BigginAgain
27th Feb 2005, 20:07
From Today's Sunday Telegraph:
"Slippery Slope
AS A KEEN skier, Baroness Noakes wouldn't begrudge anyone the pleasure of the piste. It's just that the Tory peer would normally expect people to pay for such pleasures themselves. Thus she was somewhat taken aback to discover, from a question she asked in the House of Lords, the extent to which the taxpayer subsidises skiers in the Armed Forces.
Lord Back, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defence, said that both the Army and the RAF hold ski and snowboard championships."The costs to public funds of all Army (skiing) events are estimated to be a maximum of £386,000," he said. As for the RAF, its involvement in competitive skiing sets the public back £94,000. An RAF Team also participated in Army-organised Nordic championships at a cost of £8,000"
Standby for this to appear in rags various over the next day or 2. I notice no mention is made of personal contributions; will this spell the end for the annual pilgrimage to the slopes?
BA
"Slippery Slope
AS A KEEN skier, Baroness Noakes wouldn't begrudge anyone the pleasure of the piste. It's just that the Tory peer would normally expect people to pay for such pleasures themselves. Thus she was somewhat taken aback to discover, from a question she asked in the House of Lords, the extent to which the taxpayer subsidises skiers in the Armed Forces.
Lord Back, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defence, said that both the Army and the RAF hold ski and snowboard championships."The costs to public funds of all Army (skiing) events are estimated to be a maximum of £386,000," he said. As for the RAF, its involvement in competitive skiing sets the public back £94,000. An RAF Team also participated in Army-organised Nordic championships at a cost of £8,000"
Standby for this to appear in rags various over the next day or 2. I notice no mention is made of personal contributions; will this spell the end for the annual pilgrimage to the slopes?
BA