The Interesting Thread!

[JamesEagle]

Still think the bashing of the unions was bad.

 

Yes. I do. Because if the unions had too much power then, it has gone much too far the other way.

 

The terms of my employment are changed and I am powerless. The union is powerless. I earn less now than I have for five years and the bills have gone up dramatically. Through no fault of my own, I cannot take my children on holiday. I can no longer fund my daughter attending karate classes, which may have given her the ability to defend herself at a crucial moment. My son cannot do organised sports. They never get to go to restaurants. And there are people far, far worse off than me. Is this fair? Tell, me what have children done to deserve this? And is it getting us out of recession? No, it f***ing isn't!

 

And I'll keep going on about this - how can we allow people who behaved as Cameron, Osborne and Johnson did in the Bullingdon Club run our country???

 

Oh god you really dont get this do you.........do you actually remember the late 70s, or were you high on drugs lol.

 

The problem was that Unions had so much power that they controlled the country - insisting that their members had inflation busting pay rises and holding the country to ransom if they didnt get their way. It just didnt work. You talk about Briain having no industry anymore, but why would you keep as industry like coal mining which was losing money hand over fist and being subsidised by tax payers money, and then having unions insisting their members get x, y and z and get their cake and eat it.

 

Labour realised in the late 70s that pay needed to be frozen or at least increases reduced to bare minimum because the country was grinding to a halt....they couldnt do it though cos the unions had too much control. And they were too limp to take the unions on.

 

You do remember of course that Scargill was offered several deals by the conservative government which would have been ok for the coal miners, but no....too bloody minded, he had to take it to the streets....it was a bloody disgrace what he did.

 

Capiche.

 

Just to remind you ( ) what I said was, "...if the unions had too much power then, it has gone much too far the other way". I stand by this. Maybe the unions did have too much power and weren't behaving in a sensible, pragmatic way. However, Thatcher 'broke' the unions and now it has gone too far ... a happy medium would be great, but we are nowhere near that.

 

And as for Bob Crow - I agree that he is too militant. Sometimes I sympathise with the rail workers, but Crow's readiness to strike over various issues has worn away a lot of their support. Ultimately, I think people should be treated fairly. I think, on balance, train drivers probably are. I don't think public servants are. I don't think the Tories treat the average-earning, hard-working, law-abiding citizens fairly at all.

 

(And the lack of compassion for these people goes back to the brilliantly-observed point from Russell Brand: "All of us that grew up under Thatcher were taught that it is good to be selfish, that other people's pain is not your problem, that pain is in fact a weakness and suffering is deserved and shameful." So, so spot on!)

[Glen]

Still think the bashing of the unions was bad.

 

Yes. I do. Because if the unions had too much power then, it has gone much too far the other way.

 

The terms of my employment are changed and I am powerless. The union is powerless. I earn less now than I have for five years and the bills have gone up dramatically. Through no fault of my own, I cannot take my children on holiday. I can no longer fund my daughter attending karate classes, which may have given her the ability to defend herself at a crucial moment. My son cannot do organised sports. They never get to go to restaurants. And there are people far, far worse off than me. Is this fair? Tell, me what have children done to deserve this? And is it getting us out of recession? No, it f***ing isn't!

 

And I'll keep going on about this - how can we allow people who behaved as Cameron, Osborne and Johnson did in the Bullingdon Club run our country???

 

Oh god you really dont get this do you.........do you actually remember the late 70s, or were you high on drugs lol.

 

The problem was that Unions had so much power that they controlled the country - insisting that their members had inflation busting pay rises and holding the country to ransom if they didnt get their way. It just didnt work. You talk about Briain having no industry anymore, but why would you keep as industry like coal mining which was losing money hand over fist and being subsidised by tax payers money, and then having unions insisting their members get x, y and z and get their cake and eat it.

 

Labour realised in the late 70s that pay needed to be frozen or at least increases reduced to bare minimum because the country was grinding to a halt....they couldnt do it though cos the unions had too much control. And they were too limp to take the unions on.

 

You do remember of course that Scargill was offered several deals by the conservative government which would have been ok for the coal miners, but no....too bloody minded, he had to take it to the streets....it was a bloody disgrace what he did.

 

Capiche.

 

Just to remind you ( ) what I said was, "...if the unions had too much power then, it has gone much too far the other way". I stand by this. Maybe the unions did have too much power and weren't behaving in a sensible, pragmatic way. However, Thatcher 'broke' the unions and now it has gone too far ... a happy medium would be great, but we are nowhere near that.

 

And as for Bob Crow - I agree that he is too militant. Sometimes I sympathise with the rail workers, but Crow's readiness to strike over various issues has worn away a lot of their support. Ultimately, I think people should be treated fairly. I think, on balance, train drivers probably are. I don't think public servants are. I don't think the Tories treat the average-earning, hard-working, law-abiding citizens fairly at all.

 

(And the lack of compassion for these people goes back to the brilliantly-observed point from Russell Brand: "All of us that grew up under Thatcher were taught that it is good to be selfish, that other people's pain is not your problem, that pain is in fact a weakness and suffering is deserved and shameful." So, so spot on!)

 

imo a union should be there to deal with redundancies, unfair dismissal and the like, not haggling over pay. At the end of the day whether it be private company, Ltd company (like mine) or a public service, the workers are usually paid what is fair in terms of either the company's performance or the economic climate.

 

For years the police got decent pay deals, but now they have their pay frozen they are all moaning their arse off - I should know we have 2 coppers in our extended family.

 

I work in the private sector and my pay is frozen this year - I dont expect a union rep to get the begging bowl out or go on strike lol. If I did, when I got back I wouldn't have a job. That's how the private sector works - always has!

