Taken to the cleaners.

"TAXPAYERS have picked up a cleaning bill of nearly £5,000 for Gordon Brown ... The disclosures were laid bare yesterday by the Commons authorities who, after a two-year legal battle, released some of the expenses requested under Freedom of Information laws ... Nevertheless, publishing all receipts may explain some of the mysteries. One is why Mr Brown's cleaning bill went from £2,380 in 2003-4 to £4,981.04 in 2005-6, at a time when EU enlargement should have brought even more competition in the market."

So Fife's PM Gordon Brown claimed five grand to have his house cleaned or "repaired" depending on which paper you read, following the arrival of a new son.

There are more questions than answers on this one. Wouldn't it be nice to have the public pick up the tab for your household expenses?

Fife's cheap democracy.

Carnegie reads the list of expenses of Fife's elected Westminster MPs which was helpfully published in The Herald.

Topping the list of expenses claimed by a Fife MP was Lib Dem Willie Rennie, although he came in at a much more modest number 27 in the listing of all Scotland's 59 Westminster MPs, next was Sir Menzies Campbell at 37, then came Gordon Brown at 46, with John MacDougall bringing up the rear at number 54 in the Scotland rankings, albeit that he claimed one hundred and thirty thousand pounds.

Mr Carnegie is sure that these self effacing and modest claims, by Scottish standards, although amongst the most expensive in the UK, will be welcomed by Fife's voters.