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RE: The final week. - 5/3/2010 2:21:21 PM   
SohCahToa


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quote:

ORIGINAL: NorthernGent
It's happening as we speak....in local government.....and the argument goes that local government can provide the same services for less money through job cuts....which I agree with....but not if it's rushed through.

Makes you kind of wonder why we've been paying through the nose for things in the first place though doesn't it?

This leg of lamb from the supermarket doesn't cost any less just because there is an election on.


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RE: The final week. - 5/3/2010 2:24:19 PM   
pahunkboy


Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline 		Hopefully who ever you "elect"  will serve the queen.

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RE: The final week. - 5/3/2010 2:30:08 PM   
SohCahToa


Posts: 563
Joined: 3/17/2006
Status: offline 		Fuck serving the queen it's me they want to make sure they serve.

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ڪ০મ໒คमՇՕΔ
- Pax vobiscum -

"Come ride with me through the veins of history. I'll show you a God who falls asleep on the job." - Muse

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RE: The final week. - 5/3/2010 2:49:55 PM   
Moonhead


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quote:

ORIGINAL: NorthernGent

quote:

ORIGINAL: DCWoody

Talk of efficiency savings is bollocks, IMO....just code for cuts without actually saying cuts.



It's happening as we speak....in local government.....and the argument goes that local government can provide the same services for less money through job cuts....which I agree with....but not if it's rushed through.

They're pretending it's happening, but it isn't. Cutting frontline staff, who actually do the work, while leaving the upper management's absurd salaries untouched isn't going to help any in the long term, particularly given the generous severance packages local government provides. When the staff have to be replaced after the election, they'll have lost all of the cash they used to pay them off, and still be salarying the same number of people.

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RE: The final week. - 5/3/2010 3:06:52 PM   
NorthernGent


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Moonhead


quote:

ORIGINAL: NorthernGent

quote:

ORIGINAL: DCWoody

Talk of efficiency savings is bollocks, IMO....just code for cuts without actually saying cuts.



It's happening as we speak....in local government.....and the argument goes that local government can provide the same services for less money through job cuts....which I agree with....but not if it's rushed through.

They're pretending it's happening, but it isn't. Cutting frontline staff, who actually do the work, while leaving the upper management's absurd salaries untouched isn't going to help any in the long term, particularly given the generous severance packages local government provides. When the staff have to be replaced after the election, they'll have lost all of the cash they used to pay them off, and still be salarying the same number of people.



It is happening. I know from first hand experience. And it's back office staff who are being targetted first and foremost. Providing one example....I know of a particular area of expertise that has had it's numbers cut from 70 to 30 in one fell swoop....by centralising the function. Managers and lower level staff.

And....they will not be replaced after the election....the funding isn't available. Perhaps you don't appreciate the seriousness of the economic situation.....the funding is not there to sustain the current levels of public sector workers. Managers are going to have to make do with fewer staff.....and the funding will not become available to replace those staff in the near future.

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RE: The final week. - 5/3/2010 3:09:52 PM   
NorthernGent


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quote:

ORIGINAL: SohCahToa

quote:

ORIGINAL: NorthernGent
It's happening as we speak....in local government.....and the argument goes that local government can provide the same services for less money through job cuts....which I agree with....but not if it's rushed through.

Makes you kind of wonder why we've been paying through the nose for things in the first place though doesn't it?

This leg of lamb from the supermarket doesn't cost any less just because there is an election on.



Local government strategy was to attract private sector workers and pratices into local government. It has been known for a long time that cuts were inevitable.....the idea was to use private sector efficiency to manage these cuts and get in there first....instead their hand has been forced.

_____________________________

I have the courage to be a coward - but not beyond my limits.

Sooner or later, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can.

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RE: The final week. - 5/3/2010 3:35:04 PM   
Moonhead


Posts: 16520
Joined: 9/21/2009
Status: offline 		If they are finally starting to cut out redundant middle management, that's a good thing, but it's far too little far too late. (Bear in mind I live in Stoke, a city notorious for the shittiness and sheer incompetence of its City council. Hopefully the one wherever you are is a bit more effective...)

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(Simon R Green on the late James Herbert)

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RE: The final week. - 5/4/2010 2:11:19 AM   
LadyEllen


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From: Stourport-England
Status: offline 		Stokies bring it all on themselves by being far too nice to say anything

E

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RE: The final week. - 5/4/2010 3:14:31 AM   
LadyEllen


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From: Stourport-England
Status: offline 		It was also said on the Channel4 programme that the new government could save a lot of money by cutting the grants to local authorities, thereby transferring the problem and ill feeling down the line by obliging local authorities to cut services.

I wonder how this will be possible when many local authorities are already in trouble having lost fortunes in the Icelandic bank crash? And as for Birmingham, apparently the largest local authority in Europe, they face an enormous bill for back-pay to the thousands of women employed and underpaid by them following legal proceedings - if similar now occurs elsewhere, things could get interesting.

