Cartoon in today’s Independent

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The Independent ran this cartoon about the scandal over Jacqui Smith’s expenses.

Politics.co.uk, meanwhile, runs a story quoting Vivianne Westwood’s son saying that Smith’s policies on lap-dancing, prostitution and extreme porn have been pursued because she’s a “puritan” who is enacting legislation “so that she can restrict her own husband”.

Whether you agree with all, none or some of the legislation Smith et al have been pursuing, the dual attempts to ridicule her simultaneously by:

a) depicting her as stripping, and

b) calling her a puritan for legislation which, whether you agree with the effects/efficiency of it, is clearly intended to address violation of women in the sex industry,

is pretty interesting, isn’t it?

The jokes about Smith’s “golden globes” are just the icing on the cake.

Weirdly the fact that Smith is married to someone who watched a few quid’s worth of porn and was obtuse enough to endanger his wife’s political career by doing it on a TV package linked to her expenses, looks more likely to lead to her resignation than the stuff about claiming thousands and thousands of pounds for a second home allowance.

Thoughts, anyone?!