FabSwingers.com forum: WE ALL HAVE TO TIGHTEN OUR BELTS

By *uton_couple OP Couple
over a year ago

luton

a story from the sky news web site

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5:46pm UK, Monday August 09, 2010

Ruth Barnett, Sky News Online

Details of the Government's £864,000 wine cellar could be made public if an MP's appeal to David Cameron is successful.

The contents of the wine cellar has been kept secret for commercial reasons

Former Cabinet Office minister Tom Watson has written to the Prime Minister asking him to reverse a decision that will keep the full list of the wines secret.

In June it emerged £18,000 had been spent on boosting the collection since the General Election.

The Government Hospitality Advisory Committee, a body connected to the Foreign Office, has published information about some of the wines but refused to reveal their vintages for commercial reasons.

Giving away further details could prevent the Government from buying cut-price bottles from suppliers and cause "undue influence" on the market, it said.

Mr Watson, MP for West Bromwich East, has appealed to Mr Cameron after the Foreign Office told him it did not have time to reply to his Freedom of Information request within the 20-day time limit.

All I ask is that the public are allowed to know the contents of the ministerial wine cellar.

Tom Watson MP writes to David Cameron

"In a recent Parliamentary answer Henry Bellingham admitted the Foreign Office has spent over £18,000 replenishing the collection," Mr Watson wrote.

"In the current climate of cuts, I do not think it unreasonable to allow public scrutiny of this decision."

His letter continued: "You say we live in the new age of transparency. Yesterday you overruled the Department for Health [with regards to scrapping milk in schools].

"If you mean what you say, today you will overrule the Foreign Office.

"All I ask is that the public are allowed to know the contents of the ministerial wine cellar."

Mr Watson has suggested the whole collection be auctioned off to raise funds.

The wines, believed to include bottles from Chateau Latour, Chateau Lafite, Chateau Margaux and Chateau Mouton Rothschild, are served to VIP guests.

According to the Foreign Office, Government hospitality spending is "under review".

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the outgoing government left nearly a million quids worth of wine in the cellar

the new one comes in telling us we need to tighten our belts till our fecking eyes water , then promtly order another 18 grands worth

of course they need wine for important visitors , but why cant it be wine from kent etc

what a fecking piss take

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

well jesus turned water into wine so why cant cameron etc!

anyway whats wrong with buckfast or 3 bottles of echo falls from spar only costs a tenner!! x

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Values of fine wines are affected by the those buying it. If the govt stop a long term standing arrangement to replenish it's wine stock on a regular basis it could throw the wine market into freefall. Expensive wines that the govt hold at the moment would lose their value as there would be more of it on the market due to the fact that the govt are no longer purchasing it. Not all wines in the govt wine cellar are for VIPs, some are for investment purposes and some of the more expensive wines can fetch in excess of £20,000 per BOTTLE.

We are not privvy to which wines the govt holds so cannot possibly contemplate how it should be managed. To offer a knee-jerk opinion of 'what a piss take' is no real argument at all, and I'm not saying this in support of a Tory govt as the previous Labour govt maintained a £mn+ wine cellar themselves. Perhaps because they knew that if they suddenly stopped buying wines they would devalue the entire wine market.

I, for one, would hate to see foreign dignitaries offered Tesco's el cheapo £3.99 drain cleaner. It sends the message that we are cheapskates.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"well jesus turned water into wine so why cant cameron etc!

anyway whats wrong with buckfast or 3 bottles of echo falls from spar only costs a tenner!! x"

PMSL...you slay me!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

i dont see why my tax payers money should be spent so some foreign indignity can get pissed!! granted to spend time with cam n co i would need to be pissed or in a drug coma!

all this smoozin and carry on gets rght on my nipple ends! the country headin down the swany at great speed, you soon be dead before you get an operation or dead after it because hospitals are filthy and the staff dead on their feet but hey its ok we got a good wine celler whoop de fuckin doo!!!

didnt do that other guy any harm servin ferreo rocher!!!

in the wk where we got an uproar over milk to nursery children maybe facin the axe to hear whats gettin spent on a bloody wine celler is enough to drive you to wine! oopps sorry i work cant afford wine need to be a bottle of white lightenin cider! x

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By *he_original_poloWoman
over a year ago

a Primark shoebox in Leicester

"Values of fine wines are affected by the those buying it. If the govt stop a long term standing arrangement to replenish it's wine stock on a regular basis it could throw the wine market into freefall. Expensive wines that the govt hold at the moment would lose their value as there would be more of it on the market due to the fact that the govt are no longer purchasing it. Not all wines in the govt wine cellar are for VIPs, some are for investment purposes and some of the more expensive wines can fetch in excess of £20,000 per BOTTLE.

