GRIMLY FIENDISH

Indeed... The thing these Tory twats seem to forget about is that THEY DONT HAVE A MANDATE, so, talk about living in glass houses and all that... They carp on about "oh, the majority of members didn't ask for Industrial action.....".. Well, I'm afraid that's not how a ballot works.. We cant assume that people who cant be arsed to vote in a ballot would vote against anymore than we can assume that they would vote for.... I think when you get an organisation like the FDA supporting Industrial action, then, that pretty much says it all....

And from The Morning Star.... Exposed: Pension axe ministers' hypocrisy http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/co...iew/full/112271 State employees would have to work for 124 years to match the retirement payouts of Con-Dem ministers pushing savage cuts to public pensions, the Unite union revealed today. Its "dossier of hypocrisy" exposed a stark contrast between leading members of the government and the retirement pots that await an average public-sector worker. A host of Cabinet ministers can rest easy in the knowledge that they will get fat annual payouts if they step down at the end of the current Parliament in 2015. Slash-and-burn Chancellor George Osborne would only have to work for a year and a half to earn an average public-sector pension of £5,600. Tory "enforcer" Francis Maude and Lib Dem Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander, who are leading government attempts to force union members to swallow public-sector pension changes that will see people work longer, pay in more and receive less, were among the top hypocrites singled out by Unite. To match Mr Alexander's pension a typical public-sector worker would have to do a life's work twice over, its dossier revealed. That rises to three lifetimes to match Mr Maude's retirement pot. A local government employee would have to work a staggering 124 years to equal Tory Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles's pension were he to retire in 2015. And Health Secretary Andrew Lansley's pension is worth almost 10 times that of an average NHS employee despite the government's repeated claim that ordinary workers are revelling in "gold-plated" pensions. Unite said that ministers' final pensions could actually be worth much more. Its calculations didn't take into account contributions beyond 2015 or income tied to business arrangements or inherited wealth. Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said the findings showed how out of touch the government is. "Ministers who can retire on tens of thousands a year are slashing the pensions of workers who stand to get a few thousand a year and then have the nerve to call them gold-plated," he said. "Unite supports good pensions for all workers including MPs, what we don't support is a Cabinet of millionaires attacking the very modest pensions of the men and women who care for our sick, teach our children and keep our streets safe." Mr McCluskey told ministers to start "acting responsibly by getting back round the negotiating table to talk seriously about a fair deal for public-sector workers." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think this proves that ALL British workers, whether public or private sector, need to take to the streets next Wednesday.....

..And while Francis Maude dictates to Public Sector workers that they have to contribute more, get less and work til they're older.... £731k retirement pot for pension-slashing minister Francis Maude http://nobodylikesatory.wordpress.com/2011...-francis-maude/ “The Tory minister ruthlessly slashing the pensions of millions of public sector workers could be in line to pocket a £731,000 retirement pot,” reports the Daily Mirror. “Francis Maude, 58, is among a number of Government ministers amassing vast, taxpayer-funded nest eggs. But while the millionaire can look forward to a potential £43,000-plus a year income in his old age, he is cutting schemes for nurses, teachers and public sector workers. The shocking sum is almost eight times the average £5,600 civil service employee’s pot. Union chiefs yesterday branded Cabinet Office Minister Mr Maude and his well-to-do colleagues shameless hypocrites. Len McCluskey, of Unite, which calculated the figures, said: “A typical public sector worker would have to work almost three lifetimes to get a pension like many of the ministers who are attacking our public services. “Unite supports good pensions for all workers including MPs. What we don’t support is a cabinet of millionaires attacking the pensions of the men and women who care for our sick, teach our children and keep our streets safe. It’s another example of how out of touch the Government is.” Mark Serwotka, of the civil service PCS union, added: “They’ll be completely untouched by their cuts.” MPs can grow their pension pot by up to one 40th of their final salary – currently £65,738 – each year in return for putting in 11.9% of their wage packet. Senior ministers, who earn more, can also pay in at the same rate and receive one 40th of their total frontbench earnings on top of their Parliamentary pension. Veteran Tory Mr Maude, who is masterminding the showdown with unions, earns about £98,700. He will have chalked up 27 years as an MP and eight as a minister during two spells in Parliament if he keeps his job until the next election in 2015. If he paid in at this top rate he would get a pension over £60,000, according to Unite. Payouts are limited to two-thirds of an MP’s salary but it still means he could get £43,825. David Cameron has surrendered his Prime Minister’s pension, which is worth half of his final salary in the top job, but still benefits from the generous pay and perks. Contributing at the top rate, Mr Cameron – already worth an estimated £3million – would be entitled to £32,977 by 2015. His even richer side-kick George Osborne would get the same. It is almost six times the typical £5,600 public sector pension. Someone in a private scheme would have to save up more than half a million pounds. Deputy PM Nick Clegg could retire on £26,403 a year if he quits Parliament at the next election. Mr Alexander would get £26,403 while Business Secretary and Lib Dem Vince Cable would take home £39,551. Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary busy demolishing the NHS, would pick up an identical amount if he opted for the top rate but a spokesman said last night he had chosen a lower one. Fellow Tory Eric Pickles, who has been inflicting brutal cuts on town halls across the country, could rack up £43,825.” via Daily Mirror ------------------------------------------------------------------ There really are not words adequate enough to describe the absolute hypocrisy of the likes of Francis Maude.... Utter VILE SCUMBAG.... <_<

