Mini-Break Madness

It's an outrage that MPs have not been able to question George Osborne about the sale of Northern Rock to Virgin Money that many of them reckon is a rotten deal for taxpayers.
It was equally outrageous that MPs were not able to challenge David Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions yesterday about youth unemployment topping a million and a downgraded growth forecast.
Why? Because for no good reason the House of Commons awarded itself two days off in the middle of November. Nothing to do with school half term.
At least the House of Lords sat yesterday, though not today.
Apparently, the poor dears felt they deserved this mini-break madness after being asked to turn up for two extra days in the summer, to discuss phone hacking in July and the riots in August.
Pathetic excuse!
I agree with Bob Crow, the motormouth leader of the RMT union, who said MPs have been "caught out on the skive".
It was very sneaky of George Osborne to announce the Northern Rock sell-off on a day when Parliament was not sitting.
You'd expect Labour's Ed Balls and his sidekick Chris Leslie - who my pal Charlie Whelan famously called "the bloke who used to do the photocopying in Gordon's office - to claim it was a poor deal.
Labour wants to know: (1) how big the loss to taxpayers is likely to be and (2) why rush the sale through now and not wait until a better deal could be struck, with perhaps a smaller loss or even a profit.
The loss looks like being between £400 million and £650 million. Taxpayers have poured in £1.4 billion. The sale price is what looks like a knock-down £747 million, but it could rise to £1 billion.
But it's not just Labour MPs who are unhappy.
Mark Field, Tory MP for the Cities of London and Westminster, claims Northern Rock has been sold "for a song".
And Euro-sceptic right-winger Douglas Carswell wonders if taxpayers have been "mugged".
George Osborne deserves to be hauled before MPs when they finally return to Westminster on Monday. And I'm certain he will be if he doesn't do the decent thing and offer a Commons statement.
That still leaves unanswered the questions to the Prime Minister about rising youth unemployment and the Bank of England's downgraded growth forecast.
When will MPs ever learn about their long holidays?
I'm not sure they ever will. This year they're taking 87 days off, not including weekends.
And in just over a month they begin a three-week Christmas recess.