I, for one, would hate to see foreign dignitaries offered Tesco's el cheapo £3.99 drain cleaner. It sends the message that we are cheapskates."

Surely if the wine market was devalued by selling off and not restocking the wine stash, they could save money by buying as required the wine for dignitaries... at the new lower market price.

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By *ushroom7Man
over a year ago

Bradford

just tell the visiting dignatories to do the right thing and bring a frigging bottle, or two.

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By *uton_couple OP Couple
over a year ago

luton

I, for one, would hate to see foreign dignitaries offered Tesco's el cheapo £3.99 drain cleaner. It sends the message that we are cheapskates."

its very shallow to suggest my reaction to this story is a "knee jerk reaction"

to say such a thing is in fact a "sound bite"

why should the government be in the wine speculation market ?

why cant they speculate on pork bellies or the florida orange crop ?

the answer is they are there as public servants and not there to gamble on wether or not the price of wine will go up or down

who are these foreign dignitaries you talk about ?

most of them are people that head governments just like ours

people that are the heads of countries like greece , spain , etc

well in case you havent heard those countries are like ours SKINT

and if your SKINT what do you do ?

you do like we all do , drink a bottle of gut rot from tesco at £3.99

just as with shares , gold , gems etc , there are investment companies that will hold a wine portfolio for you

the sums of money involved are HUGE , and to suggest that if the government failed to buy 18k worth , the bottom would fall out of the market must be the biggest overstatement of the last 100 years

in any event were not talking about the government selling a few , and then buying a few ie dealing in wine

were talking about REPLENISHMENT

that means there DRINKING IT

your argument is akin to saying that the ham , cheese , eggs etc in a persons fridge is there for investment purposes

a hedge against inflation , only problem is were all in there filling our snout , and have to go to tesco every week to re fill

i do agree we are not privvy to whats in the cellar

i would like to know what is in there if for no other reason than ITS MY WINE !!!!!!!!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Remember, when Cameroon and his chums tell us 'we all have to tighten our belts', he doesn't mean them - he means us.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

if wine is bought in using the usual government procurement methods they bought cheap plonk at sky high prices which might explain the reticence to list just what they have.

P.S. just which government minister owns a wine merchants thats having problems shifting its stock might provide a clue as to what they bought.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

In any market, good or bad, you have to speculate to accumulate. Cameron hasn't just been to India to see the feckin Taj Mahal, he was there to garner British interests abroad. He attended more lavish state banquets than he's ever attended I'd wage and when you're trying to impress someone you don't give them Echo bleedin Falls.

£18k is a very small amount for a £1mill+ wine cellar and they'd probably get through that in one sitting so I think it's more like a drop in the ocean of what the govt spends on 'entertainment' and I don't begrudge them it one bit if it means that we - the British - are not seen by our foreign competitors as cheap.

As for the nursery milk issue, Cameron was very quick to kick that into touch. He knew full well that if his govt dragged us out of recession, gave us all a massive tax break and ended war everywhere, he'd be remembered as the man who robbed 5y/o children of 1/2 pint of free milk per day. No govt will ever scrap free milk for nursery children, it's a vote loser and they know it. You have to question the morals of the MP who proposed it as he knew full well that Cameron would have to come out in support of keeping it, thus bringing into question the coalition policy of tightening our belts. Speculate to accumulate?

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

pile o pish wishy!

its the same old story them livin in the lap of luxury the workin man scrapin by!

i could see the point if it was a valuable commodity gettin held but not bloody wine to get d*unk!

the lavish banquets make no odds to me as it boils down to the same thing, US payin for them to overstuff their fat faces and their hangers on.

there no doubt its only the tip of the iceberg, i would love to see a complete breakdown of what gets spent on this type of waste at a time where we all facing cutbacks in the real world in regards to education, nhs etc. maybe cam will do the decent thing and flog it all off or use some of the bottles that get sent as thank you's from other businesses ..........

