THE Daily Telegraph has served an admirable purpose in highlighting serious abuse of the expenses system by members of all parties in Parliament.

How it acquired the information may well be suspicious, but the end justified the means. It has also, no doubt, done itself a power of good in terms of increased circulation.

Its greatest success, however, has gone by without anyone seeming to notice – it has drawn attention away from the true culprits of our country’s present financial plight.

Consider Sir Fred (“Not a penny will I repay”) Goodwin. I would suggest he could afford to fund the entire parliamentary expenses debacle from his gross payout for incompetence and still have a bit left over.

Or consider the late directors of Northern Rock (who did “nothing wrong”) but who managed to sell off their shares at about £12.50 each while hundreds of small-time investors lost every penny and we, as a nation, spent billions of pounds in propping up this and other financial institutions.

The much-maligned Gordon Brown has taken bold action to improve our national plight. I hope and pray that he succeeds.

Alan Benn, Burneston, Bedale, North Yorkshire.