Interesting Links for 11-11-2012

[andrewducker]

• ++ SHOCK! HORROR! LIB DEM MP CAUGHT UP IN NEW EXPENSES ROW!
  (tags: coffee fraud libdem )
• Why Facebook's IPO wasn't a disaster.
  (tags: finance facebook )
• How you're prepared for Prime-Minister's Questions.
  (tags: uk parliament government libdem )
• Somebody _really_ doesn't like The Daily Mail
  (tags: video DailyMail )
• What the 2012 election would

Comments

[tobyaw]

It is possible to make coffee with a £5 electric kettle and a jar of instant coffee. To spend £70 on coffee makers and more on coffee beans - well, that is the coffee equivalent of first class travel. Fine if you pay for it yourself, but not to be charged to the public purse.

(Toby’s tip for cost-effective hot drinks - serve tea instead of coffee. It tastes better too.)

[autopope]

Pedantic nit: "instant" coffee isn't. Coffee, that is. The stuff is uniformly vile and undrinkable crap. Even the so-called "gourmet" varieties.

(Also, I'm unsure where you'll find an electric kettle for £5 these days. Maybe if you get lucky and ASDA are having a special offer ...)

The public purse thing is another interesting point. Once upon a time tea/coffee supplies were a business expense, as per IR regs. Then the IR decided to clamp down on them as a perk. But I'm pretty sure they didn't clam down on toilet paper and soap for the bathroom, or on quite a few other "comfort" items. Now, I can see the regulations for MPs expenses tracking other regulations about what's a business expense and what isn't; but I think it's somewhat arguable in any case.

[tobyaw]

Apologies - a Tesco Value kettle is currently £6, not the £5 I guesstimated.

Maybe water-heating should be an office expense, but the tea and coffee supplies should be down to the individual. A baseline of cheap tea bags and instant coffee may still be better than a hot-drink machine, but a discerning tea-drinker would hanker after something more appealing, and as you point out, coffee fans get very snooty about cheap coffee.

[andrewducker]

My office has drinks machines everywhere. Admittedly, we're a large financial company, but we view providing free tea, coffee, hot chocolate, water, etc. as something that's cheap enough and keeps the staff happy enough, that it's worth doing.

For 50p a day for all staff and visitors, I'd say that this guy was getting a good deal.

[a_pawson]

I agree wholeheartedly with this comment on the MEN website!

It's only reasonable if you are a coffee fascist .... further marginalizing tea drinkers .. this is supposed to be a democracy ... a single beverage option is more akin to a dictatorship

[innerbrat]

Do you really agree with it? I'm finding it hard to tell in the light of other comments on this post.