There is a perception, widely held I would wager, that politicians on that whole are a lazy bunch overpaid, under worked and highly skilled at squeezing every last penny out of the poor old taxpayers they are supposed to represent.
Harsh? Ill informed? Perhaps.
But now no lesser figure than Margaret Hodge has come out saying that politicians risk being portrayed as poor value for money because they are not seen at work enough.
Who she I hear you ask?
She is the forthright, formidable, chair of the powerful Westminster public accounts committee possessed of a razor sharp brain and tongue to match.
For the uninitiated her committee is the one charged with pointing out when the taxpayer is getting ripped off and is very good at it.
Her beef is this: the House of Commons sits for around 150 days a year which she reckons is not enough when the country is facing the worst economic recession in history.
Of course there is nothing at all new about calls for politicians to be seen to be working more.
When the Scottish Parliament kicked off in 1998 people were gobsmacked to learn that they would sit in plenary session – that is actually in the chamber – for just one-and-a-half days a week. It should be said that under the currentPresiding Officer Tricia Marwick they now do an extra half day.
Devolution had a nice little spin-off for Scottish MPs too.
Before the advent of Holyrood Scottish MPs were responsible for health, education, roads, local government, as well as defence, macro economics, foreign policy and constitutional matters everything in fact.
Post devo a huge chunk of these responsibilities went to MSPs. Perhaps no wonder that a favourite topic of conversation after a shandy or two in Strangers Bar is “How do Scottish MPs fill their days?”.
The other awkward question that arose in the run-up to devolution was what would list or regional MSPs do?
The fear was that, as they were not directly elected to seats and that the regions they represented were already represented by MPs elected first-past-the-post, we would end up with two classes of MSP.
It is, as perhaps I have just demonstrated, easy to have a pop at politicians and yes there are some who, frankly, are a disgrace to their calling. I’m a journalist, I can say that.
But in my experience the vast majority of MPs and MSPs are not in it for the money, the status, the glory or the first class travel, invitations to glitzy dos and generous expenses.
Believe it or not, they work their socks off to try to better the lives of the people who live in this country no matter which shade of the political spectrum they occupy.
I can hear the guffaws, but I believe it to be true.
That said, a Scottish MP, a list MSP or, best of all a comfy seat in the House of Lords, is still good work if you can get it.