Civil Servants at the Ministry of Defence have been paid bonuses this year of £47 million. The payments are, apparently, performance related although quite how ‘performance’ is measured in a department that deals in armed conflict I am at a loss to understand. Do they get a payment based on a reduction in injuries or […]
finance
Life On Planet Concussion!
It has been a while since I last posted on here, following my spectacular dive down the stairs and my teeth numbing stop, using my head as a brake, against a doorframe. Since my unplanned flight, I have been living on Planet Concussion. It is a strange world I entered after needing the rather confusing […]
Great ‘Expenses’ Quote From Ann Widdecombe MP
One of the best quotes of the day, referring to the MP’s expenses repayment saga, must have been supplied by Ann Widdecombe, Tory MP for Maidstone. She was trying to make the point, that limits for expenses should not have been imposed on MPs retrospectively and was implying that MPs should be trusted to govern […]
Sympathy For MPs? – Not Even Slightly!
OK..Ok it’s time to own up…aren’t you feeling just a little bit of sympathy for that dysfunctional group of society called MPs? After all, they have just returned from weeks and weeks on an expensive summer vacation (working in their constituencies, of course, and not holidaying in their second homes or travelling the world) to […]
Conservatives Try To ‘Benefit’ From Cheap Votes!
At times of financial downturn in the economy and when politicians are having to justify the bad news about raising taxes and cutting public services to refill fiscal potholes, it is always the easy option to highlight those in our country who are unable to defend themselves. I refer of course to those who are […]
BBC Bans The Word ‘Butcher’
I am irritated! Tonight, while travelling home from work, I was listening to the excellent Eddie Nestor who hosts the drivetime programme on BBC London 94.9FM. Eddie is one of the few broadcasters who has the rare gift of being able to discuss any subject, however sensitive, in a fair and amiable way, while still […]
PM Finally ‘Graduates’ From Business School
“We are doing the right thing to make sure that for the future as we move into a full recovery we will invest and grow within sustainable public finances – cutting costs where we can, ensuring efficiency where it’s needed, agreeing realistic public sector pay settlements throughout, selling off the unproductive assets we don’t need […]
Dying To Negotiate A Bargain!
According to a report in today’s Independent, the average cost of bidding farewell to one’s dear departed, is now £7,018 taking into account legal costs, funeral expenses and flowers etc. This is a rise of 42 percent over the last five years. The funeral industry says the cost of new environmental procedures has been largely […]
Time For ‘Dinosaur’ MPs To Be Extinct!
Just when we thought the public scandal over the expenses claimed by our parliamentary representatives was dying down, one of their number seems to have woken up from a coma and announced that he thinks the salaries of his buddies should be doubled, in exchange for not claiming some of the living expenses of the […]
NHS – In Sickness Or In Health?
Right wing politicians in the USA have been knocking our NHS system and predictably, our own political leaders have been very vocal in, rather hastily, jumping to it’s defence. While it is admirable for them to do so, a cynic might focus on the fact that almost 1.4 million people are employed by the NHS […]