegraph.

From: Deepak

The Greenhouse gases, the fuel and our future

Dear readers,

You might be interested to know that US researchers have genetically modified bacteria to eat carbon dioxide and produce isobutyraldehyde - a precursor to several useful chemicals, including isobutanol, which has great potential as a fuel alternative to petrol.

The modified bacteria are highly efficient and powered by sunlight, so a future goal is to set up colonies near to industrial plants. This would allow greenhouse gases to be recycled into useful chemical feedstock - supplying several hydrocarbons that are typically obtained from petroleum.

Cyanobacteria and microalgae that consume CO2 have been identified for a long time, but none produce any liquid molecules that can easily be used as fuel. In the past, attempts have been made to engineer these organisms to produce hydrogen or ethanol, but making the process efficient is still an achievable challenge. There are still much work to be done before the process can be commercialized.

From: Deepak

The Rememberance Day 2009

Dear readers,

The death, on the eve of Remembrance Day, took the number of British troops who have died in Afghanistan since the mission began in October 2001 to 231.

Of those, 200 were killed as a result of hostile action, the Ministry of Defence said.

The remaining 31 have died from illness, non-combat injuries or accidents, or a cause of death has not been determined.

From: Deepak