The Politics Thread

[Bruce Rioja]

My contention is that charities aren't businesses.

You work for a charity then do you, Spotty?

No. I work for a business. When I buy a book from Amazon I realise that some 'entrepeneur' is ripping off a significant amount of my hard earned and that it doesn't all go to the author. That's part and parcel of living in a western capitalist society.When I give to the RNLI for unpaid volunteers to risk their lives rescuing folk I don't appreciate lining the greasy back pockets of slime bags who've been attracted to an executive job in competition with Ratners - that's just wrong.

Then who do expect to take up jobs with Charities for less than they can earn elsewhere?

[Lost Leopard Spot]

My contention is that charities aren't businesses.

You work for a charity then do you, Spotty?

No. I work for a business. When I buy a book from Amazon I realise that some 'entrepeneur' is ripping off a significant amount of my hard earned and that it doesn't all go to the author. That's part and parcel of living in a western capitalist society.When I give to the RNLI for unpaid volunteers to risk their lives rescuing folk I don't appreciate lining the greasy back pockets of slime bags who've been attracted to an executive job in competition with Ratners - that's just wrong.

Then who do expect to take up jobs with Charities for less than they can earn elsewhere?

Peole who have the charities best interests at heart. Did you know for example that one of my line bosses (he's my boss's boss's boss: the MD of my particular opco) is a member of the Edale Mountain Rescue. He goes out at a moment's notice in all weathers to rescue folk - for no pay. I'm pretty fxcking sure that if Mountain Rescue asked him to CEO ( I'm using that as a verb, shoot me) for £26,000, that he could probably do it.

[Bruce Rioja]

My contention is that charities aren't businesses.

You work for a charity then do you, Spotty?

No. I work for a business. When I buy a book from Amazon I realise that some 'entrepeneur' is ripping off a significant amount of my hard earned and that it doesn't all go to the author. That's part and parcel of living in a western capitalist society.When I give to the RNLI for unpaid volunteers to risk their lives rescuing folk I don't appreciate lining the greasy back pockets of slime bags who've been attracted to an executive job in competition with Ratners - that's just wrong.

Then who do expect to take up jobs with Charities for less than they can earn elsewhere?

Peole who have the charities best interests at heart. Did you know for example that one of my line bosses (he's my boss's boss's boss: the MD of my particular opco) is a member of the Edale Mountain Rescue. He goes out at a moment's notice in all weathers to rescue folk - for no pay. I'm pretty fxcking sure that if Mountain Rescue asked him to CEO ( I'm using that as a verb, shoot me) for £26,000, that he could probably do it.

How very charitable of you.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

You work for a charity then do you, Spotty?

No. I work for a business. When I buy a book from Amazon I realise that some 'entrepeneur' is ripping off a significant amount of my hard earned and that it doesn't all go to the author. That's part and parcel of living in a western capitalist society.When I give to the RNLI for unpaid volunteers to risk their lives rescuing folk I don't appreciate lining the greasy back pockets of slime bags who've been attracted to an executive job in competition with Ratners - that's just wrong.

Then who do expect to take up jobs with Charities for less than they can earn elsewhere?

Peole who have the charities best interests at heart. Did you know for example that one of my line bosses (he's my boss's boss's boss: the MD of my particular opco) is a member of the Edale Mountain Rescue. He goes out at a moment's notice in all weathers to rescue folk - for no pay. I'm pretty fxcking sure that if Mountain Rescue asked him to CEO ( I'm using that as a verb, shoot me) for £26,000, that he could probably do it.

How very charitable of you.

It may well be. But here's another thing: I don't need to volunteer him as Edale MR CEO because they don't have one. Just think an organisation run on entirely voluntary basis with no salaried employees that maintain a fleet of vehicles, have qualified doctors who go out and save lives on a regular basis, all run on public donation of about £50,000 per annum. Makes most businesses look rapacious, and certainly beggars the question "who needs senior management"?. And it makes my blood boil that they get less donated to them than fxcking CAGE. One's a proper charity.
[I realise I'm getting a bit passionate now. So I'll shut up and give one of these> ]

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Anyway, can we register Bolton Wanderers as a charity? The one and only football charity.

