Do as We say, not as We do.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.telegraph....d-champagne-bill.html

The politicians are forever going on regarding our drinking habits and their plan to stop the sale of cheap booze.

Yet they should look closer to home, and we should call a halt on the subsidy on their booze.

/// taxpayer contribution to the wine bill was the equivalent of £115,000, or £176 per MP. ///

Have you a subsisted drinking and eating venue in your place of employment?

The following Related Articles make interesting reading also.

Tory MP 'too drunk to vote'
11 Jul 2010

MPs often 'too drunk to stand' in Commons
05 Oct 2011

Subsidy: £2.35 merlot for MPs
03 Jan 2012

[chrissa1]

They are even allowed to smoke in their bar I believe.

[sandyRoe]

We shouldn't judge our betters by our own standards. I believe Churchill was seldom sober during his time in Downing St yet he coped well enough.

[anneasquith]

aog, should we be surprised by this information ? not at all ¬

[daffy654]

No workplace should have a subsidised bar, there is absolutely no need (or excuse) to drink alcohol during the working day.

[venator]

They should have looked at this when the expenses scandal was being addressed - it's totally inappropriate.

They should be prohibited from drinking during working hours, and smoking on the premises at any time.

[emmie]

Daffy, maybe so, but we often did, until the bosses eventually banned it, even though they did, exec lunches and all that. I don't think it happens in many big companies now, partly cost, partly too much work, and you can't function too well in the afternoon with lots of booze inside you. MP's and drinking, not a new thing, with the infamous George Brown, a well known drunk, not sure how effective an MP he was either.

[daffy654]

I worked behind a bar for many years and have seen a lot of normally sane people go absolutely nuts when they've had a few alcoholic drinks. It can seriously put you off drinking seeing that every day!

[emmie]

Daffy, so have i, in the days when we had pub closing time at 3pm, then open again at 5.30pm or thereabouts. It wasn't unusual for the men office workers to knock back 4/5 pints at lunchtime, go back to work, then be waiting outside for the pub to open at 5.30, and still be there at closing time. That is why i get cross when young people are castigated for drinking too much, many of their parents, even grandparents were no better.

[daffy654]

The place I worked was the lunch establishment of choice for a lot of people from BAE Systems Warton. It used to worry me that these people would throw back a few beers at lunchtime then return to working on the designing and testing of military jets. We also had a few of the teachers from the local primary school who were lunchtime regulars.

[emmie]

Daffy, biggest drinkers were journalists, followed by black taxi drivers, who more often than not rolled out pub and got in cab to go to work, no one thought anything of it then, about putting passengers lives at risk. It was a culture of heavy drinking, at lunchtime we would go to the local eaterie, have food and wine, back to pub in the evening, and it wasn't once in a while, but most days.

[JoolsTwo]

"They are even allowed to smoke in their bar I believe."

No, they aren't - I've been in there and they have to go outside to smoke the same as in any other bar.

[chrissa1]

^ That's a relief. Lol.