This is indeed a worry.
After all you would think that the aristocrats and "distinguished visitors" who make use of these facilities, and the staff who maintain them, could manage to keep them in a state which would not be "of concern". You know, most of us manage with the odd wipe around with disinfectant and Flash .... (No pun intended, John Brownlie!).
The inordinate cost is apparently down to the fact that English Heritage lists the Palace of Westminster as a Grade 1 building, with attendant consequences.
If this royal palace is starting to become a massive liability to the people of the UK, then isn't it time that MPs and Peers looked at moving to a building more in keeping with the austerity that the rest of us are obliged to live under, leaving the current building to be made into a museum and for use on state occasions.
In any case, it has always seemed to me to be wrong that the UK parliament is housed in a royal palace within which normal laws do not apply. It adds to the impression these people seem to have of being a bit above the rest of us.
It may, then, be time for parliamentarians to consider moving to cheaper, more practical accommodation on the outskirts of London, or maybe Birmingham, Liverpool, or why not Newcastle, for day to day work.
I agree that we should shut the place down but why do we have to start again ?
ReplyDeleteGood question Monty. I suppose though, that the English will need a parliament. Th renovations costing £1.5 billion are not due to start until 2018. I suspect that this will not be our problem.
DeleteThe lords' bogs are.
How many are required?
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha ha ha ha... Brilliant. If you can find another one for the Mrs Lords, I think that should be OK.
DeleteDo they have Arse wipers like the wee spoilt baby Charlie Windsor, him of no tax paying.
ReplyDeleteBruce
He's extra!!
DeleteOn a school trip to London, we were treated to a tour of Parliament by our local MP.
ReplyDeleteOn a toilet stop in the house, I pissed on Ian Paisleys shoes.
Even as a youth, I had good taste.
LOL LOL LOL Jutie.
ReplyDeleteYou certainly did.
I'm rather surprised you were allowed to use the same toilets as these important people though... I'd have thought you'd have been shunted off to somewhere less luxurious, just being an ordinary person.
I don't know...
ReplyDeleteI can't even begin to imagine what kind of a thing they'd build if allowed to do so from scratch, at least this way, they're limited to some bogs.
Can you imagine it? A new British parliament building? It would be enormous, something indicative of the British way; thrusting and forth-right, steadfast and sure.
It'll probably be a huge penis.
Yes, Pa, I wouldn't deny them toilets, although I was a little surprised to find that nature hadn't removed the irksome business of toileting from the blue bloods.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that, come 2018 when they are sorting out the old building, we will be long gone. I wasn't however thinking of a "new build". I'm sure that, with the House of Lords kept in reasonable condition for the once a year state opening, they could surely make do with a conversion of some debating chamber... maybe in an old industrial building no longer needed, now that they have no industry.
Or perhaps one of the banks that they saved would be kind enough to give them a gift of the new chambers. They could call it the National Westminster Chambers or whatever.
Indeed, the small print would read, ... your houses of parliament may be at risk if you do not keep up repayments...
ReplyDelete;-)
Parliament has been repossessed; receivers have been appointed with the aim of flogging off Britain to the highest bidders. No one is holding out much hope.
ReplyDelete