The lesser mortals get envious when MPs brag about their luxury lives

Maybe it made lesser mortals envious and they thought maybe he was a little bit boastful...would people have taken offence if his wife (a senior investment counsellor at a bank) had paid for everything?

-- Charles Chong, Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP

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Cooking Up The Holiday Spirit with just S$45,000

"We found out that Le Cordon Bleu Paris runs intensive courses in culinary and patisserie from mid-November to December. These are the regular three-month classes they run but compressed into five weeks, with no loss in content.

To my surprise and theirs, I told them I would sign up for the course with them. (Taking five weeks’ leave from work is not as difficult as one thinks. Most times, when you are at the top, you think you are indispensable. But if you are a good leader who has built up a good team, it is possible to go away for five weeks or even longer.)

It would be quality family time for the three of us. My daughter Yanying, 23, would join us in Paris in our last week, since she could not take such long leave because she had just started working."

-- Tan Yong Soon, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Water Resources

The Intensive Cuisine Certificate Programme:
Basic: 7,750 euros (S$15,500)
Intermediate: 7,600 euros
Superior: 7,700 euros