To think MPs shouldn’t be drinking while at work?

Those prices are OUTRAGEOUS.

In the NHS in the 90s we would often go to the pub on Friday lunchtime for a drink.

But times changed and at some point it became a disciplinary offence to drink while working.

I imagine that has been the case across the public sector.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask the same of our MPs.

I occasionally have a drink at lunch. I have perhaps around 2 half pints a week??

If I had the time I'd ask AI to tell me how many parliaments around the world have bars and restaurants and whether or not they are subsidised by the taxpayer. I'd say it's common especially in Europe and Commonwealth areas.

There is a tendency to Puritanism in the UK that doesn't seem to exist elsewhere in the world!

I doubt any parliamentarian anywhere (UK Greens excepted...) would voluntarily surrender their bars, restaurants, and private dining rooms for the good of their health 😊

I can't get worked up over this. It's fine in some industries and not in others.

I'm fairly left wing but the Greens really aren't appealing to me right now.

So, OP you think MPs are useless, overpaid arseholes who spend their lunchtimes drinking, except for the MP who originally called out her colleagues on social media (we must assume they don’t set a foot in the Westminster subsidised restaurants and they are in fact polishing their halo during their lunch break).

I think you’d be very shocked to hear what your NHS management and colleagues get up to 😮

In some jobs it’s more acceptable, finance and creative spring to mind but agree it shouldn’t be subsidised by the taxpayer, especially with the prices and taxes lumped on for everyone else and pubs trying to survive.

She makes a good point and timely before the local elections. It’s the kind of thing many won’t like due to the subsidy even if not the drinking at work.

It’s not just that they’re in the pub getting tipsy before voting on matters of national importance, but also the fact that we are paying them for their drinking time AND bloody subsidising their drinks. Its ridiculous.

I completely agree. Assuming you're not operating machinery/performing surgery/driving or the like, then ..... no problem. Worst I can do us get my debits and credits the wrong way round 😮

I'd be amazed if my boss even mentioned it to me. In fact, he'd probably be there 🤷‍♀️

Yanbu…and the tax payers subsidies this 🫤

Because having an inhibited nervous system changes the way you think and act. It changes your decision making processes. They’re discussing and making decisions that impact the entire country from the smallest infant to the oldest pensioner. To do so while inhibited, by choice, through alcohol is disgusting. It shouldn’t be hard to choose a soft drink while socialising if you’re returning to work after. Would you say the same was ok for your doctor, dentist or surgeon?

I just disagree with this pearl clutching denial that people do consume alcohol in a professional setting. It makes people look really stupid and out of touch

Yep.

This ^
And we do fund it as they work for us. Also I remember reading something that prices at the Parliament are kept much lower.

4pm on a Friday it was normal to drink. Any other time I’d have been fired

Being asleep whilst at work is ok then? Got it.

If I was drinking at lunchtime in my job, I’d be sacked.

I think they should be not drinking at lunchtime and doing their job, and there should be no subsidised bar or restaurants for MPs.

I don't agree with MPs being pissed up either. I also disagree with the subsidised bar. They can pay full price thanks.

I just disagree with this pearl clutching denial that people do consume alcohol in a professional setting. It makes people look really stupid and out of touch

Most office workers are allowed to drink something alcoholic at lunchtime, it's not banned. Plenty won't bcz it interferes with their job or will keep to just a half / small taste. What if an MP goes for a drink at 5-6pm with colleagues & then goes back to office for a meeting with colleagues, only time they were unavailable was 630-730pm, and there is other work to catch up on from 7:30-930pm? Why ban this esp. when commons can sit until 9pm still I think? I don't want complicated or controlling rules.

I don't want a ban but fine to suggest a work culture change that being as much as tipsy on the job is frowned upon.

Drinking on the job isn't a bad thing per se (I've had my share of boozy lunches, I'll still occasionally have a glass of wine on a sunny afternoon WFH) but nor is it a necessity and it's a weird, out-of-touch hill to die on for MPs.

FWIW the drinking culture in Parliament is one of the most unhealthy I've witnessed anywhere. I was disturbed by it when I first encountered it (as a hard-partying 20-something myself!) and I'm not surprised that Hannah Spencer is shocked. I would definitely prefer the judgment of my legislators to be a little less impaired.

You don't drink and drive so why would you drink and work. A lot of people's tolerance to alcohol is really low and they'd then make mistakes. Never heard of Friday lemons in the car industry?

In my organisation drinking in working hours isn't allowed and rightly so.

Don't hate the player....

Agreed. I worked in a very small solicitors office back in 2010 for 5 years, and once a week we all went for lunch at the nearest pub which was frequented daily at lunch by the local near estate agents. I had one or two drinks at most always with a meal. Boss paid for it. In fact he insisted on paying. Once as a one off i did have 3 Pimms and Lemonade on a Friday afternoon but was fine. My typing speed improved no end that day!

Posted too soon!

There's lots of stories of NHS workers sleeping on night shifts. In fact I think they had rooms set up for this at one point and there was upset about losing them.

I think that's fine but my point is you are being a bit obsessed with MPs being perfect. They don't get paid very much for what they do.