The divisions are up for the MPs expenses vote and, like Alex Wilcock, I am very happy indeed that not one of the piggies who voted to remain more equal than the rest of us is a Lib Dem. Predictably, the printed press is squealing about the horror and unfairness of it all, from the strident howls of the Fail, to the more measured disapproval of the Indy.

I am one of those rare people who thinks that MPs should be paid a lot more than they currently are for basic salary - on the grounds that if we want the best people to represent us, we should pay the sort of wages that will attract the best - but I also think that people HUGELY resent the fact that MPs get to claim expenses for the sort of things that normal people have to buy from their own wage.

In business, it's perfectly acceptable to claim for travel and lunches and sundry expenses, but how many people in the real world can claim for a telly or an iPod? Similarly, staffing costs for a constituency office are something that I have no problem with, but to be able to claim the cost of buying a second home, and then keep the profits when you sell it? Just no...

The fact that MPs have voted to retain the current system shows how out of touch a lot of them are with the public mood. When we're heading recessionwards and the rest of us are all having to suck it up and tighten our belts, the amount of resentment over MPs expenses is palpable to all. I am very proud that the members of my party who voted recognise this, and sad that my local MP didn't, and I think we should be making a lot of noise about it when it comes to election time.