Waddya mean the bucket shakers got there first?

[thebish]

MPs on under £30k a year!

A real incentive there for our finest minds to go into public service when a 21 year old graduate at PWC earns more.

Which fine minds then would be interested in pursuing a career in public service were this the case? Perhaps those with inherited wealth like the much-derided Chancellor.

In this hypothetical world I bet they couldn't wait to be voted out so they can get a proper paying job!

well - if you think the pay them a shedload plus HUGE expense packages and employment jollies for family members has attracted the "finest minds" into the house of commons - then I'll leave it there!!

why is the "you have to pay for the finest minds" argument always applied to MPs - yet not to teachers??

[bobo the clown]

MPs on under £30k a year!

A real incentive there for our finest minds to go into public service when a 21 year old graduate at PWC earns more.

Which fine minds then would be interested in pursuing a career in public service were this the case? Perhaps those with inherited wealth like the much-derided Chancellor.

In this hypothetical world I bet they couldn't wait to be voted out so they can get a proper paying job!

well - if you think the pay them a shedload plus HUGE expense packages and employment jollies for family members has attracted the "finest minds" into the house of commons - then I'll leave it there!!

why is the "you have to pay for the finest minds" argument always applied to MPs - yet not to teachers??

Because there are approx. 451,100 full-time-equivalent teachers and 471,000 assistants in the UK ???

... & many of them are palpably NOT "the finest minds.

[Lord Kangana]

Bankers got paid f*cking oodles and were supposedly (stop tittering at the back) some of our "finest minds".

A capitalist society doesn't reward "the finest minds". It rewards those most able to make money. The two are not the same group, though they may cross in a venn diagram.

[thebish]

so - it turns out it's nowt to do with pay... pay them poorly = not the finest minds (teachers) pay them like kings (MPs) = not the finest minds

conclusions - we can save money by paying MPs at minimum wage level.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Boris Johnson couldn't teach my neice to suck eggs. And he'd be a shit coal miner. Mind you he probably still is in the employ of the Stasi, probably got a seat on their board.

[Prufrock]

This would be funny if it wasn't so frightening.

[thebish]

according to Owen Jones in the Guardian...

"When George Osborne became chancellor, Britons were spending £67bn less than they were earning; according to the Office of Budget Responsibility, they’re now running up a £40bn deficit. Earlier this year, the Centre for Social Justice – set up by Iain Duncan Smith himself – reported that total household debt had soared to £1.47tn, the highest level ever, and that Britons were being driven into debt to pay their bills. As a nation, household debt makes up around 135% of our personal income, and earlier this year, the OBR suggested that could reach 182% of disposable income by 2019, up from 169% when Lehman Brothers crashed. In 2013, only three other countries out of 53 surveyed had higher total household debt; per capita, Britain came 11th."

that's a shakey and slightly scary foundation for this very slow (and slowing down) recovery...

[Beefheart]

according to Owen Jones in the Guardian...

"When George Osborne became chancellor, Britons were spending £67bn less than they were earning; according to the Office of Budget Responsibility, they’re now running up a £40bn deficit. Earlier this year, the Centre for Social Justice – set up by Iain Duncan Smith himself – reported that total household debt had soared to £1.47tn, the highest level ever, and that Britons were being driven into debt to pay their bills. As a nation, household debt makes up around 135% of our personal income, and earlier this year, the OBR suggested that could reach 182% of disposable income by 2019, up from 169% when Lehman Brothers crashed. In 2013, only three other countries out of 53 surveyed had higher total household debt; per capita, Britain came 11th."

that's a shakey and slightly scary foundation for this very slow (and slowing down) recovery...

