Step up to the Plate
The BBC has just reported that the chairman of RBS - Sir Philip Hampton - is to give up a £1.4 millon bonus payment - that he was due to receive later this year.
Good for him - let's hope others now follow his example - including the RBS chief executive - Stephen Hester - who is due a £963,000 bonus payment under his contract of employment.
Maybe now MPs in the House of Commons will step up to the plate as well - over the cost of their Westminster staff canteen - which is subsidised to the tune of £5.8 million every year.
MPs have had plenty to say about what's going on elsewhere - but have little or nothing to say about what's going on in their own back yard - see post below from yesterday.
Give to the Needy! (January 27th 2012)
While I'm in the mood for poking a bit of fun at MPs - I thought I'd share with readers one of the great mysteries of our time.
The fact that MPs in the House of Commons enjoy a public subsidy of £5.8 million a every year - for what amounts to their staff canteen.
Now I'm sure there's lots of good reasons for trying to keep MPs in the building - some of them might get lost if they were to venture out into the streets of London - looking for a great meal deal at Subway.
So they're encouraged to stay within the Palace of Westminster with some bargain basement prices - which are not on offer to the ordinary man or woman in the street.
For example:
£2.60 for a pint of beer
£2.35 for a glass of wine
£1.40 to a drink of Lucozade - recently increased from 80p
£2.05 for a lunch dish of braised pork with black pudding bonbon
£2.70 for an apple salad
£4.15 for halibut and soft boiled quail egg with carrot dressing
£7.80 for a rib-eye steak with hand cut chips and béarnaise sauce
£6.75 for haddock and leek fish cakes with tomato and dill cream
£6.75 for a chickpea and lentil curry with red onion fritter
£2.05 for a chocolate and orange torte
£2.05 for a serving of fresh fruit salad
£2.05 for home-made ice creams and sorbets
£3.10 for a selection of fine cheeses and biscuits
Now I'm all in favour of good tasty food being served up to our public servants.
But what I don't get is why it should be subsidised at taxpayers' expense - especially during these straitened times.
Why at £5.8 million every year - the subsidy accepted by our MPs amounts to six times the bonus paid to the RBS boss - Stephen Hester.
Which is getting lots of people very worked up - according to the news media earlier today.
Strange - don't you think?
