Houses of Westminster
(Picture: PA)ParliScran, a Twitter account documenting food served on the parliamentary estate, is the talk of Westminster. But MPs may be getting hot under the collar about the page, which reveals the bargains they are enjoying thanks to taxpayer subsidies. Last week a soup, salad and chips combo totted up to £2.70.
The average meal saving is about £1, compared to the price a man on the street pays. Restaurants and bars in the Palace of Westminster were subsidised by around £16m in 2021-22. Pints in parliamentary bars, at £3.50 for a lager, are some of the cheapest in central London.
On Wednesday, MPs and staffers worked up a hunger listening to President Zelensky’s speech in Westminster Hall. According to the ParliScran, there was a post-speech run on the chicken bhuna.
Styles ‘hits the slopes’ for art
While Harry Styles was heckled with cries of “Beyoncé!” at the Grammy’s during his acceptance speech for best album, he had an unexpected admirer from afar: artist Peter Doig. An exhibition of Doig’s work began at The Courtauld Gallery today.
It features his painting Alpinist, of a skier in a harlequin suit matching Harry’s outfit at the awards. Doig has now jokingly remade the work with the singer in place of the skier. We’re not sure it will make the Courtauld show. But what’s better: Harry Styles- inspired art or something a little bit more...“Renaissance”?
Hank Schrader’s off-duty pub crawl
Breaking Bad star Dean Norris, who played Detective Hank Schrader in the series, has been crawling from pub to pub this week seeking out the oldest one in England. Pint in hand, he toasted Ye Olde Fighting Cock “in the northwestern part of London” as the place. But Norris’s geography is a little scratchy — the pub is in St Albans. “Cheers. Cheerio,” he said, “God save the King.”
‘Follow your dreams not rock stars’ says Pattie Boyd
Former model Pattie Boyd is a world expert on rock stars. She married two of them, Beatle George Harrison and guitarist Eric Clapton. But when asked this week for her tips on wedding rock royalty, Boyd says: “Don’t. I will say one thing — you have to have your own passion that you’re following, so that you don’t follow him.” Boyd, now a photographer, recently released a collection titled My Life In Pictures.
Love is in the air at Koko
Chicken Shop Date host Amelia Dimoldenberg hosted a Valentine’s party at Cafe Koko last night, describing the matchmaking event as an “intimate invite-only affair”. Trainspotter Francis Bourgeois and Spiceworld scion Phoenix Chi, daughter of Mel B, were there. Across town at JOIA, a new rooftop restaurant in the renovated Battersea Power Station, musicians Mabel and Kojey Radical toasted Raye’s debut album My 21st Century Blues. It could make No 1 this week, unseating Shania Twain.