I'm not one to go off what Owen Jones says when it comes to Economics, but everything about this shit recovery is slow and unbalanced and precarious, and predicated on bollocks. I wonder how long this one will last.

[Harry Genshaw]

according to Owen Jones in the Guardian...

"When George Osborne became chancellor, Britons were spending £67bn less than they were earning; according to the Office of Budget Responsibility, they’re now running up a £40bn deficit. Earlier this year, the Centre for Social Justice – set up by Iain Duncan Smith himself – reported that total household debt had soared to £1.47tn, the highest level ever, and that Britons were being driven into debt to pay their bills. As a nation, household debt makes up around 135% of our personal income, and earlier this year, the OBR suggested that could reach 182% of disposable income by 2019, up from 169% when Lehman Brothers crashed. In 2013, only three other countries out of 53 surveyed had higher total household debt; per capita, Britain came 11th."

that's a shakey and slightly scary foundation for this very slow (and slowing down) recovery...

I'm not one to go off what Owen Jones says when it comes to Economics, but everything about this shit recovery is slow and unbalanced and precarious, and predicated on bollocks. I wonder how long this one will last.

tenner says that when it does go wrong, it's either Gordon Brown's fault or global circumstances

[Lord Kangana]

Benefits, immigrants and the NHS actually.

[thebish]

it's probably all this guy's fault...

The Department for Work and Pensions has been accused of “humiliating” a man who cannot walk, talk or feed himself by repeatedly asking him to attend a jobcentre interview or his benefits would be stopped.

Nick Gaskin, from Quorn in Leicestershire, was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) 16 years ago. He needs round-the-clock care and can only communicate through blinking.

Last month Gaskin received a letter from the jobcentre in Loughborough telling him to attend an appointment on 22 July. It read: “You and your personal adviser will discuss the possibility of going into paid work, training for work, or looking for work in the future.”

Gaskin’s wife, Tracy, said she was so shocked by the letter she laughed it off at first. “But once I read through all the things they were going to do, like offer Nick training, I thought this is a joke, it’s ridiculous.

“Then I got quite cross, they didn’t even look into the person they were contacting. They didn’t look into his personal life or situation,” she said.

She called the jobcentre to explain the situation but was told if her husband did not attend the interview his benefits would be stopped. “I said but he can’t walk, he can’t talk. He has two carers, plus myself, plus his large wheelchair. And they said they could organise a telephone interview if getting to the jobcentre was difficult. They just weren’t listening to me.”

[Worthy4England]

I know for a fact they shouldn't be making people from Quorn. It's like cloning and GM crops really innit?

[Hoboh]

At the protest this morning about rail fare increases Jeremy Corbyn not only refused to answer questions about the forthcoming reshuffle; he also sidestepped questions about the new Islamic State propaganda video that seems to feature a British jihadi. This is from the Press Association’s report.

Asked what he made of the video and what should be done about it, Corbyn said: “I’m talking about railways this morning.”

Told it was a vital issue of security, he said: “I’ll come to you in a moment on that.”

When he was asked again he said: “I’ll do it in a moment,” before walking away.

The great tactic of the left, if they don't decree a problem, it isn't!
I dislike few people, but to be honest cannot think of many I totally despise, this bloke is coming very close!

[thebish]

so - the reason you are very close to totally despising Corbyn is that he wants to talk about the actual subject of a protest he is attending and that he doesn't make an immediate knee-jerk comment about something that is not yet entirely clear??

booooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

if that's the tipping point for you despising someone - then I don't believe that you despise very few people!!!

[Hoboh]

so - the reason you are very close to totally despising Corbyn is that he wants to talk about the actual subject of a protest he is attending and that he doesn't make an immediate knee-jerk comment about something that is not yet entirely clear??

booooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

if that's the tipping point for you despising someone - then I don't believe that you despise very few people!!!

You should have gone to spec-savers mate, the video looks clear enough to me.