 

Public sector have for years 'expected' things which private sector employees could only dream of.

 

Virtually every private sector employee has had their pensions hacked or slashed in recent years, but public sector still bathes in gold plated final salary pensions. Police have just had theirs resort to an average of their salary over a number of years but its still 'guaranteed' and not linked to the stock market.

 

I was talking to my brother in law the other day and he was telling me of the stories that went on in the pension fiasco - high level police officers would be 'promoted' right before they retired to seal a higher pension for life. Scandalous - and its all paid for by private sector. At least they have addressed this issue, but sooner or later the public sector will have to face facts that the 'final' versions of pensions are just not sustainable anymore with people's life expectancy going through the roof.

 

Wait for the fallout when that happens ;-)

[JamesEagle]

public sector still bathes in gold plated final salary pensions

 

Mate, we're going to have to leave it there or I'm going to get angry. This is well out of order.

 

I'm all for having reasoned debate and expressing differences of opinion, but now you come across as a Mail or Standard reader who believes all their massively biased headlines about the public sector. If it was a balanced, two-way debate then fine, but no one ever puts over the public sector point of view, which makes the reporting pretty worthless.

 

Let's just draw a line under it and move on. Please.

 

Surely there must be other interesting things to discuss... e.g. Millwall fans beating each other up ... ?

[Glen]

Ha ha Mail or Standard reader......what as opposed to a Guardian reader.

 

Every journalistic rag is biased one way or the other and I don't read any.

 

Yep time to move on.

[Wotty]

NO paper for me.........

[Glen]

Just entered the Windsor half marathon.............end of September.

 

Need some motivation to see me through the summer training.

 

Supposed to be an 'undulating' course.....love that term. Means hilly as fuck in real life.

 

Mmmm.

[JamesEagle]

Just entered the Windsor half marathon.............end of September.

 

Need some motivation to see me through the summer training.

 

Supposed to be an 'undulating' course.....love that term. Means hilly as fuck in real life.

 

Mmmm.

 

Yep, it will be like a fell running course!

 

Nice work though, seriously impressive. I gave up on jogging as it just wasn't getting any easier or more enjoyable. Started cycling now; not such hard work.

[Wotty]

Just entered the Windsor half marathon.............end of September.

 

Need some motivation to see me through the summer training.

 

Supposed to be an 'undulating' course.....love that term. Means hilly as fuck in real life.

 

Mmmm.

 

Yep, it will be like a fell running course!

 

Nice work though, seriously impressive. I gave up on jogging as it just wasn't getting any easier or more enjoyable. Started cycling now; not such hard work.

 

I can't run as I fear I'd fall over.........lol

[Gibbo]

Just entered the Windsor half marathon.............end of September.

 

Need some motivation to see me through the summer training.

 

Supposed to be an 'undulating' course.....love that term. Means hilly as fuck in real life.

 

Mmmm.

Good on ya ... I've got a couple of friends who run marathons on a regular basis, so I'll see if I can get some motivational tips for you :)I've done the London to Southend bike ride a couple of times ... whoever said that Essex was flat was lying through their teeth!

[Wotty]

Just entered the Windsor half marathon.............end of September.

 

Need some motivation to see me through the summer training.

 

Supposed to be an 'undulating' course.....love that term. Means hilly as fuck in real life.

 

Mmmm.

Good on ya ... I've got a couple of friends who run marathons on a regular basis, so I'll see if I can get some motivational tips for you :)I've done the London to Southend bike ride a couple of times ... whoever said that Essex was flat was lying through their teeth!

 

Loooooool.......

[Glen]

Just entered the Windsor half marathon.............end of September.

 

Need some motivation to see me through the summer training.

 

Supposed to be an 'undulating' course.....love that term. Means hilly as fuck in real life.

 

Mmmm.

Good on ya ... I've got a couple of friends who run marathons on a regular basis, so I'll see if I can get some motivational tips for you :)I've done the London to Southend bike ride a couple of times ... whoever said that Essex was flat was lying through their teeth!

 

Already strained my leg :-(

 

Back on it tomorrow after a week out.

 

Slow an easy this time ;-))

[JamesEagle]

Off to the Lake District with the clan tomorrow, so offline for over a week. Lovely scenery and lots of fresh air, plus probably buckets and buckets of rain ... I'll miss you guys...

 

See you soon.

[longhairmike74]

sometimes grocery shopping can be a pain in the ass...

 

[Wotty]

Seeing Tom today......

[Wotty]

Seeing Tom today......

 

Great day............

[JamesEagle]

Unbelievable!!! There isn't a 'Shocking Thread', so I thought I'd post this here:

 

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/south-american-football-referee-beheaded-fans-killing-player-084120459.html

 

[Wotty]

Hmmmmm......

[Nick C]

I ate a banana earlier. I might eat another tomorrow.

[Chris]

I ate a banana earlier. I might eat another tomorrow.

Oh you rebel you...

[JamesEagle]

 

I ate a banana earlier. I might eat another tomorrow.

Oh you rebel you...

 

 

Was it one of these babies:

 

[Stefan]

 

 

I ate a banana earlier. I might eat another tomorrow.

Oh you rebel you...

 

 

Was it one of these babies:

 

 

 

I'd like to peel and eat this banana...

 

[Nick C]

^{Hey now that's getting too interesting!}

 

 

^{Haven't had another yet but I did just have some cornflakes!}

[Wotty]

We BEAT the Aussies..........

[bangerdave]

We BEAT the Aussies..........

Just

[JamesEagle]

 

We BEAT the Aussies..........

Just

 

 

Yep, extremely close. Really not sure why we had such a problem bowling out the last man in both innings, but hats off to Agar. What a debut!

 

Sets it up very nicely for the second Test.