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"pile o pish wishy!

its the same old story them livin in the lap of luxury the workin man scrapin by!"

Labour kept the very same wine cellar fully stocked hon. It's not a Tory thing going on here. The working man will ALWAYS be scraping by and those at the top will ALWAYS live in luxury. It's the way of things and you'll beat yourself senseless trying to change it.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"pile o pish wishy!

its the same old story them livin in the lap of luxury the workin man scrapin by!

i know it likely been the same since parliament started but it still sucks!!

especially the way things are just now! the fookers get enough freebies etc we constantly gettin told of cuts etc etc then somethin like this comes to light!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

smoking a cigar and drinking a glass of wine helps them concentrate whilst filling in their expenses, don't want any more mistakes there.

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By *uton_couple OP Couple
over a year ago

luton

"pile o pish wishy!

its the same old story them livin in the lap of luxury the workin man scrapin by!

i know it likely been the same since parliament started but it still sucks!!

especially the way things are just now! the fookers get enough freebies etc we constantly gettin told of cuts etc etc then somethin like this comes to light!

i think you will find that it is when conservative governments are in power there is a heavy turnover in the wine cellar department

it is common knowledge that the most lavish spending that took place when labour was in power was when harold wilson bought in some beer and sandwitches when negotiating a very satisfactory agreement with the unions

and to think the conservatives had the audacity to criticise that !

i can source bottled wine @ 1.25 euros per 75 cl unit

and loose for small quantitys @ 70 cents euro per litre

i give it to my guests and have never had any complaints

my guests are just as important as the guests who visit number 10 , and a guest should never look a gift horse in the mouth , especially when it involves a free drink

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"i think you will find that it is when conservative governments are in power there is a heavy turnover in the wine cellar department"

Cobblers. This isn't a Tory/Labour issue. Both parties have kept the govt wine cellars stocked when they're been in power. Who's talking sound bites now?

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By *ushroom7Man
over a year ago

Bradford

yep, the world's most expensive beer and sarnies, by a distance.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

" I don't begrudge them it one bit if it means that we - the British - are not seen by our foreign competitors as cheap.

;-)"

would rather be seen as cheap admist the current economic recession we are experiencing.

and the argument you make would only stand well if it wasnt for the fact that they have done away with hm navy ships hosting the dignitaries on board their ships when they are in a host country...a paltry fee of £70k pa, but did a wealth for good will.

i would imagine the presence of british defence in a country would require more careful handling than one minister

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By *uton_couple OP Couple
over a year ago

luton

I, for one, would hate to see foreign dignitaries offered Tesco's el cheapo £3.99 drain cleaner. It sends the message that we are cheapskates."

cameron was a foreign dignitary in USA recently

what did obama give him to drink ?

a bottle of budweisser beer

as far as investments are concerned the south of england is fast becoming the new rhone vally , just as california did 30 years ago ,and it is the turn of the UK NOW far as wine production goes

we should be giving the visitors to UK home produced wine

could you in your wildest dreams imagine obama going to australia and being offered french wine !

no way cobber

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By *atisfy janeWoman
over a year ago

Torquay

I should imagine the wine cellar in the House of Commons and the House of Lords has built up over a number of years and through a number of governments.

I would be most surprised if you didn't go into the cellar and find wine there purchased from the Heath/Wilson/Thatcher years, wine stocks tend to be long term investments and purchases.

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By *uton_couple OP Couple
over a year ago

luton

"I should imagine the wine cellar in the House of Commons and the House of Lords has built up over a number of years and through a number of governments.

I would be most surprised if you didn't go into the cellar and find wine there purchased from the Heath/Wilson/Thatcher years, wine stocks tend to be long term investments and purchases.

thats right

long term investments are for speculators not our government

they dont speculate in penny blacks or silver snuff boxes so why have this wine cellar

its been said that they need to impress on visitors how grand and prosperous we are , but they are borrowing billions of pounds each year just to keep afloat

if they cant make ends meet AND THEY CANT they should do what i have to do when a guest visits , offer them a glass of cider , not a bottle of MOET & CHANDON DRY IMPERIAL FINEST EXTRA QUALITY CHAMPAGNE FROM EPERNAY 1949

at 800 notes a pop !!!

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By *atisfy janeWoman
over a year ago

Torquay

This is world politics we are talking about here so very much doubt that a glass of cider is the right thing to offer state leaders.

