Given it is Chinese New Year today the exclusively MPs-only Member’s Dining Room is offering some specials; for starters oriental vegetables with pink ginger, toasted sesame seeds and soy dressing for only £2.05 (after the £1.53 subsidy) followed by the seasonal winter vegetable and lemon stir-fry with hazelnut couscous for a mere £6.75 after the taxpayer chips in £5.13 of subsidy. Gùng héi faat chōi, indeed…

Look at this subsidy another way, it will take a worker on minimum wages 7 hours to pay the taxes required to subsidise today’s two-course celebratory Chinese New Year lunch for one MP. Someone should tell the MPs it is the Year of the Dragon, not the pig…