Should our MPs and their staff be allowed to drink (alcohol) during their working day?

Whoops, my mistake - may have been a mitigation if BJ had not said:
'This is where I live, this is where I work; Those were meetings of people at work, talking about work.'

Oh how I miss the days when teachers could have a drink. I had some great Christmas lunches. For some reason Catholic schools had the best ones and the priest kept topping your glass up. Goodness knows how those children survived!!!

Casdon

I doubt many employees have a cheese and wine lunch break with two bottles of wine on a table for 4 with one of them a mum of a very young baby who probably isn’t drinking anything. Being a puritan I could be wrong on that of course.

It wasn't a lunch break, it was late afternoon. Analysis of the shadow lengths has been done

I doubt many employees have a cheese and wine lunch break with two bottles of wine on a table for 4 with one of them a mum of a very young baby who probably isn’t drinking anything. Being a puritan I could be wrong on that of course.

growstuff absolutely, but Chestnut was suggesting it was only this elite who were not banned from drinking in working hours, or at lunch or after work, which is patently incorrect.

No wonder none of them can think straight

A work gathering conferring on invasion plans?

Nothing at all with being 'puritanical'!

M0nica

Oh, for heavens sake Chestnut there are millions of 'workers' (isn't anyone who goes to work a worker?) doing all kinds of jobs, the majority probably, who have jobs with no restrictions on whether they have a pint at lunch time or not.

That our Prime Minister and his coterie do not think the rules apply to them, has always been well known and I would not say a word in his defence, but as a proportion of the countries workforce they are a very very small proportion.

A very small proportion maybe ... but with a huge amount of influence over the lives of everybody in the country, including being role models.

Thank heavens for a kindred spirit MOnica. I think we must have a lot of puritans on GN.

Oh, for heavens sake Chestnut there are millions of 'workers' (isn't anyone who goes to work a worker?) doing all kinds of jobs, the majority probably, who have jobs with no restrictions on whether they have a pint at lunch time or not.

That our Prime Minister and his coterie do not think the rules apply to them, has always been well known and I would not say a word in his defence, but as a proportion of the countries workforce they are a very very small proportion.

Exactly sodapop. As a lawyer I could have a drink at lunchtime and as food was consumed at the same time it did not impair my ability to do my job, which was certainly demanding. At any one time I was responsible for transactions totalling many millions of pounds. I think if I'd had one too many I would have faced a few negligence actions. There's a big difference between having a drink and being incapable. If people choose to take jobs where consumption of alcohol is, rightly, prohibited during working hours that's their choice. They can't then turn round and say it's unfair and no-one else should have a drink.

I don't think it's a case of being unfair Chestnut those of us who had jobs where we couldn't have a drink on duty accepted that as a requirement of our role. It's not a case of workers versus establishment. A retail or office worker is quite at liberty to have a glass of wine at lunchtime but not a paramedic or nurse.

Germanshepherdsmum

It seems some would prefer that nobody, whatever their job, had a drink during working hours. Puritanical in the extreme. The fact that people working in some jobs shouldn’t drink for reasons of safety or because they are working with the sick or children doesn’t mean that nobody can be allowed a drink. What a miserable world we would inhabit.

So it's one rule for them and another for the workers. I thought that is what gets people angry! How unfair that some can drink and others doing demanding jobs requiring sobriety aren't allowed a drop.

I think most people would be self-limiting with their lunch time alcohol consumption. A glass of wine with lunch is not a problem as I see it. However I see no need for MPs to have a subsidised bar or in fact a bar on the premises at all.
I think we have to assume that most MPs are sensible people with some exceptions of course.

Being fat and unfit, does affect how people do their jobs. many overweight people suffer from sleep apnoea, which means they are permanently tired and that seriously affects decisison making and alertness.. Infit people struggle to do things like climb stairs or walk as fast as other people and have other health problems that affect their efficiency at work.

banning drinking will not stop people doing it, they will just do it out of sight and on the quiet. If someone is drinking I would prefer to know.

When the late Charles Kennedy was trying to lead the Lib Dems and hide his chronic alcoholism. It was sometime before it became incontrovertibly evident, just because he was good at not being seen drinking.

The French would laugh their socks off reading some comments on this thread.

As far as I know, the French don't like to overdo the drinking of alcohol in the way that many Brits do.

Only the fit and healthy may stand for election?

One of the things that might affect an MP's ability to function - in a similar way to alcohol - is if they are on prescription drugs - some of which can have significant effects on mental acuity, not to mention the physical effects.

Some people seem to think MPs actually choose how to vote after considering the matter and listening to the speeches. Have they never heard of the party whip? An MP would have to be incredibly drunk and ignore all his mates in order to stagger through the wrong door.

If you think your MP is a drunken tosser , just do not vote for them.
You may not know he was drinking too much. Or you might be voting for the party, not the person.

If it comes to banning how many unfit fat MPS are there? Should they have to lose weight? Prove how active they are? Prove that they do not smoke?
These things do not affect a person's reactions or ability to make decisions, whereas alcohol definitely does.

Chestnut

trisher

I hate this puritanical culture that considers there are only two states you can be in-stone cold sober or paralytically drunk. An occasional drink does no harm to anyone, and who knows a glass of wine might stimulate an MPs creative brain cells and enable them to envisage the lives of ordinary people.

Of course we realise there is such a thing as 'an occasional drink'. The question is that if you allow alcohol how do you know how many they've had? They could have had several whilst maintaining they've only had one drink. Their reactions and decision making may be impaired but who would know? The only way to tell would be to breathalyse them! Much safer to ban alcohol altogether during working hours (same as everyone else) then hopefully they really will be sober.

Alcohol has been banned in many places for a long time there are still people who drink, disguising the alcohol in some way. So the only way to tell if someone is drinking in any case is to breathalyse them.
In the case of MPs there is also the question of what action is to be taken if someone is found drinking alcohol. In case of an employee the process would probably be a warning and then dismissal. But MPs are not employees. Would the MP concerned be warned and then banned from the House, or forced to resign? What if the electorate simply re-elected him because in spite of enjoying a drink he served his constituencey well?

It seems some would prefer that nobody, whatever their job, had a drink during working hours. Puritanical in the extreme. The fact that people working in some jobs shouldn’t drink for reasons of safety or because they are working with the sick or children doesn’t mean that nobody can be allowed a drink. What a miserable world we would inhabit.

This country is not a police state where every one has their every action scriutinised by a morality police force rather like that in Saudi Arabia.

Whether a person, be they an MP, or anyone else, drinks and how much is up to them. If an MP falls down on the job whether because of their drinking, or woman/man -ising or because they just cannot be bothering to do their job properly. There are methods for the electorate to boot them out both during a parliament and at a general election.

If it comes to banning how many unfit fat MPS are there? Should they have to lose weight? Prove how active they are? Prove that they do not smoke?

I f you think your MP is a drunken tosser , just do not vote for them.

trisher

I hate this puritanical culture that considers there are only two states you can be in-stone cold sober or paralytically drunk. An occasional drink does no harm to anyone, and who knows a glass of wine might stimulate an MPs creative brain cells and enable them to envisage the lives of ordinary people.

Of course we realise there is such a thing as 'an occasional drink'. The question is that if you allow alcohol how do you know how many they've had? They could have had several whilst maintaining they've only had one drink. Their reactions and decision making may be impaired but who would know? The only way to tell would be to breathalyse them! Much safer to ban alcohol altogether during working hours (same as everyone else) then hopefully they really will be sober.