Really, so, if you lot really do serve the interests of the British public then.. I fully expect to see you out next Wednesday defending the rights of BRITISH WORKERS TO HAVE A DECENT f***ING PENSION THEN..... <_<

Spot on...

I think you may be deliberately misinterpreting what George Monbiot is saying tbh....

Naaaah, this'll just end up getting congested too...

I dont really see how you can draw that conclusion.... -_- I would say that it's an admission there's a "deserving rich", ie, people who DONT commit fraud and larceny on an Industrial scale....

Indeed...

Then I guess a lot of Banksters will be going to the Gulags then until they coughed it up..... :lol: :lol:

And I would make "creative accounting" illegal... HA... :P

Dont get me started on Gordon Brown, as far as I'm concerned, he's a traitor to every single working class person in this country.. It's not up to the public sector unions to battle for the private sector, for a start, I dont think legally, they even can... Wouldn't that be considered as "secondary picketing"...? Obviously the private sector should be striking too.. I would LOVE to see a General Strike in this country... Every workers downing tools for 24 hours... It would be beautiful sight... Unfortunately, the private sector is nowhere near as well represented, and we have Thatcher to thank for that one as she destroyed the unions... If we'd had unions like Germany, the Govt would actually be forced to seriously bargain and not take the piss.... No one messes with German workers, they have the best standards of living in Europe...

For a start, I tell you right now, if I were in charge, I'd close down ALL tax havens.. The City of London, Jersey, Guernsey, the Caymans, they would be getting f**ked by the tax-man right now... As would the likes of Vodafone, Tesco, Philip Green and all the other scumbag tax dodgers that are f***ing this country....

And here's just one example of pension scheme fraud that Wall Street is committing on a daily basis.... http://www.pionline.com/article/20110711/PRINTSUB/110709940/ So, let's not blame employees for the dishonesty of the Capitalists...

Private sector pensions have been getting defrauded by Wall Street and the speculators though... Seriously, it would shock you if you actually knew the extent of the fraud these b'astards have committed upon ordinary people... Bankers are not entitled to bonuses as I see it, not until every single penny has been paid back to the taxpayer that they took from us.. ALL the major banks are technically insolvent, why should these people get bonuses..? It's ridiculous... The right to strike or withdraw labour is a fundamental human right, simple as.. If you dont understand why it is that people are so incensed and so angry about this, I dont really think you've been paying attention. There's also the threat of wide-scale redundancies, pay freezes and other factors too to be taken into consideration... Nassim Taleb on banker's bonuses and why they have no right whatsoever to have them... R_PtXh3ostM

No competition - Harry Potter wins hands-down... Twilight are terrible as films and absolutely atrocious as literature... J K Rowling is at least a competent author, even if she does rip off her ideas from other sources...

f*** off Chris, what would you know about workers..? You've never done a day's work in over 20 years... Someone like you criticising workers' rights to strike is just a complete piss-take..... <_<

