trailrat – the pensions are still good – have you seen what the rest of the country gets?

Teachers get 50% of their salary and a lump sum equivalent to 4 x earnings.

someone needs to help me out here. Why is that educational performance (numeracy, verbal reasoning, literacy amongst others) by students in Asia is so much better when they don’t have smaller class sizes?

“- ill let the echos of those who have seen answer that statement…. it HAS BEEN a decent pension but like many of our goverment services its been slashed and slashed and slashed. “

Teachers continue to get an extremely good pension with guaranteed benefits that are paid even if contributions from teachers result in a shortfall. For people who work their whole career as a teacher and go on to collect the pension the benefit still equates to a c27% co-payment by the employer / tax payer if you compare what teachers pay in to what they get out benefits, and what anyone else would need to pay in to a money purchase scheme receive the same guaranteed benefit.

The fact the profession continues to bleat on about this at the same time as bleating about low pay (see previous posting on pay scales) and needing more time off just highlights that reform is absolutely necessary. The data shows us that teachers are well paid, get good pensions and a lot of time off.

Malcolm Gladwell’s book “outliers” contains quite a powerful section describing how longer teaching hours and shorter holidays has helped to raise educational attainment in some of the poorest communities of New York to that of the most well off – worth a read for anyone genuinely interested in this subject.

the bright blue fenwicks stuff seems to work ok and lasts for 3 years. Easier to apply than notubes as it’s a bit thicker and can be smeared around the tyre bead to get it to seal perfectly first time.

Awful news from Boston – gutted that people many of whom were running for charity appear have been targeted.. it’s even more evil than usual.

Meanwhile in the UK the latest quartet of home grown nutjobs have just been found guilty of planning bombings – adding to the 300+ that have convicted of similar offences since the London Tube bombings. We’re very lucky to have security services that seem to have managed to keep a lid on this sort of madness for the last few years.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/al-qaeda-gangs-plot-to-attack-army-base-with-toy-car-bomb-8573769.html

I was quite interested to read in the DM article linked above about her approach to expenses. In between the hyperbole about offshore trusts and the £75K a year in security / accommodation expenses she claimed in the last 8 years she seems to have been fairly frugal, certainly when compared to Gordon Brown who continues to claim the £160K a year ex-PM’s allowance on top of his external income and the £65K MP’s salary despite rarely attending the Commons these days.

“At No. 10, she had scrupulously paid all her private entertainment and dining expenses. She had also refused to take successive salary increases as Prime Minister, and that reduced her pension, a situation that in later years prompted her to complain ceaselessly and disagreeably about how much she had forgone.

At the age of 65, she needed to earn a good salary during the rest of her active life if she was to retire in comfort. Denis Thatcher could not afford to keep them both, and such a course was never envisaged.”

It’s probably helpful (though I’m sure unwelcome since it doesn’t fit the prevailing narrative of current times) that Thatcher’s view of Hillsborough was based on official police reports that have only recently surfaced and have been since shown to be untrue.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17238494

Given that that she wasn’t there, and the “view” and reports came from a number of people who were directly involved including the then Chief Constable of Merseyside, is it fair to make her 100% culpable for forming an opinion based on the above when the reports came from public servants who include a cohort that appear to have deliberately sought to mislead everyone on the role the police played?

where is all the natural fertiliser for crops to feed vegetarians going to come from without animals?

I’ve had that op done (twice). Don’t plan on being very mobile for a few days afterwards, and you’ll not be able to ride your bike for at least 3 weeks afterwards…

there’s quite an interesting overview of the history leading up to the miners strike in this obituary for one of the NUM’s last leaders before Scargill.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/5417730/Lawrence-Daly.html

It describes the unrest that was prevalent throughout the 1970’s and really provides a good insight into why the government of the day decided to stockpile coal and face down the unions.

Probably the best quote in the obituary:

….At the NUM’s 1968 conference he criticised “the higher echelons of our movement who do not live by the same ethical Socialism that they preach. Our biggest obstacle is not so much the acquisitive Tory as the acquisitive Socialist.”

