//What really bothers me is the culture of drinking and partying in Westminster that seems not to exist in the rest of the country…..//No-one else seems to think that they need to 'decompress' or whatever other garbage term they want to come up with, at the end of a week at work, for which they are handsomely rewarded.//
The 'culture' exists across the City of London and the West End as well as Westminster. If you speak to people, especially those working in the international markets which, globally, are active 24 hours a day, they will tell you they work hard and play hard, and they do (although it's a stretch to suggest that having a glass of wine with colleagues is playing hard). Their jobs aren't 9 to 5 and their work ethic isn’t limited to that. They do what is necessary - and more - to get the job done and in doing so they earn a hell of a lot of money for this country. It's not unusual for people to commute very long distances to London offices or to stay there for days rather than hours, leaving only to catch a few hours sleep in a local hotel. They don't clock watch and skip off the moment the big hand reaches the witching hour, nor do they call in sick because they have a sniffle or because their favourite football team is playing and they don't want to miss the match.
Yes, they are often handsomely rewarded - and there's a reason for that. No company pays handsome reward for little result. It has to be earned.
The envious who complain about the rest but who work set hours doing the bare minimum required really don't have a clue. Nevertheless they claim the moral high ground. Well, all I can say is they really ought to be sure they have a valid place on the moral high ground because from where I'm sitting I see little evidence that they do.