At the same time the country is up in arms over the situation in child services which is already seriously understaffed and under resourced.

We have more and more demand year by year for home care and residential care for the elderly.

And there has been talk for years in this region, and some action already in this direction, towards "optimising" police and fire services for want of funds.

Social housing is a sick joke meanwhile, with waiting lists that might see an average applicant today getting an offer of a one bed flat around 10 years from now.

The roads are in a terrible state - though given that money is wasted on "traffic calming" rather than repairs this is no wonder, but they will only get worse if that were possible.

Education has had millions thrown at it and yet we still have too many who cant perform at even the basic levels - how much worse will it become if the money is removed?

The list could run and run.

I meanwhile am in a reasonably comfortable position right now - though just as precarious as anyone else. What distinguishes my position is that where I work from in Europe isnt that important - my job and my business could operate from anywhere.

The questions I ask myself are would I be better advised to relocate to another country? and if yes, then which country should I go to where I might escape the problems to come? My conclusions right now indicate that emigration should be futile given that these same problems afflict Europe as a whole, with only marginal differences from country to country.

E

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In a test against the leading brand, 9 out of 10 participants couldnt tell the difference. Dumbasses.

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RE: The final week. - 5/4/2010 3:41:55 AM   
Aneirin


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From: Tamaris
Status: offline 		This was a very successful country at one time, the Empire days where those that ran Britain ran much of the world and reaped the rewards. But the commoner got virtually nothing from this as not really anything existed in terms of the caring services. So despite everything seemingly falling apart due to lack of funding, it is far better than in the days of Empire, we the plebian are actually better off than we were when Britain ruled much of the world. But I suppose what we have, what worked at it's conception, could it be it has grown too large, spread itself too thin to effectively cover everything. In terms of the health service it now umbrellas more people than ever before, and the services it performs have gone far beyond it's intention but it still receives relatively little funding for what it is expected to cover. Maybe the health service should actually go back and look at the goals set out at the start and there re-evaluate itself as to where it should be going.

The same with all services that appear to be falling apart, go back and see what has changed, as my understanding is, we are not a socialist country, therefore the socialist aspects of it will struggle to survive, if we want care for all and everything working then we know in what direction we should go. But seeing as we are not a socialist country for there are those with personal wealth to decide their care, we are stuck with what we have, which begs the question,should the caring services exist for all ? Those that don't support care for all down to the lowest person should use their wealth to find treatment elsewhere. Should there be private beds in NHS hospitals, situations where money demands better service, surely that is antithesis to the original ideas.

If we are to live in a country where the future is to be unequal, then the services provided should also be unequal and there let order come from chaos, for that is the natural way.


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Everything we are is the result of what we have thought, the mind is everything, what we think, we become - Guatama Buddha

Conservatism is distrust of people tempered by fear - William Gladstone

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RE: The final week. - 5/4/2010 10:09:44 AM   
Politesub53


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Status: offline 		I think the working class actually thrived under the Empire, given what had gone before. People flocked to places like Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool. Many of the old factory owners started to provide both housing for their workers as well as education for the children. Even the Victorian poor houses, as misguided and harsh as some were, at least attempted to provide for the poor.

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RE: The final week. - 5/4/2010 6:42:56 PM   
Aneirin


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Joined: 3/18/2006
From: Tamaris
Status: offline 		I believe also from the working classes came the unions and demands for social care. The empire was created on the backs of the commoners, even when Britain ruled the waves the crews of those ships were often pressed into service by nefarious means and kept in service and away from the lordlings throats by armed men, (marines) stationed between the crew and the hierachy, as it still is today, thus indicating it is still them and us.

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Everything we are is the result of what we have thought, the mind is everything, what we think, we become - Guatama Buddha

Conservatism is distrust of people tempered by fear - William Gladstone

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RE: The final week. - 5/5/2010 3:17:13 AM   
LadyEllen


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Joined: 6/30/2006
From: Stourport-England
Status: offline 		The improvements to working and social conditions of the poor were driven along just as much by "enlightened" thinkers and activists from the middle and upper classes A. The Liberal party was important to it all too. It was only when the unions formed their own party, Labour, that the torch moved more fully into the workers' hands.

And the navy was professional fairly early on - the press gangs and horrors served a purpose for a long time but eventually it became clear that willing recruits, proper pay and conditions and discipline made the navy more effective.

E

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In a test against the leading brand, 9 out of 10 participants couldnt tell the difference. Dumbasses.

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RE: The final week. - 5/5/2010 7:59:28 AM   
pahunkboy


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Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline 		The corporatist will "win".

I am calling the UK election.

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RE: The final week. - 5/5/2010 8:43:26 AM   
Moonhead


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Joined: 9/21/2009
Status: offline 		Despite thinking that whoever gets elected is merely going to be the Sooty to Her Maj's Matthew Corbett?

_____________________________

I like to think he was eaten by rats, in the dark, during a fog. It's what he would have wanted...
(Simon R Green on the late James Herbert)

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Profile   Post #: 135
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