Freebies have reared their head again as the Chancellor defends taking gratis tickets to a Sabrina Carpenter concert. She said yesterday: “I do now have security which means it’s not as easy as it would have been in the past to just sit in a concert.“ How awful – it’s got to be the box then…
This morning on Times Radio transport secretary Heidi Alexander was asked about the refreshed row. She was asked if it felt right to her – seeing as Reeves is cutting spending elsewhere. Alexander said:
“I haven’t taken any tickets to be honest since I was elected back in June as a new member of parliament and going straight into the Ministry of Justice and then coming straight into the Department for Transport. I actually sadly haven’t been to see any concerts at all over the last nine months, partly because I’ve been very very busy.“
She stressed again why she hasn’t taken freebie tickets: “Partly because I’ve got a very busy diary and I’ve got to prioritise my time.” Ouch…
The long-running internal row over freebies bubbling to the surface there. Can’t be governing in service if you’re screaming along to ‘Espresso’…
Speaking on Times Radio, former Home Secretary David Blunkett spoke about overdiagnosis of mental problems:
“Let’s distinguish those who are really severely mentally ill, diagnosed with things that require prolonged medical and diagnostic treatment. My wife and I talk about this a lot, because she’s a retired GP, about the fact that you can be sad without being ill. You can be momentarily depressed because your boyfriend or girlfriend’s just thrown you and you’re not mentally ill. You can even have mild issues, which can be dealt with with the right kind of support, but it doesn’t make you mentally ill. So we’ve got a real task, I think, to get the psychology, if you like, of this over. But there are things where you definitely need medical intervention, and there are other things where you need good friends, you need good connectivity, and you need a job.”