Labour waste

The news that:

"More than £320,000 of taxpayers' money has been spent on flat-screen televisions, hi-fis and DVD players for Whitehall departments, it has been reported.

The Tories said today the figures, released in Parliamentary answers, were an 'insult' to the recession-hit public.

The biggest spender was Lord Mandelson's Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, which ran up an £87,000 bill for stereo equipment, DVD players and flat-screen televisions over the past three years.

The second biggest bill was at the Treasury, which spent £42,000 on televisions, £25,000 on DVD players and £9,600 on hi-fis - despite Treasury Minister Yvette Cooper's claims to be leading a 'war on waste' across government.

Other departments, including the Prime Minister's office, claimed the information could only be made available 'at disproportionate cost'. "

comes as no surprise to me as again you can see that this Labour government uses a George Orwell novel as an inspiration, this time Animal Farm rather than the more usual 1984.