Expenses - Increase. Sorry, increase? Did I read that correctly?

One of the stories regarding the MP's expenses has been buried by the revelations of what MP's are claiming for.

They have voted for a 17% rise in their expense allowance for this year.

Is inflation sky high ? Nope

Are interest rates punitively high? Nope

So why award yourself what is in effect another £25,000 each worth of expenses?

The cynics say that this will be the last year for many MP's and they want the trough topped up to the brim.

Difficult to argue otherwise with the current state of the economy.

Update: Six pence added to the minimum wage - roughly 1%. You couldn't make it up.