Should the Foreign Office be spending £10,000 on...

[bibblebub]

...stuffing a snake?

http://www.guardian.c...e-snake-stuffing-bill

[LazyGun]

£10,000 or not, I hope they respected the snake and asked politely first...

[sandyRoe]

10k for a snake, imagine what a white elephant would cost.

[ludwig]

No. They should have just thrown it away or buried it.

[jno]

£500 a foot is quite a bit, isn't it. It's hard to think on what basis this should be kept in good condition rather than be cut up into chunks and used to keep the wind coming in under FCO doors.

[ludwig]

^ surely you mean £41 an inch. Snakes don't have feet.

[AB Editor]

It is only something like £83 per year upkeep. Completely acceptable and also allows this line to be written:

"Details of the donation have been lost, but we do know the snake is called Albert."

[bibblebub]

£500 per foot sounds more expensive

[joeluke]

10k to stuff an old snake? What purpose does this snake serve? If Hague wanted it stuffed he should have paid out of his own pocket

[jno]

I wonder if Queen Victoria knew the FCO had a snake called Albert. Perhaps she could have got together with it and had a museum named after them.

[joeluke]

In fact not only should the question be 'What purpose does this snake serve' but also 'What purpose does William Hague actually serve'?