Recently old official records have been released to general public, in UK, under the 30 year disclosure rules. One paper shows the expenditure incurred on the Prime Minister’s flat in 10 Downing Street for refurbishment, amounting to 1,830 pounds. The paper shows hand written comments by Mrs Thatcher, wherein she angrily objects why such a huge sum of money has been spent un-necessarily. She says that she and her husband use only one bedroom and the bed linen for extra rooms should be returned.
She also says that her own personal crockery and household stuff would be available for use during her stay. The above reminds me of a similar incident in 1947 when Miss Fatima Jinnah telephoned the bakery that supplied bread etc to the Governor General’s House in Karachi. She pointed out that bread was too big and it should be replaced with a smaller one, to avoid wastage of food. I wish our leaders would learn some lessons from the above incidents. By the way, why do we call them ‘hukmraan’ or rulers?
Khalid A,
London, January 3.