DJ360

I'm sorry Trogg but I do not recognise that scenario. Can you point to actual examples? My pension, when I was employed by St Helen's District Council.. from 1985-2001 was paid into Merseyside Pension Fund. Once Career Guidance was 'Quangoised' by both Tory and Labour Govts, my Pension continued to be handled by MPF until I fiinished in 2014 and it is still paid by them now I am retired. I have never heard any report of a Local Council in the UK 'misappropriating' Pension contributions, although there have been plenty of examples in the Private Sector.

YMMV

Whataboutery

AFAIAC,, IME and IMHO, use of such informal Acronyms can reduce the need for repetitive typing of common phrases..IYSWIM.. This can in turn lead to a reduction in TL:DR ...

Broadly agree Oz. although there is a common misconception that ALL public servant's pensons are unfunded and this is not the case. The unfunded ones are mostly Civil Service and possibly the Armed Forces. Local Govt, Teachers and many others are contributory pensions and many new recruits do not enjoy final salary schemes. Also the nature of final salary is often misunderstood too. But, your post gives me a good introduction to another significant part of my argument against privatisation and the Local Govt equivalent 'Compulsory Competitive Tendering'.. CCT. This abomination h

Just poor wording on my part. So BAME subjects may not be 'routinely' killed by police here.. but there remain far too many cases which have occurred and been basically 'glossed over'. The list below includes ALL killings by Police.. most of which are clearly lawful, but significant numbers are dubious to say the least and it remains the case that even where the subject was engaged in unlawful or criminal activity, the death penallty did not apply. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_the_United_Kingdom This also wor

The whole point from my perspective is that while we operate in a broadly Capitalist system, we have to regulate the activities of 'Free Markets', which.. if left unchecked, will always further increase inequality.

There is room for debate about how far we 'expunge' references to Slave Owners etc. I tend to agree that completely eradicating history can also eradicate the lessons we need to learn. However.. too many are using this to divert from the reality that Black and other Ethnic Minority people are routinely abused, discriminated against and killed, by Police Services here and especially in the US. Let's not also forget Windrush and Grenfell.. which are STILL injustices which remain unresolved.

Oh.. I dunno... They own half of our Transport Infrastructure.. Waste Management.. etc. etc... Although to be fair.. they do share it with German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Chinese and Japanese interests.....

Well I'm glad you agree that it was complex and that inflation for e.g., was not directly caused (as alleged by the Tories and the press at the time) solely by Union demands. Gratifying that you also hint at crap management... of which there was plenty at the time.. believe me. I'm also of the opinion that the way Decimalisation was handled added to inflation. For example, on the day of Decimalisation, I tried to purchae a box of matches.. labelled at 2d. I was sold two boxes for 1.5p ( =3.6d) a slight loss for the seller. But within months a standard box of matches cost 2p (=4.8d) an incr

I'll admit that I've not been on good debating form for a few days. As such I haven't developed my argument yet and am only dealing with one or two points at a time but lets start by clarifying my meaning over 1979. I'm not for a moment suggesting we should return to those days. I simply chose 1979 as it marked a major political re-alignment in the UK. Probably the most significant since the immediate post WW2 election. I'll say once more that the extremes of unionism etc., can all be seen as symptoms of a wider reaction to the industrial chaos and decline, rise of f

It all happened. (Well.. most of it.. much of the Winter of Discontent stuff was press hysteria and here, in the revolutionary epicentre that is Merseyside, I saw nothing. But that's not the issue. We are clearly debating the cause. According to Thatcher and many who bought her simplistic tripe.. the cause was union power. That is, I still maintain.. utter drivel. Yes Red Robbo and a few others stood out and I wouldn't agree with their tactics any more than I agree with some of the more extreme methods of the current George Floyd protesters, but it doesn't follow that they are the pr

Yes. I'm not going to deny that there has always been a degree of corruption/favouritism and what amounts to 'backhanders' from all flavours of Govt as long as our Parliamentary Democracy has existed. But.. if you wanted to set a political equivalent of a 'Restore Point' for the UK.. I'd suggest 1979, and the election of one Margaret Hilda Thatcher as PM. This was the woman who broke the previous 'consensus' and set out to attack the foundations of Democracy in the UK. Sounds a bit dramatic that doesn't it? But, it was she who decided that the Unions needed to be crushe

They managed it in my case. Our Cambridge Board 'O' Level syllabus was: 'British and European Social and Economic History 1714-1939.' In other words.. one of the most interesting, revolutionary, vibrant and dynamic periods in UK history. What's more.. one which any kid born in the immediate post war period could easily relate to... especially if he had an interest in Science and Technology.. which of course drove the Industrial Revolution. But sadly.. my first couple of years before commencing the O level course, were meaningless drivel delivered by an ageing Scot called Murra

Even though I went to HP..some Padstow teachers names were tatooed into my brain at the time.. though many lost now. They were legends on Bestwood Est.. before Bestwood Park and Rise Park meant anything. Alan Tipton. Drama. Gallagher.. Head.. was it 'Jock'? A science teacher who was forever setting off his home made rockets.. name lost in time now..

I think it's just possible that this may have been the Geoff Gay who was a couple of years ahead of me at HP. He would have left 6th form in '65 and been qualified by 68.. ish.. if it as him and if he went into teaching. 'My' Geoff Gay was famously rebellious and once got into a near fist fight with a teacher in the run up to assembly because he'd been disciplined by a Senior Prefect and insisted he was not guilty of any misdemeanour and would not comply. I have to say I had some sympathy with his stance, though maybe not his tactics. He steadfastly refused to leave the main body of s

Not selling them Margie but making them for family and friends. She said she'd send you some but she seems to still be experimenting with sizing.

I've long held the view that there really ought to be a distinction made between what might be called 'Practical Mathematics' and 'Unneccessary For Most People Mathematics'. I freely profess to being appallingly bad at Mathematics and I'm convinced that somewhere along the way I missed something. I was very near the top of the class in Primary, mostly because I was good at doing what used to be called 'Problems'. I was also OK at basic Arithmetic and Geometry. But, when I got to High Pavement I quickly got out of my depth and oddly, being embarrassed about my poor Maths made me l

Any better? https://photos.app.goo.gl/g4FS8xKDwCzziJ2d9 https://photos.app.goo.gl/h2vqHHx8aSVsPTib9

To me, it seems obvious that an infected person wearing a mask is a bit less likely to spray droplets around.. and a non -infected person is a bit less likely to catch said droplets. Not exactly a 'win-win'. but more of a 'lose a bit less -lose a bit less'. It all helps.

For what it's worth.. there was a whole family of Mee's living on Southglade Rd., Bestwood Est... when I was a lad.

Well as a Government. no.. But as representatives of a party which has undeniable and deeply entrenched links with 'big business' both here and abroad... they have proven themselves all too eager to push UK Govt. funded 'business' in the direction of their 'associates'. No doubt it is all technically legal and above board (as tends to happen when you are also making the rules.) but it stinks and it is obvious. I'll be back.

Typical Tory.... ( It's a joke.... )

Around 350 UK deaths in the last 24 hours. Again.. Difference today being that the Govt's pet scientist on the Daily Update actually admitted that 'Deaths are not coming down as fast as we'd like...' Well 'No S*** Sherlock!!!' I do believe it's a couple of weeks since I stated that as a result of Johnson's inane and confusing blatherings.. we would see a spike in a couple of weeks.. Not a spike yet.. but a failure to fall means that we all die. Ok, my calculations make it 508 years for that to happen at current rates.. but still..