Britain currently produces more cars each year than the “boom” years of the early to Mid 1970’s – hardly an indicator that we’ve lost manufacturing as an industry sector. What has changed is the mix of things we make with a focus on higher value manufacturing and products which allow for significant capital investment that can be recovered through innovation and automation – churning out low value products in volume using mass labour isn’t something we can compete on any longer.

Kinnock was scathing because the original proposal put forward by the National Coal Board was for a phased shut down of the least productive mines with excellent redundancy payments for those miners that would lose their jobs – the terms were such that one of the union negotiators has subsequently said that he was stunned by the generosity of the initial proposals.

Against that backdrop Scargill basically campaigned on an all or nothing basis – no negotiation, no closures and no redundancies. That precipitated the subsequent stalemate (refer to various optimistic comments on this thread about “finding a middle ground” / negotiating with the unions) and ultimately led to many more mines being shut down than would otherwise have been the case, and lower payments to those that lost their jobs – effectively what Scargill did was to create a “my way” or “no way” choice for the government.

Unfortunately we’ll never know if a different Prime Minister would have been able to achieve a different outcome although it’s safe to say that many leaders would probably have taken a similar decisive approach to the one that ultimately turned out so badly for the miners and communities that were on the losing side.

Kinnock has commented on this a number of times so the fact that a staunch socialist can only criticise Scargill for his approach should speak volumes.

Possible quick fix – we had the same issue with bt broadband … I just put a time clock on the bt gubbins – turns it off for 10 mins at 4 in the morning and no problems since.

+1 for northwave arctics

I’ve got an ee signal box which works a treat – only 5 mins or so downtime in the last 4 months. I had a cel-fi for a while and that also gave a great signal and is ideal if you don’t have broadband.

Getting a signal box out of ee was pretty hard work though – that’s another story though.

Maybe I read a different article to you Philby but this could potentially make a good verbal reasoning test. If I’ve read it correctly the article states:

He [Philpott] has been branded a “vile product” of the benefit system by some newspapers.

Asked about such claims, Mr Osborne said “a debate was needed about whether the state should “subsidise lifestyles like that“.”

the article later attributes a second comment:

“Philpott is responsible for these absolutely horrendous crimes and these are crimes that have shocked the nation; the courts are responsible for sentencing him.

“But I think there is a question for government and for society about the welfare state – and the taxpayers who pay for the welfare state – subsidising lifestyles like that, and I think that debate needs to be had.”

So he didn’t actually pass comment other than to say the horrendous crimes have shocked the nation and that a debate is needed.

To me this falls quite a long way short of your “trying to make political capital” claim or “Blaming the welfare state for the actions of this wicked individual is beneath contempt. And the evidence noted that both his wife and mistress both worked. “. He just answered a question with a view…

What is quite noticeable in the article is the quote from Labour MP Andy McDonald who is said to have accused the chancellor of trying to make political capital out of an “appalling” crime and for “demonising” people seeking work by linking them to a convicted killer.

There’s nothing in the article to suggest Gideon actually made any link at all between people looking for work and a convicted killer, but I’m sure this form of pretty lame political ping pong appeals to many.

Aristotle – I agree it would be interesting to see a “more or less” type analysis (great programme by the way) but the key point is that he forced his partners to pay *all* of the money into his bank account – they weren’t allowed to keep any of it themselves or have their own bank accounts – it’s the control aspect that grates most with me.

For interest, the figures behind the £100K salary claim are:

11 kids @ £20.30 week x 52 weeks = £11,611
10 kids @ £13.40 week x 52 weeks = £6,968 (he also received the child benefit for kids that weren’t even his!)
Annual Tax credit on wife 1 ex wages = £20,560
Annual Tax credit on “partner” ex wages = £17,870
Housing benefit – £150 a week x 52 weeks = £7,800 (it’s unclear whether this was actually paid directly to him or not though)
Total net income: £64,809

The times is reporting that Philpott was clearing the equivalent of £100k in salary each year – putting him in the top 2% of earners for the whole country. Not a bad return for not having to do a hard days work since 2004. The £1000 figure is the amount his income dropped when one of his wifettes moved out and is allegedly the motivation for the subsequent attempt the fire / regaining access to the kids and the associated benefits payments.

