In London, the political news cycle has been dominated by the subject of public-sector cuts. Since winning the election in May, Conservative Chancellor George Osborne has identified more than £6 billion worth of savings in a bid to trim the U.K’s £156 billion budget deficit. Prime Minister David Cameron has warned that the age of irresponsibility is giving way to the age of austerity. Against this backdrop it has emerged that since May, the U.K. government has spent almost £18,000 topping up the government wine cellar.