No one doubts that public servants - including MPs - should be paid a decent wage for doing an important job.

Being an MP should not involve having to supplement your income with outside paid work which either diverts your time from doing the job you were elected to do well, or gives rise to a conflict of interest. Nor should it be the preserve of those who can afford to take it up, like a hobby.

But for God's sake, being in politics means you should be aware of the importance of timing, public perception and the need for transparency.

So when British consumers are reeling from escalating fuel and food prices, declining property values and a daily dose of dismal economic headlines, it is perhaps not the best time to inspire a clutch of "snouts in the trough" headlines.

How can politicians, with any credibility, lecture the public to pull together in the face of tough economic times, tell police and nurses and teachers to practice wage restraint, and then appear to stick two fingers up at their electorate like this???

They expect us to open up more and more of our lives for scrutiny - not to mention declare every penny in a tax return - and then say no to transparency around their own expenses. Great leadership, great message.

The reputation of Parliament and British politics just took another nose dive, and frankly the stupid sods deserve it.

Opinion polls may oscillate, but more and more the whole body politic looks isolated, out of touch and in it for themselves and their own petty squabbles while the rest of society worries about everything from gang culture and street crime to affording a place to live, the weekly shop and filling the car up.

Small wonder that for many voting has become a random act of political violence, something to kick a party or politician you don't like with, rather than a positive democratic act.

Politics gets a bad and cynical press in this country, something Total Politics was set up partly to address. But occasionally politicians shoot themselves in the foot. Yesterday they blew a few more toes off. It'll make for some interesting surgery conversations this weekend.