Taxpayer to take on mortgage risks of first-time buyers Taxpayers will underwrite mortgages totalling hundreds of millions of pounds under plans to “unblock” the housing market and revive the flagging economy. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8...ime-buyers.html he Prime Minister and his deputy, Nick Clegg, will unveil proposals to help first-time buyers of new homes by carrying part of the risk of their mortgages. They also propose subsidising the construction of 16,000 homes by giving £400 million of taxpayers’ money to property developers. In a further move, ministers are working on a scheme under which billions of pounds of money in pension funds will be used to finance the construction of power stations, wind turbines and roads. In the foreword to the Coalition’s new housing strategy, which is published today, Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg say that Britain has been “under-building” for decades and that a “radical and unashamedly ambitious strategy” is needed to shake up the housing market. “The housing market is one of the biggest victims of the credit crunch: lenders won’t lend, so builders can’t build and buyers can’t buy,” they say in the report. “That lack of confidence is visible in derelict building sites and endless 'For Sale’ signs. “It is doing huge damage to our economy and our society, so it is right for government to step in and take bold action to unblock the market.” The mortgage guarantee, the first time such a scheme has been attempted in the UK, will result in lenders providing loans with significantly lower deposits than the 20 per cent or more that is typically demanded. The taxpayer, however, could be liable for losses in the event that a home is repossessed. The strategy also includes a proposal to double from £26,000 to £52,000 the discount available to council tenants wishing to buy their home. There are plans to “build for growth”, with property companies able to bid for public funding to finish developments that have stalled because of a lack of funding and the Government selling thousands of acres of land owned by hospitals, schools and the Ministry of Defence. “With this strategy, we will unlock the housing market, get Britain building again, and give many more people the satisfaction and security that comes with stepping over their own threshold,” Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg say in the report. Mr Cameron will later tell business leaders that the Government has to “go for growth”. In a speech to the CBI, he will say the Coalition’s priority is to give a “massive boost to enterprise, entrepreneurship and business creation”. “Fears about the immediate future are real,” he will say. “Paralysis in the ­eurozone is causing alarm in the markets and having a chilling effect on economies in many countries — including our own. Everyone agrees now that in the past Britain’s economy had become lopsided – too dependent on debt, consumption and financial services. Well, we are putting that right. We need a different kind of economy and a different kind of growth. “Put simply, Britain must become one of the best places to do business on the planet.” Mr Cameron also takes a swipe at people who have criticised Downing Street for looking at ways to reform employment law. The Coalition is examining proposals from Adrian Beecroft, a venture capitalist, to make it easier to sack underperforming workers. “People who ask, 'What do radical deregulation and reforming employment law have to do with the immediate priority of getting growth?’ miss the point,” he will say. “The answer is simple: If we want a new economy and a new type of growth, we have to act to make it possible.” Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, disclosed yesterday that Treasury officials were working on plans to allow pension funds to invest directly in infrastructure projects. He said the Government had been working with pension funds to get more investment. “We know across the world that countries with the strongest infrastructure have the best potential for growth, so that’s a major focus for us,” he said. Treasury sources said talks had been conducted with pension fund managers for months. They are hoping to attract managers to invest in infrastructure schemes because they provide a better rate of return than government bonds. One insider said: “Fund managers are sitting on tens of billions of pounds and they want to invest in something that gives them a good rate of return.” Joanne Segars, the chief executive of the National Association of Pension Funds, confirmed that talks were continuing. “Private sector final salary pension funds have come under great pressure in recent years, and they are hungry for long-term, stable investments to match the long-term nature of their liabilities,” she said. “We’ve had a broad range of discussions with the Treasury about how to help pension funds invest in a range of asset classes, like long-dated gilts and infrastructure, and these talks are still at an early stage.” Separately, Lord Heseltine, who advises the Government on growth, said MPs should waive through critically important infrastructure projects to get the economy moving. The former Cabinet minister said the Government could work with Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, to agree on which major projects to push through. “If they could find 10 such examples, then I think they could ask Parliament to give planning permission in a matter of months. It can be done,” he said. He added that ministers should also examine long-term programmes in their department “so that we can see if they’re accelerated”. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You have got to be bloody kidding me..... Can the policy of "public losses/private profiteering" get any more f**king blatant than this...? Well, this and Beardie Branson's bargain basement acquisition of Northern Rock plc WITHOUT taking on the debt of the asset management company, which is still in public hands..... This government is a f***ing disaster.... <_<

