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DENIS MacSHANE was a great campaigner against fascism and injustice.

But he cheated those he was supposed to serve when it came to his expenses and has paid the price for it.

He now deserves the condemnation of the public for his grave breach of the rules.

A parliamentary committee said MacShane’s conduct had been “so far from what would be acceptable in any walk of life” that he had to be booted out of Westminster for a year.

That’s not how they dealt with other expenses cheats, notably David Laws, the Lib Dem minister who claimed £40,000 in false housing expenses.

He was rapped over the knuckles and spent a week on the sidelines.

A 12-month suspension from the Commons could only mean one thing – a resignation and a by-election in MacShane’s seat.

Glasgow-born MacShane’s crass stupidity and cavalier attitude to taxpayers’ money should serve as a lesson to all politicians and would-be cheats of the public purse.

Whatever your financial gain, it simply isn’t worth it.

MacShane could have gone down in history as a great fighter for injustice.

Instead, he’ll be remembered as just another greedy MP caught with his snout in the expenses trough.

Big task ahead

Workers have left the Hall’s of Broxburn plant for the last time.

Within two months, more than 1700 workers will have lost their jobs – and another 150 jobs have now gone at Glasgow’s Freshlink sausage factory.

It is now over to the Scottish Government to create some hope in these communities, where unemployment is already too high.

A task force have been set up in West Lothian to help Hall’s workers find work, and a similar operation will swing into action in Glasgow.

But we’ve seen task forces come and go before without achieving great results.

This time, they must have the full authority of the Scottish Government and wholehearted support from local business leaders – and the financial teeth to draw new investment to the blighted areas.

Without real power, these task forces are nothing more than a PR exercise.

What the workers of Hall’s and Freshlink need now are jobs, not spin.

Fighting spirit

WHEN life gives you a knock, sometimes the only thing to do is get back in the ring.

Texas guitarist Ally McErlaine was given the biggest blow a body can take.

Five years ago, he collapsed from a brain aneurysm, fell into a coma and died twice on the operating table.

But Muhammad Ally, as his trainer dubs him, has hit back hard. He’s taken up boxing and, so long as you don’t box his ears, or his guitar fingers, he’ll go the full 15 rounds.

Ally’s a great musician but as a fighter, he’s a knockout.