How can MP’s be eating meals at these subsidised prices when I’m seeing elderly patients presenting in A&E on the brink of starvation? Something is very wrong in this country. This from an NHS Nurse of 48 years (BSc(Hons) 1st class, RN in NHS for 48yrs.)
Nanny looking very smart there.
And why did the cost of a steak in the Commons Dining room go down in price in 2021 at the same time as beef had to be taken off the menu in schools in England because it was too expensive?
And why, oh why, above all, are we subsidising alcohol at work for people who are paid over £80,000 a year for sitting on back benches with very little responsibility, except to vote for what they are told (whipped) to vote for and to make deprecating noises whenever an SNP or Alba MP speaks?
And today’s laugh…
And some photographs of a bit of the A93 that was by passed… and through which we walked this afternoon.
The road has all but disappeared.
It was rather wet…
Little waterfalls everywhere.
Baillie Bridge which was starting to look a bit ropey.
And here’s Munguin’s pal, Bertie looking for his breakfast of sultanas and meal worms… to each his own, I say.
MUNGUIN'S NEW REPUBLIC 
If I’m not mistaken that piece of the the A93 has the look of having had not only two lanes but crash barriers.
Wow!
You see, I live in rural Argyll and such feats of civil engineering are unthinkably aspirational.
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LOL.
Yes, it did have two lanes and the crash barriers are there all the way along. I think it’s because there is a MASSIVE drop over one side. And in parts (and I should have photographed this) the road has subsided and the crash barriers are hanging… despite having VERY deep roots.
This road goes to Braemar and on from there, past a certain person’s private home (or rather homes), so it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that that certain person might have driven along that road at one time or another.
Obviously that would mean that the road had to be in tip top condition…
🙂 🙂
Send us a pic of your roads… 🙂 so we can have a little snigger at you…
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Bertie and mealie worms, don’t knock it Tris. Could be the start of a training session towards beating Matt Hancock’s efforts.
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Alan, tris would never eat a blackbird. Not even if there were 24 of them baked in a pie.
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LOL LOL
Bertie is constantly ever so slightly wary of me… I’m sure he’s glad there’s not another three and twenty brothers and sister around.
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I can’t imagine Munguin going into “I’m a celebrity”, Alan, although, with an extra £400,000 he could purchase even more second hand gold. 🙂
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😊 share the mealie worms with Bertie. Not eat them wrapped up in Bertie, Munguin would be horrified.
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He would indeed be. Bertie is one of this closest allies!
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“Bertie looking for his breakfast of sultanas and meal worms… to each his own, I say.”
The way prices are going we’ll all be eating that – without the sultanas!
Maybe those HoC prices are why Lee Anderson thinks you can eat for 30p a meal. They should be paying full price and London prices at that. And if they don’t feel they can afford it they can take in a packed lunch as others have to.
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I dunno. A big packet of meal worms these days is £10. and a packet of sultanas is only 99p. If things get tighter it will be the meal worms that go.
I’m pretty sure that other government departments don;t have restaurants and bas in them… The DWP Offices in Dundee doesn’t anyway. I’m not sure why the Palace of Westminster does.
MPs also get a £100 a week allowance for food. I image that is to cover 3 meals a day for the 5 days that they may be at work.
So 3 x 30p = 90p x 5 = £4.50 a week for Anderson and the remaining £95.50 to a local foodbank. What say you?
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…and energy bills don’t worry them much either.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/revealed-mps-claimed-420000-on-expenses-for-their-energy-bills
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Dear heavens.
No wonder they don’t care about our bills going up.
I see Sue Ellen likes to keep herself very warm at our expense.
Again, I can understand that if they live in Manchester, Belfast, Rhyl or Wick, they can’t be expected to commute daily, but surely accommodation could be found for them in a tower block somewhere, where they could live rent-free and if the apartments (only supposed to be for one person and only for a few nights a week) were reasonably sized, I’m sure the bills could be kept down.
