https://www.thenational.scot/news/25656202.scottish-labour-mp-expensed-1479-camera-kit-tiktok-clips/
Posted by Creme_Eggs
https://www.thenational.scot/news/25656202.scottish-labour-mp-expensed-1479-camera-kit-tiktok-clips/
Posted by Creme_Eggs
26 Comments
The macro function revealed he has no details in his policies.
Isn’t that basically the same thing as expensing for flyers?
I’ve seen his tik toks before and they seem decent (for government standards) so I don’t think £1.5k is an outrageous spending for the job it does, there are significantly more wasteful things we should focus on…
I don’t actually see the problem with this? A bit odd perhaps, but if he’s using it as community outreach to his constituents then it’s a legitimate expense.
The article is paywalled, so I’m not sure if he’s using it for anything else.
Personally it smacks a bit of ‘how do you do, fellow kids?’, but this is hardly new. We’ve seen politicians rap, skateboard, and all sorts in the past to reach ‘the youth’. Not seeing how this is much different.
Edit: managed to see the article through the automod comment, sounds like he’s making use of the equipment for the reason he gave. This seems like a nothing story.
Such a non-issue. 80% of a MPs job is communication and the vast majority of that is done via social media. Whilst £1,479 for a camera isn’t cheap, it’s not particularly expensive either for the standard of camera you would want to create videos to a professional standard. It’s not exactly equivalent to expensing a duck house like we’ve seen in the past.
If he’s using his TikTok to communicate with his constituents, I see absolutely no issue with this.
Would someone be criticised for printing and handing out flyers? Or hiring a venue to give a speech?
Sounds like boomers looking for any reason to hate on young people, as usual.
Social media is a business requirement these days…. same goes for the business of government. Provided it is actually used for their work related tiktok account and not for their personal steam engine spotters tiktok then who gives a Flying Scotsman?
Are they not supposed to communicate with constituents? Seems like a reasonable expense.
That seems entirely actually as far as a cost goes for community outreach, especially since it’s a one-off cost. That’s not even an overly expensive camera, just “Decently good and will last a while”.
I could get annoyed over the price of the kit, but communicators do communicate.
The comments on the website are amazingly opposite to the comments here. Calling him a chancer etc highly doubt he has any personal gain from using this equipment.
Personally I don’t think £1500 is a ridiculous sum to spend on good tier equipment to use for marketing purposes, I imagine it’s a pittance compared to the amount they spend on marketing (including consult fees) in general.
In the grand scheme of expenditures, this is nothing. If they are using the media equipment effectively, this is a good use of money.
This is maybe 4 orders of magnitude smaller than any one time cost that we should be worrying about as a country
That seems absolutely reasonable. Your reminder that The National is an indy-supporting tabloid who will be looking for the worst possible angle on any unionist politician.
Imagine putting this article out and actually expecting people to be mad at an MP for communicating with the public.
I guess the only argument might be if they already have access to similar equipment capable of doing the same thing and whether the camera kit becomes their property that they also use for their work, or whether it is office equipment that’s generally kept in the office.
Either way, this is in no way a national story.
Unfortunately this is no amount of money for camera gear these days. This feels like a non-story unless it’s being used to take beach shots of his family.
Yeah I’m sure he could use a phone but having dedicated equipment gives more flexibility and better final product. No different from using high quality printing services for leaflets. Just a different form of communication.
As opposed to paying a production company 5-20k per video?
Fuck all for a camera for professional uses. What a non story.
It’s so clear whoever wrote this is clutching at absolute straws. Whatever they’re supporting must be DESPERATE for anything they can find to justify themselves. I’ve spent more than that on a clapped out run around car off Facebook marketplace
If only businesses had to disclose how much tax they dodge by buying things that are never even used for business, or, and I’ve seen this first hand, stuff like Lambos for “shareholder ride hauls” that are never even used for that purpose lol. You’d get into the billions.
I’m unsure if i should upvote or downvote the post….i agree it should be an expense as it’s a bit of kit used for comms, but i dosagree that airtime is given to the article.
Covid app and Michelle Mone combined siphoning was at least a quarter BILLION, but yeah sure go off about a camera
This is a nothing story. It’s just like applying for expenses for leaflets or surgeries.
While this is not great, it’s minor – I am glad this is the kind of corruption we hear about and not $400 million jet bribes or farage coin.
If the tik toks he’s making are related to his work, this is a genuine and fair use of expenses? What’s the news here?
I’m fine with MPs expensing stuff like camera equipment if they need it to do their job. But surely this means the kit now belongs to the constituency, and as such will be available for future MPs to use. Right? Right?????