2002 World Cup winners Brazil
If you were offered a free ticket to the World Cup, would you accept it? Especially if it was for England’s opening game in Germany. The chances are you would.
It seems MP Dr Ian Gibson refused his invite from one of the sponsors, junk food supremos McDonald’s, on the grounds that it was not acceptable at a time when political judgements have to be made about what people people should eat.
He said: “I’d love to go to the World Cup, but if I were to go, it would be at my own expense …. if I went to Germany, I think I’d lose the support of people who are real football fans.”
The Lab MP coaches the parliamentary football team and does not believe they should accept any of the 23 tickets offered by McDonald’s to MPs and researchers.
Can an MP accept such a tempting invitation and not feel compromised? Dr Gibson did the right thing in declining as he felt it went against his principles. I would have thought it was ok if you were confident you could still exercise sound judgement, and it was not a wasted “away day”, but enjoyed in their own free time. I wonder if they will they be served beefburgers during half-time? Is there such a thing as a free lunch? I imagine corporate invites are carefully screened to avoid any potentially politcally embarrassing moments.
Sacked Home Secretary Charles Clarke, and Dr Gibson’s neighbouring Norfolk MP, did accept an invitation from another source, I read last week, but has now declined due to his change in circustmances.
As the man (Milton Friedman) once said, “There are no free lunches.”
The Financial Times carries the truly horrifying news that there are moves afoot to stage the World Cup every two years, instead of every four, as with present arrangements.
I’m suddenly overwhelmed by a profound sense of nostalgia for those times in medieval England:
“Cause public proclamation to be made,” declared an Act of 1369, “that everyone of said City of London strong in body, at leisure times and on holydays, use in their recreation bows and arrows.” Popular amusements such as handball and football were banned on pain of imprisonment.
[See entry for “Archery” in Weinreb and Hibbert (eds): The London Encyclopaedia (1993)]
Those were the days. The fascinating insight is that there was evidently no concern on the part of the political establishment in those times about the prospect of apparently unlimited numbers of trained and practised archers wandering around London equipped with longbows, a deadly weapon used with great effect to win three famous battles in the Hundred Years War with France. Compare that with present (very proper) public concerns about the emergence of a knife culture among youth nowadays.
It would be interesting to know how many MPs are going to the World Cup as corporate guests and how many have declined as a matter of conscience.
Hi Ellee, thanks for stopping by my blog :o)
I’d accept the tickets, then try and swap them for the Australia vs Germany match!
I would not accept tickets if I were in their position. It is too open to claims of conflict of interests.