To be honest everything I’ve read and heard about the guy is just deeply depressing and detracts from the deaths of 6 very very unlucky kids – I just hope it’s a one off and there aren’t more people out there with his weird logic.

we’ve just sorted this problem – our neighbour is a musician and mostly does drum practice for 2 to 3 hour stints at all times of the day and night and the changes we made have almost entirely stopped noise through the party wall.

We used 2 layers of overlapping Gyproc soundbloc on 1″ battens – soundbloc is a heavier denser form of plasterboard.

We got it plastered so we could paint it but potentially depending on your room you could just wallpaper / line the soundbloc and paint over that.

Cost wise it’s pretty reasonable and potentially something you can you do yourself if you are DIY capable – two things to watch out for though:

1. The need to move any wall lights / plugs / radiators and re-install on the new wall. This may require existing wiring to be extended.

2. The run of your floorboards – depending on where your pipework runs and the direction of joists you may have an issue raising the outer floorboards in the future if the need arises.

It’s also worth shoving rockwool up against the party wall at floor / ceiling level in the voids between joists.

I think the figure for Bob Crow’s salary of £80K further up the thread is wrong – the last thing I read put his total package at around £145K in 2009 and it’s presumably gone up since then.

Given his limited living costs it’s reasonable to assume that red Bob is actually a millionaire living in a council house subsidised by everyone else (given that he’s unlikely to be paying market rent and hence the council is not achieving the maximum income for it).

edited for double post – the cuts that were started 5 years ago has already been flagged above

can’t figure out how to quote but Grum’s post states:

“This government has cut funding to the people that go after tax evasion, funding which has been shown to earn back more money than it costs. “

This is not actually true – HMRC received an additional £77m investment last year and are hiring a team of 300 specialists to work in this area last year. Further measures were announced in the run up to the most recent budget.

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/press_117_12.htm

The IPSA figures for IDS so seem to suggest he’s pretty frugal compared to other MPs.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/interactive/2012/sep/07/full-list-mps-expenses-ipsa-data-interactive

In 2011/12 he spent:
Accomodation: £0
Constituency office: £19368
Constitency Rental: £0
General Admin Spend: £743
Misc Spend: £0
Staffing Spend: £0
Travel and Meals: £629
Total Spend:£20741

I guess that doesn’t fit with the prevailing perception of a toff splashing tax payers money on second homes, duck houses and flying round the world but then again when did facts get in the way of a good STW discussion? 😉

thekingisdead:

I can’t find the article I read but the figures on this BBC page are broadly similar:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13633966

I just have 2 points to add to this thread:

1. Around 63% of the population are net recipients from the state I.e. take more in tax credits and benefits than they themselves pay in tax. Given that government spending is still not at a sustainable level, the only alternative to cuts is for many of the 63% to pay a lot more in tax. So of the many who have signed the petition – how willing are you to pay more tax to offset a cancellation of the benefit changes?

2. IDS probably knows his brief better than many government ministers past or present – he’s been studying poverty and its causes in detail for at least the last 15 years, quite possibly longer and up until now has been generally recognised for being extremely knowledgeable, compassionate and willing to focus on the real root cause rather than the direct causes – even peers from other parties and charities working with the poor have recognised this.

Having read a lot of the work he’s done in this area ( which most haven’t) it’s clear to me that the convenient and predictable characterisation of him as a toff does him a grave diss-service and runs the risk of a change in minister that would simply maintain the status quo in the benefits system so just delaying reform and continuing to perpetuate the unfairness currently built in to it.

