Daily Lessons from Life 19 May 2009

"Top UK official to quit in expenses scandal - He will become the first Speaker of the House to resign in 300 years. -Tue, May 19, 2009 Reuters

LONDON, ENGLAND - The most senior official in Britain's lower house of parliament will announce his resignation on Tuesday after criticism of his handling of a scandal over lawmakers' expenses, Sky News and the BBC reported.

Michael Martin would become the most senior figure to step down after lawmakers' claims for everything from manure to porn films triggered public outrage and opposition calls for an early election.

Martin will become the first Speaker of the House to resign since John Trevor was forced out in 1695 for taking a bribe.


Conservative opposition leader David Cameron, who is well ahead in the opinion polls before a parliamentary election due by June 2010, said a "very angry" public was more concerned about having an early chance to vote than the choice of Speaker.

"They want to elect a new parliament," he told BBC radio. "Their view is that swapping one person in a funny black costume for another funny black costume is not actually going to make all the difference."


Prime Minister Gordon Brown, grappling with the worst recession since World War Two, is certain to resist calls for an early election. Brown has called for fundamental reform of the expenses system to try to defuse a scandal that has damaged all the main political parties but is hitting his own Labour Party hardest after 12 years in power.

A poll published on Tuesday showed that most members of Brown's own party think he should step down. Six out of 10 of those polled by the independent Labour website LabourList.org said the party must have a new leader before the election.“

I simply could not resist to write about this scandalous report that engulfed UK politics as it showed, once again, that greed, stupidity, and lack of integrity is no the privy of 'less developed and less civilized non-capitalist and democratic countries'!! Such scandals happened in the USA, Russia, China, India, Brazil, Germany, and of course, UK! So, the lessons for me are:

1. it is human nature for the leaders to forget why they want to be leaders in the 1st place. I would surmised it is to serve the people and create a better life for the masses and NOT to be corrupted and milked the system to its fullest! Alas, when people become successful or 'achieved' the goal of being somebody in life - be it politics or commercial or whatever organizations - they simply forgot the initial idealism that probably propelled them to this position!;

2. since it is human nature, the way to prevent of minimize such unfortunate occurrences is to be mindful and be diligent to guard against this 'human nature'! It means we must design some deliberate processes to keep us honest! e.g. check-and-balance system of oversights by independent party; e.g. implementation of regular self-check with checklist tick-off as evidence of check; e.g. regularly invite critics to inspect the going on of the work processes; etc;

3. at the same time, the ultimate guard against abuses is to imbue the individual leader with a lot of Personal Integrity! Actions that can be construed or cultivate such Integrity are: respect yourself and others; hold as the ultimate truth that one must never compromise the appearance of impartiality and fairness; encourage relatives and friends to be vigilant and stop asking for favours that can be construed as compromising your integrity; truly listen to criticism - negative or constructive! Be humble and listen!

It is easy to say it is human nature and give up on doing the right things. It is the leaders who are able to resist the temptation and the natural urge to do the wrong thing that most people will remember fondly. You have to decide how you like to be remembered as a leader!