Smelly Coronets

Even I was taken aback that the Met police have made an arrest as part of their investigations into peerages-for-loans scandal
I do wish somone would come up with a witty one-word description - perhaps peergate? lordsgate?
Anyway.
An arrest is a serious blow. It did look as if it would all just blow over. I am certain not even the Plaid MPs who demanded the Met investigage expected to see anyone in the dock.
Apart from the arrest, the most eye-catching element of this story is the way it is being used to promote STATE funding of political parties.
We must oppose state funding as vigourously as we can. It is a politicians solution to a politicians problem. The taxpayer should not be funding parties - if they cannot get enough support from members of the public they should go out of business like everyone else.
The short money: http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/notes/snpc-01663.pdf
is often cited in the state funding debate. The opposition parties DO receive some funds - for their specific parliamentary responsibilities. The short money is not spent on advertising gurus and nice new branding experiments. Any expansion of state funded parties would mean the tax payer perpetuating the existence of a three party system - and THOSE three parties. UKIP, laughable as they are, have managed to create a new political force, fund it, and win considerable amounts of seats.
How can the three party hegemony ever be challenged if the tax payer pays for those parties to exist?
Personally I think they should just keep selling knighthoods - they are meaningless anyway. If you are the sort of person who wants one so much that you will pay for it - then I think you should have one.
We just need to formalise it. 5 million minimum. All transparent and above board.
Sorted.