I have mentioned in response to comments that I can be something of an iconoclast and variously challenge claims when they become accepted wisdom (and basically sustained by lazy or non-existent thinking). At times, it appears I can achieve this without planning to. I have been at meetings when I have offered what I regard as fairly straightforward and unremarkable comments, or asked fairly basic questions, only for people to come up to me at the close of the meeting and say things such as ‘I think you were really brave saying that’, or ‘I’m so glad you asked that question, I wanted to but daren’t’. It has happened on a number of occasions – including not so long ago at a meeting with a member of the US Federal Reserve Board. I seem to see some things differently from others.
I can also have the occasional Gielgud moment. Sir John Gielgud was renowned for coming out with well-meaning comments that could sound a little outrageous. I was having lunch one day in the Bishop’s Bar, a small sandwich bar in the Lords where I am a regular diner. As it became a little crowded, peers coming in joined those already sitting at tables, as is the usual practice. I was sat in a corner and was joined by three Labour Baronesses, one of whom I know quite well. ‘Oh dear’, said one, ‘I hope you don’t mind being surrounded by Labour Baronesses’. ‘Not at all’, I replied in my well-meaning way, ‘I’ll talk to anyone’.
I think they knew what I meant.
Care to make a comment on those subsidised bars and cafes ?
http://www.almr.org.uk/presspdfs/69.pdf
Not directed at you individually, but many in the other place are all to happy to load costs onto country pubs, to prevent ‘binge drinking’, whilst happily truffling subsidised food and drinking subsidised beer themselves…
Two points. As I’m teetotal, I’m not an expert on the bars in the Palace of Westminster though I gather there are sixteen of them. Since I don’t drink, I cannot claim that I am not responsible for what I say! Second and more importantly, my understanding as far as the House of Lords is concerned is that the profits made from hiring out the banqueting rooms are used to subsidise the catering in the various dining rooms for members, guests and staff.
Bedd, most of the file concentrates on the HoC habits (there’s a piece on this on Iain Dales’s blog). Somehow, I don’t see Baroness Murphy or her chums necking a pint of Foster’s in public.
Fiona Jones death was widely reported last year as part of the hard-drinking culture in the HoC. Guido Fawkes wrote this last July:
http://www.order-order.com/2007/07/hilary-armstrong-three-mps-drunk.html
Instead of subsidising alcohol perhaps they should be putting up the prices by the same ratio of their earnings compared with UK average wages, and giving out free fruit instead.
Who ate all the bananas?
Ladytizzy, oh dear, what a funny image you must have of me. You can see me downing a pint of Aspall’s suffolk cider or a pint of St Peter’s most saturday nights I’m afraid. But definitely not Fosters rubbish fizz. I am not teetotal but I rarely drink in the Lords except when entertaining people for dinner, But perhaps I can elucidate the subsidies in the bars and restaurants. Like many works canteens, there are subsidies in rates for sandwiches and the standard meals when members eat in places where only they can go (not at all posh, rather modest in fact). But the restaurants like the Peers’ dining room and Barry Room are not subsidised at all, in fact they charge commercial London rates. I’d be happy to pay an unsubsidised rate for the salad or sandwich I normally east in the Bishops Bar, it wouldn’t add more than a couple of pounds every day. As you will have gathered from Lord Norton, the Bishops Bar is a great place for bumping into people and also getting to know a few you wouldn’t otherwise meet. My observation is that daytime drinking in the Lords is becoming rarer, the bars are full of people having coffee and tea and soft drinks.
I have a very warm image of you Baroness, and have become fond of you all here! Not a beer drinker myself, though St Peter’s is in stock for friends and the occasional beef stew. I do enjoy a glass (or two) of Merrydown, though.
No, the susbsidy hoo-ha was aimed at the HoC, as I mentioned.