Quotehanger

  • "I was not fast enough. But I was good at running. Some of my friends used to make fun that my run-up to the crease was faster than my deliveries."
    The world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, wanted to be a cricketer before he took up sprinting

    Sep 5, 2008

    • Recent Posts

    Try DVD rental for £3.99 per month!

    The headlines

    The news

    TWC



    MOD defend mass widescreen TV purchases

    By Will 3 years ago, at the end of November Leave a comment on this post

    The Ministry of Defence have defended the mass purchase of widescreen TVs in recent years, after claims they were used for viewing Test match cricket. Norman Lamb, Lib Dem MP for Norfolk, got things going on November 21:

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many widescreen televisions have been purchased by his Department for use in Whitehall Headquarters in each of the last five years; and at what cost in each year. [21097]

    Adam Ingram (Minister of State (Armed Forces), Ministry of Defence) responded:

    Mr. Ingram: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, as part of the Ministry of Defence Head Office building refurbishment, five widescreen televisions were purchased in financial year 2001–02 at a total cost of £12,500, and 134 at a total cost of £348,000 in financial year 2003–04.

    £348,000 for a bunch of massive TVs in which to watch 11 England cricketers muck around on a pitch for a few days? Brilliant - at least it’s not football…good to see our taxes are being well spent. The BBC has more on this:

    Mr Lamb told the BBC: “I was attending a meeting at the Ministry of Defence and I was walking through their open plan offices.

    “I was completely gobsmacked by the number of televisions all around, in every work space.

    “And they weren’t modest little things like we have here in the Houses of Parliament, with small screens. They were whopping great flat screen, wide screen sets.

    Tags: , , , , , |

    4 Responses to “MOD defend mass widescreen TV purchases”

  • Chris wrote:
    November 24th, 2005 at 8.45 pm

    I think it is absolutely essential for the MOD to watch the cricket. For example Inzi’s dodgy run out could have triggered an international incident. Keep watching lads, we’re pround of you!

  • Mani wrote:
    November 25th, 2005 at 7.20 am

    money well spent
    btw. what happened to the hoggard caption competition on cricinfo?

  • morgan wrote:
    November 25th, 2005 at 10.44 am

    My hubby works within the vast MOD “family” and would you believe that the prisoners in his care have access to the cricket through satellite, and yet the staff, many of whom live away from home, can only get terrestrial tv!!

    Not that I’m bitter that he has to work at the other side of the country, is working nights over xmas and only gets 2 days off a fortnight you understand!

  • Chris wrote:
    November 25th, 2005 at 10.47 am

    Blimey.

    • Comments

    Receive email updates on new comments


    « Homeless Andy and his can of Fosters | Main | B.C. Special »