Weee-ed!

Eric Pickles has offended overstretched public sector workers by asking them to care for taxpayers property.
Remember the pot plants that the Department for Communities and Local Government didnât have? Then it turned out that perhaps they did have, (including three nicely spotted 12â Palm Trees in the entrance) but they werenât expensive leased ones like what that naughty Audit Commission had, these were pucker owned by the tax payer ones and the only expense was a £6,454.58 bill for watering them?
The pot plants are owned by the Department, rather than leased. When the contract ends, as suggested by staff in feedback on departmental cost savings, the plants will be looked after by departmental staff on a voluntary basis. No new pot plants have been procured since May 2010. A copy of the relevant section of the 2004 contract on internal planting has been placed in the Library of the House.
Last September the watering contract was cancelled, and since then the staff have been neglectful of their watering duties, so the taxpayersâ pot plants have been withering in their pots.
Which reminded me, the Department for Communities and Local Government famously has a very expensive full time member of staff on âgardening leaveâ â shouldnât she be watering the plants?
Sheâs very fond of pleasing the Minister in charge of her department.
Dickless Tracey to the rescue.
March
29, 2011 at 23:59
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âLike having a wardrobe fall on you with the key still in it.â
It disturbed me then, and it disturbs me now.
March 29, 2011 at 21:07
March 29, 2011 at 19:02
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If they were proper âpotâ plants, they could be sold to reduce the National
Debt.
March 29, 2011 at 15:51
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One of the best quotes seen was Traceyâs impression of Prezzaâs amorous
activities as âLike a wardrobe with a key in itâ. It turns out it was actually
said about a certain 20 stone plus Conservative MP but âif the quote
fitsâ.
March 29, 2011 at 15:19
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Divert the latrine outlets to empty on to the plants (peas?).
Shame if
most of them quit because of the stink. Grow banana plants in there with the
fruit-eating spiders that live on them to get rid of the ones that can stand
the stink.
March 29, 2011 at 14:43
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Further to Engineerâs comment, at home I have several artificial plants
which include a âsucculentâ, a palm and an oliveâ¦it may sound garish but they
look very real and certainly have the same aesthetic as real plants. That
said, it is surely petty spite to not water the palnts that are there.
March 30, 2011 at 22:37
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Artificial plants can look very real. I watered a friends plastic palm
twice whilst he was away before realising I was just damaging his
floorboards.
March 29, 2011 at 13:23
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This is so obvious that it must have been suggested by someone â just ditch
the pot plants. No plants, no watering, no cost. Are potplants a necessity in
an office? A pleasant addition to the working environment, true (but then, so
is a pretty girl in a short skirt), but hardly essential.
March 29, 2011 at 12:54
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Perhaps itâs pukka?
£6454.58 for watering plants? What with, Holy Water brought by camel from
Lourdes? FFS!
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