Why I will be a striking teacher on 30 November http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/20...P=FBCNETTXT9038 My profession gets a lot of stick, but teachers work damned hard for our money and deserve respect – not a pensions cut I am a teacher. You must remember – they had them when you were at school: tall person, stood at the front, usually shouting, that kind of thing. I'm one of those. And though Wednesday 30 November should be a normal, boring school day, it's highly likely that I will not be going into work and neither will most of my colleagues, because we will be on strike. The last time we went on strike, a lot of otherwise seemingly pleasant people seemed rather angry with us and made comments, which, on the whole, did not show much understanding of our motivation for striking. Because I'd like that not to happen this time, I've made my own little contribution toward the task of explaining exactly why we are likely to strike on 30 November. I got out a calculator and worked out that superficially, on my current income, I earn around £18 an hour – if you think I work a standard 40 hour week, that is. Imagining I get to school at 8am and leave every day at 4pm, and do this for 40 weeks (because I have so very many weeks off every year, of course), the total number of hours worked is 1,600. How lazy of me – the OECD worked out that in 2010 the average worker in the UK actually put in 1,647 hours. Except that we need to add in some other bits. Presentation and parents' evenings easily add about 30 hours a year to my total (and that's a fairly generous underestimate, in truth). I leave school at 4pm on a Friday if I'm lucky – there are department meetings, year team meetings, development team meetings, after-school detentions and after-school clubs pretty much every other day of the week, which make 5pm a much more likely time to leave school most days. Marking 30 books or essays doesn't happen quickly and has to be done regularly; likewise, lessons do not plan themselves, especially if you have learners with special needs. A conservative estimate of the time I spend working outside normal school hours would be around 15 hours per week – multiplied by 40 weeks, there's an extra 600 hours on my total. These are hours almost all of us work, all the time, whether you realise it or not. There is a reason we tend to get frosty when people snidely comment on our "long holidays" and "3 o'clock hometimes". Not counting the days I give up of my own volition, for the likes of weekend trips and extra coursework sessions, my hours-per-year work total is closer to 2,250 than 1,600 – that's over 25% more working time than the average UK worker, no matter how the holidays average out (and yes, we put in some work in the holidays, too). It also means I'm earning something like £12.88 per hour. That is by no means to be sniffed at – I have a good standard of living and I am grateful for it – but perhaps you get the message that I, and every other teacher I know, work damned hard for that money. I would modestly state that I do my job quite well. In terms of targets, which the government seems to think are the ultimate measure of whether one is a good teacher or not, the number of GCSE students in my department achieving a grade C or above surpassed our set goal by 10%. My sixth-form students succeeded, and two went on to university to further study the subject I taught them. But there were other things that went well, things the government doesn't measure. I stopped a child from being bullied and got another into counselling, for example. I got a class full of badly behaved boys to settle down and actually try to achieve something; they now want to learn, something they scorned a year ago. I coached colleagues who were going through tough times to help them pull it together and do their best for their students. No one gave me a bonus for these things, and I didn't ask for one because I don't expect or need it. The idea, however, that bankers who did their jobs so spectacularly badly that the whole country is suffering for it went on to receive hundreds of thousands, even millions of pounds in bonuses, is one I find a teensy bit irksome – particularly when the government then proposes cutting my pension to help mop up the mess. I may moan about having no time, and get stressed out about marking and record keeping, and roll my eyes at initiatives to cajole Ofsted into rating our school better than average – but I do love my job. Some days I come home and am too physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted to do anything but get straight into bed, but I can't imagine enjoying any other profession as much as mine. I want to carry on doing it as long as I can, and I want to have the enthusiasm and energy necessary to help young people learn as much as they can, as well as they can. This is why it's hard to carry on regardless when you are consistently put down as not being good enough, and given more to do with less time in which to do it, and told you are worth less money for your efforts. This is why it's demoralising to be told you should keep giving as much of your time and energy as you do already until you are nearly 70. This is why I'm fed up enough with the way my profession is being treated to do something about it. I can't say for sure whether the coffers are empty or not. But does that mean I shouldn't strike? Not even slightly. Striking is not a dirty word. Striking is not the fallback of the workshy. Striking is not lazy, selfish, stupid, pointless, antagonistic, communist nor any of the other criticisms I heard levelled at us last time we downed tools. Going on strike is one of the very last ways we have in the current world of work to make people who might otherwise forget remember the fact that we are doing our best. A strike is not unreasonable – it is a stand for belief in yourself and your coworkers. It is a demand that those at the top remember they would not be there without you. It is a thoroughly timely reminder that you will not be ridden over roughshod and keep smiling through it. It is a powerful weapon that we do not wield often, and it should not be scorned and denigrated by those with whom the government reminds us "we're all in this together". We do a good job. We deserve respect. Going on strike is our chance to remind the government of this, whether it changes anything for us in real terms or not – and I for one can't wait to stand up and shout it at them. Typical teacher, eh? --------------------------------------------------------------- Superb article, and it pinpoints the reason EXACTLY why this is happening... Support your public sector, support your teachers, support every worker in the country who gets the shitty end of the stick because of this f***ing Westminster bast*rd government and the Corporate Financial Services industry..... -_-

Dunno who you mean... :lol: :lol:

Precisely... People like Chris are sheep, they'll believe anything the govt will tell them.. Whereas those of us with an ounce of sense have learned to be suspicious of everything governments say... Too bad if tourists find protest "inconvienient"... The Olympics are no excuse for suspending our democratic or sovereign rights....

You mean like they did in China when protesters and journalists who were covering the protests were beaten up by the State Police...? Yeah, great one Chris... You tool.... :rolleyes:

The EDL are c/unts... End of story, anti-worker, anti-working class, anti the British public.... <_< Whose interests are they actually serving..? One has to wonder.....

Nahh, they'd likely prioritise "doing something" about protesters instead of actually doing something useful for the citizens of the country.... -_-

:lol: :lol: I was hoping someone would say that.... :)