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

I do not drink the hours I am paid for at work, but what I consume during my lunch hour is another story, and not anyone's business.

Derbyshire Lass Which brings me to your next statement when you say statement that Brits have no stop button.......to imply none of us have any self control is somewhat of a sweeping statement and rather insulting to the vast numbers of people who are perfectly able to moderate their drinking
Yes it was a sweeping statement but historically we are known as drunkards. We do not usually drink like our European neighbours, sensibly and with food. Obviously this doesn't apply to everyone, nothing ever does. There are sensible drinkers and non-drinkers, but we are generally not known for drinking sensibly or abstaining.

DerbyshireLass Like the French and Italians they believe that red wine is good for the heart and that it helps to reduce cholesterol levels. My grandmother drank red wine every day till she died at 90, (not of heart disease) and my aunt who drinks red wine every day is 96 and as fit as a flea. Maybe they are on to something.
I know it's said a glass of red wine is good for older folk, but my Welsh relatives didn't follow that rule. I had three aunties who lived to 94, 95 and 99 and an uncle who lived to 91. They did not drink wine, they just breathed in that healthy North Welsh air.

Back in the 80s whilst working for a large practice in the City we used to go to the pub most lunch times. We probably had 2 drinks at most.

The only time we had lunch together at work was when we had a training session at lunchtime. Sandwiches and soft drinks and tea or coffee were provided as a bribe to get us all to attend.

The culture seemed to change during the late 80s, maybe an American influence since they didn't take proper lunch hours.

Now I think that most people eat their lunch at their desk (if they have one) and work through the day.

I remember someone telling me about Americans (in Europe and England) who were extremely proud of the long hours that they spent at their offices each day. They didn't do a lot of work during that time.

Dinahmo 'Presenteeism'. DH spent a month in Japan back in the 80s and after the first week of being in the office for long hours, a lot of it doing nothing much, like the rest of the staff. He decided he would rather work 9.00 - 5.00, but actually work for all those hours and then go back to his hotel and do some sight seeing. Some of his Japanese colleagues said they envied him being able to do that, but they couldn't as it would affect their careers.

In one of my previous incarnations back in the unenlightened late 70’s I cooked lunch for a Directors’ Dining room in the City in Gracechurch St with a butler to serve it and help clear away.
They would have a 3 course meal plus cheese, different wines, usually port and cigars and take about 2 hours over it.
Surprise, surprise there were no women among the directors and their guests. Very different days and I don’t expect much serious work was done in the afternoon - although it would not have surprised me if a lot of business was actually done over lunch.

Of course they should not drink when in the HoC - they are there to make massively important decisions that impact all our lives- and they should have a clear head. Remember the video of Gove last year- either totally sloshed or off his head - and he was in the House to vote on important matters.
Totally out of order.

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.

Couldn’t agree more trisher. I don’t understand people who think that (unless you’re, say, driving a bus, performing surgery or operating dangerous machinery) one or even two drinks render you incapable of doing your job.

Nothing puritanical about my post - I like a good drink- when the time is right, but not during work hours. So teachers, who do not perform surgery or operate dangerous machinery (well myabe kids are ...) should be allowed to have a drink or two whilsts their teach. Nurses too, unless doing above, or carers. This is nonsense.

MPs may not be doing either of the above, but they are in a position of extreme power, and we have put them in that position of power... and trust... to represent us and the country, and make the most important decisions of all on our behalf. NO drinking during working hours.

Well to be honest, if I drink at lunchtime, I just feel sleepy for the rest of the afternoon; that might explain why we sometimes see pictures of MPs ( and especially members of the House of Lords) fast asleep on the job! I always wondered how they could possibly make informed decisions when they've missed half the debate ?

Exactly!

This thread is quite funny. Look on the table at the ‘working lunch’.

MayBeMaw

In one of my previous incarnations back in the unenlightened late 70’s I cooked lunch for a Directors’ Dining room in the City in Gracechurch St with a butler to serve it and help clear away.
They would have a 3 course meal plus cheese, different wines, usually port and cigars and take about 2 hours over it.
Surprise, surprise there were no women among the directors and their guests. Very different days and I don’t expect much serious work was done in the afternoon - although it would not have surprised me if a lot of business was actually done over lunch.

Gosh, I remember those days, too.

The days when your boss - nearly always a man - asked you to "pop out" and buy flowers for his wife, or a birthday card - because you were a woman.

... and make the tea and coffee "there's a good girl"... as they breathed their alcohol fumes at you and sometimes gave a wink and a leer...

The last man I worked for in the UK (1995 - I did temping) always referred to me as a "good girl"... when I made his coffee after a liquid lunch... I was 47 and older than him.

Ugh!

I'm glad those days are over... however 'woke' that might make me.

Curlywhirly I often close my eyes when I am really concentrating on listening. This is why I am primarily a radio listener and rarely watch television. This includes when I am doing Tai Chi and other activities.

After lunch sessions at Conferences are known as 'the graveyaard session' even when no alcohol at all has been served at the meal. After you have eaten, blood tends to flow from brain to digestive system and is why so many older people like an afternoon snooze. So you cannot assume that someone shutting their eyes in the Parliamentary chamber is actually sleeping or has been drinking at lunch time.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Only the fit and healthy may stand for election?

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.

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.