The thing about politicians is - if they're not talking, or furiously thinking of a way out of their latest web of deceit, or maybe sleeping (a swift forty winks on the backbenches, the ultimate power nap), then they're most likely at some or other official function, stuffing their faces with the finest of freebie food and drink.
Now, I'm not making a party political point here. I said "politicians", and I meant the whole unsavoury crew of them, be they high-powered cabinet members, lobby fodder rank-and-file MP's, or even your humble Joe Bloggs, Mavis Dogood or Tarquin FitzHerbert-Smythe in the local Council chambers. They all have the same basic bodily need for nutrition as us mere mortals. The difference is, they will quite often fill up to the Plimsoll line at the taxpayer's expense. Is this fair or appropriate in these straitened times?
At a veritable crisis point of global financial meltdown, when our national debt is so high that even Wayne Rooney would need to ask for an extra week or two to pay it off, I find myself wondering: what's the accumulated value of all the state and civic banquets, dinners, receptions, working lunches and other freebie jamborees that take place every day, all over the country? It must come to a good few bob. We're not, after all, talking a few limp ham sandwiches, curling up at the edges and accompanied by motley shreds of anaemic lettuce. No, sir. These people do not skimp, they do themselves well, very well indeed. There's proper, grown-up, posh food on heavily-laden and groaning tables - and it must be highly debatable how much productive thinking is left in those bloated plutocrats, after the desserts have been and gone, and the port, nuts and cigars pass around.
Of course, piling into the scran at the highest levels of power is nothing new. It's been pretty much de rigueur ever since Henry I wolfed down half-a-dozen too many eels, and expired before he could gasp "surfeit of lampreys". Kings, Queens, and assorted courtiers and other hangers-on have always been notable for their over-indulgence on rich food and fine wine. It sort of went with the territory in those far-off times, but it strikes a more discordant note these days when essential services - the culmination of the whole process of civilisation and enlightenment since before Henry I - are being cut left, right and centre. And yet still the state and political chomping goes on apace.
It's only a matter of a couple of weeks since MP's of all parties were calling for a 32% pay rise, despite their broad consensus that the rest of us should be grinning bravely and tightening our belts. Just what sort of message does that send out, when so much of their weekly calorific intake is provided and paid for, as part of their remit as legislators of our country? And the same applies at least in some degree to our business leaders - no subsidised canteen serving scrummy beans on toast with a poached egg on top for them - it's Marco-Pierre White catering at the very least, no error - and waiter, send that bill to Accounts, there's a good chap.
What if - bear with me here - what if MP's, ponderous boardroom types, and indeed power-brokers everywhere were to embrace a novel concept, and actually pay for some of the scrumptious fare that comes their way so often, and gratis at that? If this were the general principle, multiplied across all the many thousands of vastly expensive official meals and banquets that take place in this over-stretched nation every week, what would be the saving to the national purse? I'm struggling to work that out on my fingers and in my head, but it's a big, big number, make no mistake. It's not as if the people we're talking about are exactly impoverished - are they now? And what do the rest of us do when it's time for lunch at work? Not everyone has even the subsidised canteen; many of us are away down to the high street for a cheese roll, which we're - quite reasonably - expected to fund out of our own pockets.
It's about time we all woke up to the fact that, on a grand scale, we're being made right mugs out of, you and me. Every time there's a new cost-cutting measure, or another idea for a wage freeze, you can bet your life it's been hatched over the smoked-salmon canapés and the pâté de foie gras. And what's more, we're the simple souls paying for it. Could that money not be used much more productively, elsewhere?
Just think about that, the next time you're counting the pennies at the end of the month, and wondering whether you can delay the big shop till after the weekend. Then again, that might even act as an appetite suppressant. Just thinking of all those banquets, all that luxury food, and above all, where the bill's heading - might just actually make you sick.