Plenty cash to waste

I copied the following from:  http://andrewscottwords.blogspot.com  Knowing that, through the course of a year, Andrew Scott must be but one of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of delegates at events run by government-funded agencies, it occurs to me that making nation-saving savings ought to be quite painless.

I was one of about 250 delegates at an event run by a government-funded agency yesterday. In our welcome pack there was a free USB storage drive for every delegate. So I presume the same applies to every one of the many events this agency runs. It's nice to know there is no shortage of taxpayers' cash to pay for such superfluous gifts. I'd have thought economy drives rather than free USB drives would have been more appropriate for these indebted times. I am so naive. No question of a few sheets of A4 paper for our notes either, but a rather swish and thick notebook bound in stiff plastic manufactured with considerable expense and ingenuity from crude oil. Clearly, we are a country awash with natural resources as well as funds. It was only an afternoon meeting, a mere two and a half hours actually, but of course we couldn't be expected to endure that marathon until we had all tucked into a rather sumptuous lunch. No question of mere sandwiches and coffee for important people like me. If I was paying for such frills I might get annoyed. Oh, hang on a minute, I am...

Some of what I heard was mildly interesting. All of it could have been conveyed just as easily and much more conveniently on the organisation's website, and it is, actually. And of course most of the travel costs will be claimed back on expenses by delegates who largely came from government-funded organisations too. I can't imagine where any efficiency savings could be found. Well, I did my bit. I'm not bothering to claim my travelling expenses as it was only a 20 mile drive from my home. I hope you are suitably grateful.