Update my post is wrong as well – EE have announced today they are already way ahead of their aggressive rollout schedule and have got to 50% population coverage this week.

Just to correct a few misunderstandings above – EE have already deployed 4g at 1800mhz and with their new spectrum will deploy it in the 800MHz and 2600MHz bands as well later this year – as for coverage I think they are still aiming for 50% population coverage by late summer this year and close to 98% by the end of next year ( to put this into context, O2 are only at 91% 3G coverage nearly 10 years after they promised almost universal coverage within 2 years).

until there is stronger growth in the economies of our trading partners or substantial reform of public services I can’t really see much room for manoeuvre by the Chancellor – the eurozone has seen contracting GDP in 4 out of the last 5 quarters.

I can’t find a link but a few years ago the RCVS made an observational study of slaughterhouse practices – they found that something like 15% of cows tried to get back up on their feet after their throats were slit for halal slaughter – because of veins on the back of the neck on cows it can take several minutes for them to die using that method.

For me that’s enough to never eat halal food and boycott places that places that sell / serve halal meat without being honest about it – Waitrose, Whitbread, KFC, Subway and others no longer get my custom.

02 and Vodafone are at around 90% 3G coverage whilst the rest are at 98/99% – that last 8% represents an awful lot more masts to fill in the gaps. Root metrics have been doing detailed 3G coverage checks for a few months now and three has come top for voice and data – they will also have their ultrafast version of 3G in more places than O2 and voda have old 3G by the end of the year. Personally I’d go for three or EE as they have more masts in more places. I’ve just given my work Vodafone back as I got sick of only ever having 2g when out and about – the 3G coverage is very poor and it’s quite noticeable on motorways that you can go 20 or 30 miles with no 3G on their network. Like others have said, try a few pay as you go sims first, and get the actual sim through topcashback.co.uk to get £50 or so cash back.

Petition signed.

I would go one step further and say all listing should have a photo of the serial number – and any bikes with no serial number / photo can’t be listed at all.

Ebay is a complete joke for the volume of stolen property being sold and are in some ways abetted by the police who don’t see it as a priority and effectively give a “green light” for people to sell stolen goods with little or no change of any consequences.

Some class lines “Ian, you’re an IT Consultant – I’ll call you if I need my printer fixing”.

Has to be one of the best things on C4 in a very long time,

Short term if your normal work is specified in your contract then the second site is just being visited, so either your employer can pay travel costs or you can claim them back via a self assessment at up to 45p per mile.

Long term (more than a year) is a longer story but in any event the short term solution should give you some breathing space to look around for a new role if you want to without getting stiffed on travel costs.

It’s a mystery to me how the uk manages to trade so much with the states what with us being outside of Nafta – we are also constantly told that we could not trade with eu member states from outside despite the fact the rest of the world manages to do this pretty well.

Can’t quite reconcile “we don’t export much” with the all time record high in exports last July / August. Aside from the obvious things like cars, a lot of our exports come from the like of Arm and Csr who export hundreds of millions a year in IP that is used to build billions of computer chips.

Three has come out top or joint top in all of the rootmetrics uk studies so far – they also have the best truly umlimited data plans and download speeds up to 22Mb on their “superfast” cell sites (they are building this out to 90% of their network over the first half of this year).

http://www.rootmetrics.com/uk/news/

(see the “reports” linked to on the the left)

Vodafone and o2 consistently get slated (deservedly so) for their abysmal 3g coverage.

Fenwicks here – works well and it’s bright blue which makes it extra good for comedy value when you are pumping your tyres up in the kitchen and the bead pops into place spraying a blue mist over the floor, walls, ceiling and everything you are wearing.

For me Marin hit the height of cool back in c89 when they did a small run of uk designed hardtails with a “browning” suspension fork complete with cross brace to keep it straight – a bit like a cannondale headshok but before cdale had thought of it. The bike had a zolatone paint job and to this day I’ve always hoped to get my grubby mitts on one.