What you offer your guests has little bearing on what David Cameron will be offering Presidents and Royalty, perhaps we should do away with using expensive embossed headed notepaper in the office of the Prime Minister and start writing notes on the back of old fag packets?

Do away with cooked lunches for the Presidents of France and The United States and send Mrs Cameron out to Subway?

An insignificant sum of money spent on a wine cellar of the Prime Minister barely dents the national debt, while I understand your angst about the matter I don't think you are being realistic.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"This is world politics we are talking about here so very much doubt that a glass of cider is the right thing to offer state leaders.

Do away with cooked lunches for the Presidents of France and The United States and send Mrs Cameron out to Subway?

An insignificant sum of money spent on a wine cellar of the Prime Minister barely dents the national debt, while I understand your angst about the matter I don't think you are being realistic."

and neither does the £70k a year i mentioned earlier that they cut from the defence budget that ships used to spend on cocktail parties for the dignitaries of host countries.

...or do they not to be diplomatic?!

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By *uton_couple OP Couple
over a year ago

luton

"This is world politics we are talking about here so very much doubt that a glass of cider is the right thing to offer state leaders.

Do away with cooked lunches for the Presidents of France and The United States and send Mrs Cameron out to Subway?

An insignificant sum of money spent on a wine cellar of the Prime Minister barely dents the national debt, while I understand your angst about the matter I don't think you are being realistic."

there is truth in what you say but what with so many mps been caught on the fiddle , either with expenses or lobbying it does rather stick in your craw

and you cant get away from the fact obama gives you a bottle of bud , and an aussie would serve up aussie plonk

wine produced in the uk is of very fine quality , even the french are buying up vast traks of land and planting vines in the uk

why not push uk wine

the producers would im sure GIVE IT FREE to both the upper and lower house

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By *atisfy janeWoman
over a year ago

Torquay

Probably because British wine holds very little vintage at the moment, maybe in ten or fifteen years when wines made in Sussex and Kent have matured you may see this happening more.

And don't be fooled by the bottle of Bud offered up by Obama, I feel pretty damn sure that State dinners held in the White House do not include Bud being pushed to guests.

As for Australia, they have been succesfully making wines for decades now so I can't see the Australian Prime Minister offering foreign leaders a 2009 Alice Springs Shiraz.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

its all a load of back slappin bull shit!

never mind the global recession and people living in squalor etc just crack open a bottle of chatuea de shit and serve it!

british wine should be used even though with globalization the world gettin smaller, we should be pushin our own products while we do the so called necessary scmoozing!

but no we just keep it in the cellar in the hope it becomes valuable not that it make any odds to us we just the jack asses who pay for the bloody stuff!!

i hope nick doesnt drop any when dave sends him to do the important job of cleaning the bloody cellar!! x

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By *ushroom7Man
over a year ago

Bradford

"This is world politics we are talking about here so very much doubt that a glass of cider is the right thing to offer state leaders.

Do away with cooked lunches for the Presidents of France and The United States and send Mrs Cameron out to Subway?

An insignificant sum of money spent on a wine cellar of the Prime Minister barely dents the national debt, while I understand your angst about the matter I don't think you are being realistic."

I doubt that money "spent" on wine dents the national debt one little bit.

the clue is in the "debt" part.

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By *atisfy janeWoman
over a year ago

Torquay

Well I am glad you understand the meaning of that......

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

british wine should be used even though with globalization the world gettin smaller, we should be pushin our own products while we do the so called necessary scmoozing!

EEEEK! Have you tasted British wine?

I'd rather drink vinegar!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

british wine should be used even though with globalization the world gettin smaller, we should be pushin our own products while we do the so called necessary scmoozing!

EEEEK! Have you tasted British wine?

I'd rather drink vinegar!

im no really much o a wine drinker wishy buckfast doesnt really count lol!! nor the echo falls etc! but feel as a nation we should be supporting our businesses! apart from cliff richards wine yard thingy that should just be bombed with him in it!!

all that swizzle it around feel the nose blah blah fuck sake im scottish! open bottle drink bottle put in glass if in company!! x

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By *uton_couple OP Couple
over a year ago

luton

british wine should be used even though with globalization the world gettin smaller, we should be pushin our own products while we do the so called necessary scmoozing!

