South Tyneside council spends thousands trying to expose blogger

South Tyneside council is alleged to have spent £250,000 of public money trying to expose a blogger called Mr Monkey.

The council claim that less than £75,000 of public money has been spent.

Even if this is true, it's still a waste of public money, at a time when the council faces £32m of budget cuts.

They are using U.S. law firm McDermott Will & Emery, one of the biggest legal practices in America.

The Daily Mail reports on several of the scandals to beset South Tyneside council, including "Airportgate" and alleged postal vote tampering.

Does the slogan "If you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to hide" rings true here?

As Francis Urqhart would say, you might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment.