Questions, M'lud

The hunting of the snark continues.

Greg Palast, he of uncovering serious polling Fraud in Florida back in 2000, has laid into George Galloway.

Now, I personally would not accuse Galloway of personal corruption - as some interesting gents noted t'other day in conversation, our ruling class doesn't understand any sort of corruption other than the sort that lines one's pockets handsomely. They don't understand being politically corrupt: engaging in debased and corupting political relationships for genuine reasons (however mistaken) or merely for personal glory.

The workers movement has always struggled to keep sticky fingers from the till, and to make its accounts clearer and more available and accountable than the really corrupt capitalist class.

It's peturbing, then, that when I have raised the fact that neither Respect nor the Scottish Socialist Party have managed to submit their annual audited accounts for 2004 to the Electoral Commission - even after being granted an extended deadline - the membership of those organisations, including the SSP's official press spokesperson, Eddie Truman, have appeared unconcerned.

This is not about petty regulation compliance, this is about asking a good question: why cannot Respect or the SSP put together something as simple as a workable annual account 9 months into the following year? How can such an organisation be held to account?

Now, we do know from the public record, that george Galloway is named as donating substantial sums to Respect. £ 5,029.17 back in 2004, alongside £6,000 value for a battle bus from a company he has a stake in.

This story is developing, I'll be keeping a beady eye out.