CIVIL servants didn’t have to wait until Christmas for some nice little presents.
The value of restaurant and shop vouchers given to Home Office staff for.. er.. doing their jobs more than doubled in the last year — with £14million worth of gift cards for use in the likes of Nando’s and Waitrose.
And it’s not just the Home Office.
Workers across 14 major Whitehall departments enjoyed £40million worth of vouchers — a near 40 per cent increase on the previous year — despite far too many of them still deciding that going to the office is too much bother.
Meanwhile, staff at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs want to move to a four-day week.
It’s not clear if that would mean them working fewer hours or more.
The fact is that the value of staff rewards has soared in recent years at a time when productivity across all parts of the civil service is lower today than it was in 1997.
Mind you, if the Home Office manages to clear 91,000 ‘legacy’ asylum claims by the end of 2023, as the Prime Minister demanded, then the next voucher hand-outs will at least feel partially earned.
We won’t hold our breath.
EVERYWHERE you look in British women’s sport there are inspirational world-beaters.
The successes of the Lionesses and the Red Roses on the football and rugby pitches, as well as performances by our netball and cricket teams, have provided brilliant role models.
Stars like Hannah Cockcroft and young snowboarder Mia Brooks are also promoting greater sports participation by women and girls.
And yet, a woke agenda is threatening to undermine this development.
A report by the Policy Exchange think-tank spells out the extent to which gender self-identification is compromising fair and safe competition at all levels of sport by allowing biological males to take on women and girls.
It should set alarm bells ringing.
Sports stars like Martina Navratilova and Sharron Davies are right to call for Government moves to restrict female competitive sports to biological females before they are driven away.
DANCING On Ice fans will be delighted that Holly Willoughby has bravely put fears for her safety behind her in order to return to presenting the show.
It had already been a tumultuous year for the popular star before she quit This Morning in October after a man was arrested for an alleged plot to kidnap and murder her.
It will be good to see her back where she belongs — on our TV screens.