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The alcohol list cannot be current. Italian Pinot Grigio should be drunk within 2 years of vintage. Longer than it changes colour to yellow and taste.
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Relatively up to date figures here, Jim:
For the peasantry:
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/jun/04/uk-beer-costs-soar-average-price-pint-tops-8-pounds-one-london-pub
In the Commons:
https://www.ladbible.com/news/price-list-shows-how-much-mps-pay-for-a-pint-in-parliament-20220503
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Dear Tris,
The Ladsbible wine list has no Pinot Grigio on it, as per your link.
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Yes, I know. But it is a more up to date price list.
Obviously they have run put of Pinot Gregio…
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Thanks Jim. The things you learn on MNR.
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I sometimes muse on thoughts of reincarnation and not wishing to return as a humanoid, rather fancied coming back as a bird, possibly a swallow and I could spend the summer in Scotland and migrate to Africa for the winter, all the while enjoying visiting all sorts of lovely places during the biannual migration. UNTIL I realised I’d need to feed on insects, possibly even the odd spider. Think I may decide on something else!
What’s wrong with the parliamentary refectories offering simple home cooked meals – without alcohol – such as most of us manage to throw together daily? It’s all so pretentious and unnecessary. They are, after all, just public servants, paid out of the public purse, like many other folk in this country who have to make do with what they can easily afford. No one wants to deny them access to a meal during the working day, but let’s get real. And no alcohol. A very long time ago I was attending a 2-day conference in Somerset, having flown down from Scotland, and at lunch time the local group took us to a nearby hostelry where they suggested we try a scrumpy (cider). Big mistake. I couldn’t keep my eyes open for the rest of the afternoon, so no alcohol ever again for me during the day after that!
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I remember a colleague of mine suggesting that it would be good to have your life over (I think he was about 40) and asking if I could, would I.
I said yes, probably, but I’d want to be born into a Scandinavian country and with a more congenial family than I had.
He said… YOU CAN’T DO THAT… but then I pointed out that, well, you couldn’t actually be born again anywhere, so quibbling over location was a bit pointless.
You have to remember that a a swallow would be perfectly happy eating flies and other insects, and wouldn’t thank you for foie gras or rice pudding (not that I would either).
Although most places don’t provide meals (I’ve never worked anywhere where they had a canteen), I don’t have a huge objection to them having canteens in Westminster or Holyrood. (I’ve eaten in the canteen in Holyrood a few times. You queue up and are served, like in a fast food place.) But I object to the special treatment that they get and the very low prices they pay in London, especially as they are given £100 a week as a meals allowance.
They are already well paid (£84,000+) and most of them can fiddle expenses to cover all sorts of stuff for second homes.
Many of them do very little as staff, by and large, do the bulk of the constituency work.
And don’t get me started on the lords.
£300+ a day, tax free for lying dozing on the red benches and even better dining and drinking facilities… Privilege of peerage, I see to remember Rees Mogg saying.
Now, as many older people and kids only eat once a day, is the time to cut back on the costs of feeding them.
I don’t know many places where you can get a drink at work and I do know that in many places if there was a hint of drunkenness, you’d be suspended.
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https://nicktyrone.substack.com/p/this-week-in-brexitland-december-f15
Off topic, but interesting. Thanks to Brenda for send it to me.
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Here’s an article from the NYT on the palace racism.
Hopefully Wee Wullie’s up and coming tour will suffer accordingly.
Geez, he and his clothes horse revolt me.
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Farage has been bumping his gums about it too. He presumably found in favour of the elderly racist, shitehawk that he is. I’m not posting a link, although I know where they are. Haven’t given them the benefit my of traffic, either.
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Of course Farage, just like Kyle is almost undoubtedly not worrying about where his next meal is coming from, or how many layers of his tasteless clothes he will have to wear to battle off the cold.
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Here’s another bit of Farage:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fi6J08uWQAAgskj?format=jpg&name=900×900
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