Sir John Bourn, head of the spending watchdog (National Audit Office), faces calls for his resignation after “it emerged that he had been eating in London’s finest restaurants and travelling first class, costing the taxpayer almost half a million pounds.” (The Times Friday 12 October) Apparently Sir John has guzzled his way through £27,000 worth of food.
For some curious reason I find this rather funny. It is certainly ironic. Sir John is reported to be 73 and the National Audit Office has said he won’t be doing any more guzzling or first class travel without ‘parliamentary approval’. Pretty good sinecure though… is it not? 73 and still gainfully employed and fully fed and watered. Can’t be bad.
I can’t help feeling that this is a ‘wonderfully British fiasco’. I am off to listen to some Gilbert & Sullivan…. or, perhaps, read Henry V again. Mind you, Henry VIII with the guy who looks like our Foreign Secretary, David Taliband, playing the lead role, is on tonight… “The Tudors”.
Good luck to the old bugger. I hope someone will be buying me Mead when I am 73 – though as I write I quaff Perry.
Inclined to agree GL – but, in an otherwise rather tedious day, the story caught my eye.
I am now going to lie in state until the morrow… when, of course, we march against the French… again. Les Rosbifs v Les Bleus.