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'Give us back our cutlery' plea goes out to councillors



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Published Date: 11 August 2008
By ALAN RODEN
COUNCILLORS at the City Chambers have already proved they can't be trusted to pay for their soup and sandwiches.
Now, just months after it emerged that an "honesty box" which allows them to pay for their lunch was coming up hundreds of pounds short, it appears that more than just food and drink is being taken for free.

A memo has gone out to everyone who wor
ks at the City Chambers, announcing a "crockery and cutlery amnesty", and officials have asked for the return of any items.

Councillors and their staff will be able to put the offending items in trolleys that will be left throughout the Chambers this week.

One councillor said today: "We all know that times are tough, and everyone is being asked to tighten their belts, but this is ridiculous.

"Are they trying to insinuate that councillors are taking crockery home?

"Rather than sending an e-mail to everyone, it would surely have just been easier to ask group secretaries to have a look around the office. They made it sound like a knife amnesty."

The e-mail was sent under the subject title "crockery and cutlery amnesty".

It reads: "We would be grateful if you could search through your office desks and cupboards for any council crockery and cutlery you may have.

"If you do come across any, please could you return it to one of the trolleys located in the City Chambers."

The sandwiches and hot drinks available to councillors in the members' lounge are served on china plates and in mugs, not paper cups.

The honesty box was unveiled last September after free meals were axed as part of cost-cutting measures.

Councillors are now trusted to pay £1.60 into the box for sandwiches and £1.10 for a bowl of soup served with a crusty roll.

Following an Evening News freedom of information request in February, statistics revealed that while councillors had munched their way through £2355 worth of food, only £1526 had been collected.

A council spokesman today defended the cutlery and crockery amnesty, and said: "Sometimes, people take things back to their desk. Occasionally, we ask for those things back."

For years, sandwiches and hot soup were laid on for councillors taking lunch breaks between meetings.

However, faced with a huge financial black hole, councillors decided in June 2007 that the food was an unnecessary expense and unfair on city taxpayers.





The full article contains 412 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 11 August 2008 11:10 AM
  • Source: Edinburgh Evening News
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Edinburgh Council
 
1

Mad Jock,

East Lothian 11/08/2008 11:29:16
Thieving tossers. Surely free lunches and cutlery should be a taxable benefit?
2

Douglas,

Bathgate 11/08/2008 11:37:02
More knife crime? :o)
3

Mallory,

Edinburgh 11/08/2008 12:28:14
Charge em for it - £5 deposit refundable on return and pass details on to the tax authorities. Also how about an online register to see who avails themselves of this unneeded 'service'. The whole city centre is filled with fastfood outlets, sandwich bars and pubs.
4

john3,

11/08/2008 12:37:31
Righteous indignation indeed!! Don't take the stuff to the office and forget to bring it back. We paid for it.
5

Cheradenine,

Edinburgh 11/08/2008 13:04:24
How on earth can you lot (not to mention a newspaper) possibly get worked up by people forgetting to return their coffee cups and cutlery to a canteen.

None of this matters in the slightest, if you want to be angry and self righteous be angry and self righteous about something important like third world poverty and stop talking about this rubbish. God I'm wasting energy just by typing this...
6

Statsman,

Edinburgh 11/08/2008 13:07:28
Kleptomaniac councillors. These are the same folk that are expected to be balanced about planning applications worth millions to the trams project
7

Midnight,

Edinburgh 11/08/2008 13:25:55
Forget the Council, I want to know how many forks and spoons have gone missing from the Scottish Parliament canteen. And after that, I want to know how many trips to the loo each public servant takes every day, AND I want to know how many sheets of toilet paper and how many millilitres of soap they use while they are in there.

What a bunch of pedantic nonsense. This "newspaper" is a complete waste of space.
8

Mallory,

Edinburgh 11/08/2008 13:26:10
#6 - If they were plastic mugs it wouldn't be so bad but surely our council will have insisted on monogrammed possibly silver plated cutlery?

I genuinely don't know so can someone say what they eat off and with and explain why nearly half of the nosh wasn't paid for.

Still don't know why they need an in-house (no doubt subsidised) canteen when there are so many establishments nearby and numerous catering services in the City.
9

Cynicaltalk,

11/08/2008 13:43:32
#5

After your rant about third world poverty, do you not feel it is appropriate that we have a go at the nose in the trough councillors who are eating for free and pilfering from the people?

Does it not smack of hypocrisy that people are starving in the world, yet our councillors are taking the p?
10

Bonzo,

11/08/2008 13:54:29
The EN: No story too weak.
11

alex paterson,

edinburgh 11/08/2008 14:03:52
Serve the bags of chips only,no cutlery needed.
12

alex paterson,

edinburgh 11/08/2008 14:03:53
Serve the bags of chips only,no cutlery needed.
13

Boy Wonder,

11/08/2008 14:32:58
There's your "wind of change" councillors now that Labour no longer rules the roost.

