Expenses joke

David Bleiman, the Edinburgh-based assistant general secretary of the Association of University Teachers, has had an arduous time filling in complex new expenses claim forms, which have separate sections for travel to and within Scotland. A memo from head office explained that these had to be used for three months as part of a fact-finding survey demanded by the Inland Revenue.

The aim was to find whether this split in travel expenses would have any effect on potential new Scottish taxes for executives who travelled throughout the UK. Now that Mr Bleiman has submitted the first of his new claims, it has been drawn to his attention that the memo was dated April 1.