The Americans are rather proud of their largesse. They were proud of Air Force One, even while Donald Trump was flying around in it. We, meanwhile, react with fits of rage when a member of the cabinet is caught in first class on a train, or flying anything other than Ryanair.
But then, on the other hand, what the actual hell is this? Do my eyes deceive me, or do I sit here reading the words: "£2,564 on home-brewing kits, filed under 'Computer Equipment and Services"?
That somebody or other in His Majesty's Government really has spent two and a half grand on a home-brewing kit and put it through under computer equipment? Has that really happened? Yes it has. The Labour Party has spent months compiling the info it has received in response to more than 300 freedom of information requests, to assemble what it hopes is a grand dossier of government waste.
(It was Tony Blair, you may recall, who made this possible, through bringing in the Freedom of Information Act. In his autobiography, he would later write of that decision: "You idiot. You naive, foolish, irresponsible nincompoop. There is really no description of stupidity, no matter how vivid, that is adequate. I quake at the imbecility of it.")
This story is from the February 14, 2023 edition of The Independent.
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This story is from the February 14, 2023 edition of The Independent.
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