EEEEK! Have you tasted British wine?

I'd rather drink vinegar!

Win For Sussex Sparkling Over French Fizz Share Share Comments (2)

9:31am UK, Friday September 03, 2010

Katie Cassidy, Sky News Online

A sparkling wine from South East England has won a top international trophy - beating the much-fancied Champagne competition from France.

Ridgeview's sparkling was deemed 'very refined' and with a 'refreshing palate'

Ridgeview's 2006 Grosvenor Blanc de Blancs was named best sparkling over £10 in the world by Decanter magazine, a leading wine publication.

The judges described the £22 fizz as: "Lemony, fresh flower nose which is elegant, discreet, biscuity and youthful.

"Very refined and refreshing palate... vivacious acidity, minerality, precision of flavour. Stunning."

Every member of staff from the East Sussex winery attended the award ceremony in central London, where founder Mike Roberts told Decanter he never expected to collect the prestigious honour.

"We were looking at it simply as a good night out," he said.

"We'd won the Regional Trophy and had absolutely no idea we'd got the International [Trophy]."

The competition included sparklings from five Champagne houses, priced from £36 to £45.

Ridgeview Wine Estate is a family business started by Mr Roberts and his wife Christine in 1995.

Their daughter, son and daughter-in-law now all work for the company.

Their 30-acre winery is located in the Sussex Downs and by their own admission, the area's particular combination of chalk and clay "bears an uncanny similarity to the Champagne region" of France.

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that wine company would provide the wine free , for the advertising , if not i would eat my hat

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

EEEEK! Have you tasted British wine?

I'd rather drink vinegar!

Then you're drinking the wrong British wine.

You're going to have to pay quite a bit more dosh to get the quality of French, Oz or even Californian wines when you're buying a British wine.

The economies of scale the overseas vineyards benefit from don't really exist in the UK. Yet.

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By *urreyfun2008Man
over a year ago

East Grinstead

Surely they are still restocking it after Tony was in power - read what his drinking habits were like.

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By *picyspiregirlCouple
over a year ago

chesterfield

just curious as i am a little thick but what do we give VIPs from muslim countries and when our VIPs go to the UAE do we consider them to be cheap when they get out the mango lassi?

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By *urreyfun2008Man
over a year ago

East Grinstead

Not being to Dubai (UAE) as a VIP, but some hotels are dry and some are not.

Also being in hotels that are plainly full of russian ladies and clients, with the champagne flowing.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

[Removed by poster at 04/09/10 12:07:00]

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I, for one, would hate to see foreign dignitaries offered Tesco's el cheapo £3.99 drain cleaner. It sends the message that we are cheapskates."

Hear hear

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By *uton_couple OP Couple
over a year ago

luton

I, for one, would hate to see foreign dignitaries offered Tesco's el cheapo £3.99 drain cleaner. It sends the message that we are cheapskates.

Hear hear"

the 3.99 drain cleaner from tesco is not british

so lets give them the PRIZE WINNING british wine

HEAR HEAR ............... HEAR HEAR

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Since we only have a very minor industry in wine production, do we care if the wine market falls flat on it's face ? doesn't that just mean that the other countries who rely heavily on wine production and apparently the willingness of the British Government to buy it will have to rethink thier prices ?

Switzerland (a non EU country and the richest country in the world) only produces enough wine for it's personal consumption within thier own borders - doesn't that tell a story too

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

" ..........

Switzerland (a non EU country and the richest country in the world) only produces enough wine for it's personal consumption within thier own borders - doesn't that tell a story too"

I'm sure it does tell a story but I have no idea what that story is.

Help

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By *ensualfire88Man
over a year ago

Edinburgh

" ..........

Switzerland (a non EU country and the richest country in the world) only produces enough wine for it's personal consumption within thier own borders - doesn't that tell a story too

I'm sure it does tell a story but I have no idea what that story is.

Help"

How do they know how thirsty they are going to be?

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By *he BananamanMan
over a year ago

WORCESTERSHIRE

i dont know whether it is due to climate changes or what?,but here in britain some delicious wine is now being produced!,as for the previous reference about the the south of england,at parts it is only 20 something miles from the french coast and at one point in history it was all one mass before the english channel came to divide it so i suppose does have the same grape growing ground fertility now if it avoids typical british rainfall and gets more favourable sunshine like the french.

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