Current Affairs

[Stephen]

Nice work if you can get it

[david63]

£500.000 pay off

Two years of her contract left and she is reported as being on about £230k per annum. Obviously negotiated a good contract

£160.000 a year pension

Nothing more than she deserves after 40 years police service.

[Bensham33]

She was unfairly treated and deserves every penny.

[Manoverboard]

There's a film on next week about ' Smerfs / Smurfs ' ... just saying

[Mervyn and Trish]

Cases of Lassa fever in the UK. Is this the.next pandemic?

[david63]

Cases of Lassa fever in the UK. Is this the.next pandemic?

How many cases today?

Not heard it on the news - cannot be serious then

[screwy]

I’m sure someone will pop up soon and tell us how it’s all down to Boris.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Cases of Lassa fever in the UK. Is this the.next pandemic?

How many cases today?

Not heard it on the news - cannot be serious then

Good news and bad news.

Only three cases, but one of them dead.

[david63]

Only three cases, but one of them dead.

So it far more serious than Covid with 33% of patients who are positive dying. When do we go into lockdown?

[Kendhni]

Curiously this was reported on an American news channel on Thursday, but it was Friday before I saw it in the UK media. Sadly 3 people from the same family, just back from West Africa where, apparently, it is endemic.

[Onelife]

I’m sure someone will pop up soon and tell us how it’s all down to Boris.

Rumour has it that it was down to a rat named Boris

[Mervyn and Trish]

Curiously this was reported on an American news channel on Thursday, but it was Friday before I saw it in the UK media. Sadly 3 people from the same family, just back from West Africa where, apparently, it is endemic.

It was on the BBC News website on Thursday.

[Kendhni]

Curiously this was reported on an American news channel on Thursday, but it was Friday before I saw it in the UK media. Sadly 3 people from the same family, just back from West Africa where, apparently, it is endemic.

It was on the BBC News website on Thursday.

I must have missed it then. I first picked it up on CNN and abcnews .

[Kendhni]

Rumour has it that it was down to a rat named Boris

To be fair, Johnson accepted full responsibility for it which obviously means it was nothing to do with him

[Stephen]

£500.000 pay off

Two years of her contract left and she is reported as being on about £230k per annum. Obviously negotiated a good contract

£160.000 a year pension

Nothing more than she deserves after 40 years police service.

I’m sure Mrs S would have liked something near that as well after 40 years in the NHS at her grade.

[Onelife]

I don’t think any civil servant no matter their position should be on a reported salary of £200k+ per year, I also think a £160k pension is excessive when set aside other challenging professions that get a fraction of that amount in pensions.

[Kendhni]

I am inclined to agree. My experience of civil service (desk jockeys) is that they vastly over estimate their ability and worth. The few that get past our interview/audition process are often seen scurrying back to the civil service when they realise what is expected of them in a commercial organisation (possibly more suited to duvet days and organising parties ). On the other hand we have managed to poach some real gems whose abilities were being totally wasted in the civil service (and have lost some great people enticed away by the pension scheme and an easier life).

I am wondering how long many of the public sector pension schemes can continue. In many schemes the members are not providing the funding necessary to create the benefits promised ... basically ponzi schemes relying on bringing in new contributors and the tax payer to make up the shortfall ... the tinkering that successive governments have done over the last few decades haven't come close to resolving many of the underlying issues.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I think for head of an organisation like the Met £200k isn't unreasonable. It's less than many get in less responsible top jobs. The pension will be a simple calculation on years service and final salary. Unlike many, some professions still have final salary schemes. Don't knock her pension. Knock Gotdon Brown for destroying the pension industry and denying others a decent retirement. But at least he didn't have a birthday party eh?

[screwy]

No, he just insulted the electorate by calling the lady a ‘Bigot’.

[david63]

I’m sure Mrs S would have liked something near that as well after 40 years in the NHS at her grade.

I'm fairly sure we would all have liked something like that after 40 years in whatever industry we were in at whatever grade we were at but obviously we do not all have the same employment contracts

[Onelife]

I see things in more simplistic terms as I feel we have lost all prospective on how we evaluate different professions/jobs. We, to my mind need to take a long hard look at what value each worker’s job brings to society as a whole. We need to move away from this notion that jobs that have more intellectual requirements should be paid wages so disproportionate to that of your shopfloor worker, refuge collector or delivery driver, all of which contribute to a functional society. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be different wage structures within certain job categories but working an 8-hour day in any profession should allow for a standard of living above that of the breadline.

Theses kind of pay/pensions/handouts do nothing to make low paid workers feel that the levelling up scheme is working for them.

[Kendhni]

Not sure I would agree Keith, but a trial could be interesting. since, as I said before, I would like to see society evolve into a situation where everybody contributed what they could and everybody took what they 'need' ... although realistically we are many decades or even centuries away from that. At best there may be a means to rebalance though.

The problem is that if everybody is rewarded the same (or even 'more equally') then most people will err towards doing as little as possible to get that reward and we could end up dumbing down to the lowest common denominator. The majority would not see doing more work, or taking on more responsibility, for the same pay as an attractive proposition. On those grounds I think that the market should be allowed to determine remuneration.

I would suggest 2 changes.
1. all bonus payments, across the board, should be from the same pool and paid out equitably so that if the directors want their bonuses they must reward all members of staff a similar percentage.
2. benefits are capped at a percentage of minimum wage ... with minimum wage being pushed up to a living wage (and ideally beyond). Too many are still choosing a lifestyle on benefits and being rewarded above many who work. By making it an attractive proposition to look for employment then we leave more money available for those that genuinely are unable to contribute or have limited ability to contribute.

[Manoverboard]

Pay structures for the Top Dogs are determined by the Board and are paid for by the shareholders which means that it is totally unrated to the shop floor worker. However if the shop floor worker is sufficiently educated and/or has the skill set and is able to take on the stress and responsibility for such a job then he or she may be given the opportunity for advancement but they will not get it because life's not fair or if they think its their turn.

Without the overpaid bod at the top driving down costs / driving up profits / determining the best strategy etc for the Company then the shop floor worker wouldn't have a job at all.

[Mervyn and Trish]

No, he just insulted the electorate by calling the lady a ‘Bigot’.

And rraided pension funds.

https://www.ftadviser.com/2014/05/07/op ... ticle.html

[david63]

I don't think that it has anything to do with how "we" evaluate jobs.

How people are paid in employment (leaving trade unions out of this) is basic economics of supply and demand. If you have a skill, or are perceived to have a skill, that a company needs then that company will pay whatever is deemed appropriate to recruit that person. If, on the other hand, there is a pool of potential employees with the necessary skills then the employer will recruit the person who will accept the lowest terms - it is all basic business.

Essentially this is the way that things have operated since Adam was a lad - it may not be fair, it may not be morally right but then again neither is life.