Apparently (well according to the Daily Mail on Sunday rag) Labour used to spend £4000 on Christmas trees for numbers 10 and 11 Downing Street.
A large Christmas tree stands each year in the hall of No 11 Downing Street, and George Osborne was asked if he wanted the same as they had every year. It would cost £800. He said “No. I will go down to the market and buy one myself”.
I applaud that Mr Osborne. That will indeed save us £800. However, I suspect that you won’t go down the market. An £800 Christmas tree is something that will have to be delivered, then it will have to be dressed and the lights on it alone will cost a fortune of our money in electricity to run.
And this is for what is essentially an office. Mr Osborne doesn’t actually live downstairs at No 11. There’s a flat at the top (a rather splendid one, but a flat none the less), and the personal accommodation is there. The rest is office space.
So, if we really don’t want to waste money, why don’t we have a policy that no government department, no state office, will have a Christmas tree this year. That will save a fortune in tree purchasing and in lighting. And it has the advantage of being good for the environment.
And no, it's not anti-Christian. People can still have their Christmas trees at home, and if businesses want to buy them for town centres to encourage more spending, then that's fine too. As long as it is not public money being spent on unnecessary baubles.
As a Christmas tree has actually nothing to Christmas, I’m sure that Christ would have preferred the money to be spent on the poor.
I’d encourage our government to adopt the same policy!
I should be the Finance Minister!
A large Christmas tree stands each year in the hall of No 11 Downing Street, and George Osborne was asked if he wanted the same as they had every year. It would cost £800. He said “No. I will go down to the market and buy one myself”.
I applaud that Mr Osborne. That will indeed save us £800. However, I suspect that you won’t go down the market. An £800 Christmas tree is something that will have to be delivered, then it will have to be dressed and the lights on it alone will cost a fortune of our money in electricity to run.
And this is for what is essentially an office. Mr Osborne doesn’t actually live downstairs at No 11. There’s a flat at the top (a rather splendid one, but a flat none the less), and the personal accommodation is there. The rest is office space.
So, if we really don’t want to waste money, why don’t we have a policy that no government department, no state office, will have a Christmas tree this year. That will save a fortune in tree purchasing and in lighting. And it has the advantage of being good for the environment.
And no, it's not anti-Christian. People can still have their Christmas trees at home, and if businesses want to buy them for town centres to encourage more spending, then that's fine too. As long as it is not public money being spent on unnecessary baubles.
As a Christmas tree has actually nothing to Christmas, I’m sure that Christ would have preferred the money to be spent on the poor.
I’d encourage our government to adopt the same policy!
I should be the Finance Minister!
Pics: Mr Osborne, and trees, where they look best, in the wild.
I still have a plastic one bought at Woolworths twenty years ago. Its like an old friend.
ReplyDeleteOne that doesn't needle you.
Bad Idea. And it only encourages the beardy ones from the religion of peace.
ReplyDeleteDavid Cameron will be announcing at the Tory conference that the cuts in public services will not be as bad as the Tories and the little tories made out. Talk about mixed messages! In that case let them have their Christmas trees would it not be better for them to be honest and tell us finally how bad these cuts and the pain is going to be. I for one am sick and tired of the its going to be awful, we are all in it together mantra, only to find out that it’s not and that although all the cabinet ministers are keen on cuts they are not keen on cuts to their own little empires.
ReplyDeleteSweet Conan. Do you buy it a Christmas present and set it a place at the table?
ReplyDeleteI have a piece of tinsel like that. It's my only concession to Christmas, decoration wise. Most years, when I remember, I trot it out of the cupboard, and it does its 2 weeks' magic and then it goes back, from whence it came.
I don't approve of killing down living things for Christmas decorations.
Ah Christmas tree grower. I can see why you would think that a really poor idea.
ReplyDeleteI don't suppose you'd consider growing oats or soemthing instead?
Yes Munguin. I trust that that wee fellow, the Scottish Secretary (can't remember his name) is fighting, like his life depended on it, for Scotland.
ReplyDeleteMind you, I suspect the wee soul will have a mammoth job. George Osborne probably isn't that interested in a country that returns only one Tory MP.
Expect the worst.
No, I won't let them have their Xmas trees. I'm damned if I should be paying for Osborne's staff to have a Christmas tree at work, or indeed anyone else to have one. Work is not about decorations; it's about work (and not telling jokes!!).
It gets lots of presents Tris. It just doesn't get to keep them...
ReplyDeleteTop answer Conan :))
ReplyDelete