And this new lot are not as bad ....... they're feckin worse!!!
14

Evia,

11/08/2008 14:36:25
5 Cheradenine

Just because we are angry about councillors dishonesty does not mean that we don't care about third world poverty. Much of what we donate goes into the pockets of corrupt officials so the poverty is not properly alleviated.

If you are so concerned about third world countries you could donate to charities like Médecins Sans Frontières www.msf.org.uk/default.aspx or Mercy Ships www.msf.org.uk/default.aspx. People in these countries also need medical aid as do people caught up in disasters such medical aid in crisis situations - armed conflicts, epidemics, famines and natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes. It is not just about food, although that is essential.

I will now get back to the thieving councillors. We should not be paying for their lunches as well as all their other expenses. Some claims are falsified anyway and if we can't trust them to be honest with everything else, how can we expect them to put their money in an honesty box?.

As #8 Mallory said, There are many fastfood outlets, sandwich bars and pubs.

The majority of workers don't have subsidised canteens and must depend on fast food outlets or carry packed lunches, so why should councillors be different?

15

Xena - Warrior Princess,

11/08/2008 15:03:46
Sheer laziness on their part for not returning the cutlery and crockery. As one had the temerity to suggest they should have asked the secretaries! Why? It wasn't the secretaries that used them.
16

aurorablue,

11/08/2008 16:52:48
"honesty box" - for the most dishonest breed of people I know? Who's idea was that? So they get freebies and I have to pay £1.45 a day for school dinners! This country's a joke!
17

tomias,

Edinburgh 11/08/2008 16:59:05
School children are an example to this crowd of mannerless people.
18

Arrow,

edinburgh 11/08/2008 17:13:03
when West Lothian Council became West Lothian District Council at the parry to celebrate the new authority and the close of the old one the cutlery, items of furniture and other "mementos" disappeared from the Old County Buildings in Linlithgow and mostly by elected members looking for a wee minding. chairs, desks, lamps tables all vanished over the weekend!!!
if it was not ties down it moved
19

Voldemort,

Edinburgh 11/08/2008 17:35:49
These civil servant sorts these days disgust me. They are the most loathsome of self centered, corrupt, worthless and retarded group of people ever to have crawled in the bosom of the great greedy unions who protect their members from common sense and the rigours of a competitive workplace.

It is quite the reverse of survival of the fittest and is being played out at our expense.
20

SPG,

edinburgh 11/08/2008 17:45:38
Cheradenine: This is a local paper for local people. Eff off and plague the Guardian.
21

Gorgie_Tony,

Edinburgh 11/08/2008 17:46:25
Well done the EN for yet exposing the lib/dem SNP administration for their true colours. They are nothing but a bunch of thieves. A simple solution is for the police to start covert surveillance so they can expose those councillors that are failing to pay for food and stealing the crockery and cutlery. The EN should then publish their names. We need to know which councillors not to vote for at the next elections!!
22

The Geniune Mario Antionette,

11/08/2008 18:22:57
Make them use plastic cutlery
23

The Geniune Mario Antionette,

11/08/2008 18:25:00
#21 - Yeah, its the LibDem/SNP admin that has put Tom Buchanan in charge of Economic Development. Watch this space - the knives are out
24

Sports for Edinburgh,

11/08/2008 20:34:24
I take this article with a pinch of salt(!), as we all know the standard of journalism the EEN has... however, fair play to those in charge. People are stealing food, and cutlery is going missing. This all has to be put right by our taxes. I would like to know the exact cost of the taxpayers outlay on these internal thefts... shouldnt we be spending that money on schools, transport, etc! Absoloute shocking behaviour - close the canteen if it continues!
25

rs,

in ma house 11/08/2008 23:36:54
its bad enough that they have sold off the family silver, but now they are stealing it as well
26

Slightly Cynical,

Edinburgh 11/08/2008 23:37:28
A minor matter but sad that some of our elected councillors appear to lack even the most basic personal propriety
27

rs,

in ma house 11/08/2008 23:48:33
you'll find them on ebay

something about help the tram fund
28

Matt there,

somewhere 12/08/2008 02:15:40
""Are they trying to insinuate that councillors are taking crockery home?"

Yes. Bring them back. Now.
29

celtic4,

USA 01/09/2008 00:32:45
#5, you might think this isn't something to be overly concerned about, but theft if theft, isn't it? It costs to replace these items, and it will come from your pocket. Time to reconsider your stance on that? I thought so. So take the real stuff, put it on a shelf and have them use plastic. It's cheaper.

 

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