Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
Entirely up to Mr Johnson and the Conservatives to resign for the good of the country.
The make up of the government does not change the economic questions and by the way, how is Scotrail cancelling 700 journeys success for the SNP railway policy ?
That's pretty usual in strikes. Which are caused presently mainly by central government fiscal policy over inflation and tax etc. 2.2% pay offer being pretty much the norm ... plus I wasn't aware that the Scottish Government were running a policy so very different from that in London: of sorting out the mess left behind by privatised companies. See LNER for instance.
FPT, it's simply bloody illiterate to name yourself or your offspring Mhairi. The name in Gaelic is Mairi; a Mhairi is the vocative, but the half-arsed and ill-educated think the h makes the word look more full of Gaelicky goodness.
Oh, quite so in strict grammar and spelling, but the orthography is now well out into the community and has a life of its own. It's actually quite common - a quick freebie check confirms 17 Mhairi Blacks alone in Scotland.
I thought all spelling rules were off when people's names are involved. As far as grammar is concerned, English doesn't have endings for cases so it's irrelevant anyway. (apart from s for plural)
The (common) confusion is partly cos Gaelic inflects the genitive at the beginning (most of the time anyway IIRC).
On topic. Rather than the headline, what's been remarkable is how stable the polls have been the past few months, despite the barrage of events. It's been Labour c. 5% ahead for some time now.
think that will change soon...asset prices especially in the usa are now cratering...inflation is really picking up now...russians are blockading wheat coming out of ukraine....these both hit the core conservative grey vote hard....
Not a great Yougov for the Tories certainly, 31% would be back to 2001 levels and barely above their 1997 voteshare.
Techne a bit better for them at 35%
Do we still think there will be a snap election on news of Starmer and Rayner's convictions?
I doubt there will be any further fines
It seems that Boris may have evaded fines as he was working and that briefly thanking a retiring colleague and then going immediately back to work was considered a work event
I think Starmer may well have a similar defence and I think he is more than likely to avoid a FPN but I am less sure about Rayner
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
If your rent went up by 10% this year, your food bill by 20%, your petrol by 25% etc, but your employer gave you a 2% pay rise, why wouldn't you strike unless your employer met your cost of living increases?
Because you will lose your job as the employer would have to pass on the increases to consumers already squeezed and unable to pay for the service you provide
So what you're saying is, when my rent goes up by 10%, other costs by 20%, etc, I should just sit there like a mug and accept it?
At the bare minimum you resign and go work somewhere else who will pay you more.
I do not have a problem with people asking for pay rises that match the cost of living. If the company won't pay, you go elsewhere.
In many cases that is the reality of the present crisis but of course finding a higher paid job elsewhere is a good solution if there is one available
But that isn't a solution. Try being an employer trying to recruit at minimum wage just now. That applies to both public and private sector. They simply can't. For fans of the free market, that means the only solution is pay rises. The consumer will have to lump it.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
MPs just have had 2.7%. But of coruse they are allowed to hustle on the side for whatever they can get. Imagine if a train driver refused to start till the passengers had had a whip round ...
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
If your rent went up by 10% this year, your food bill by 20%, your petrol by 25% etc, but your employer gave you a 2% pay rise, why wouldn't you strike unless your employer met your cost of living increases?
Because you will lose your job as the employer would have to pass on the increases to consumers already squeezed and unable to pay for the service you provide
Well. That very much depends on the service, doesn't it? It is unlikely the entire rail system would simply cease.
The problem then will be increased rail fares, less journeys, less use and ultimately job loses in the industry
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
If your rent went up by 10% this year, your food bill by 20%, your petrol by 25% etc, but your employer gave you a 2% pay rise, why wouldn't you strike unless your employer met your cost of living increases?
Because you will lose your job as the employer would have to pass on the increases to consumers already squeezed and unable to pay for the service you provide
most people dont think like that though. They just see themselves as getting poorer
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
One of the most revealing stats I saw was that execs have seen 5-7x the wage growth of the plebs yet equity market returns are the same as ever. They just decided to funnel themselves more money and dared shareholders to vote them down.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
If your rent went up by 10% this year, your food bill by 20%, your petrol by 25% etc, but your employer gave you a 2% pay rise, why wouldn't you strike unless your employer met your cost of living increases?
Because you will lose your job as the employer would have to pass on the increases to consumers already squeezed and unable to pay for the service you provide
So what you're saying is, when my rent goes up by 10%, other costs by 20%, etc, I should just sit there like a mug and accept it?
At the bare minimum you resign and go work somewhere else who will pay you more.
I do not have a problem with people asking for pay rises that match the cost of living. If the company won't pay, you go elsewhere.
In many cases that is the reality of the present crisis but of course finding a higher paid job elsewhere is a good solution if there is one available
But that isn't a solution. Try being an employer trying to recruit at minimum wage just now. That applies to both public and private sector. They simply can't. For fans of the free market, that means the only solution is pay rises. The consumer will have to lump it.
But when the consumer cannot lump it we end up in recession
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
If your rent went up by 10% this year, your food bill by 20%, your petrol by 25% etc, but your employer gave you a 2% pay rise, why wouldn't you strike unless your employer met your cost of living increases?
Because you will lose your job as the employer would have to pass on the increases to consumers already squeezed and unable to pay for the service you provide
So what you're saying is, when my rent goes up by 10%, other costs by 20%, etc, I should just sit there like a mug and accept it?
At the bare minimum you resign and go work somewhere else who will pay you more.
I do not have a problem with people asking for pay rises that match the cost of living. If the company won't pay, you go elsewhere.
In many cases that is the reality of the present crisis but of course finding a higher paid job elsewhere is a good solution if there is one available
If you were a business, and your prices rose by 10%, you would seek to pass as much of that price rise on to the consumer as possible.
Why would you assume that workers, facing price rises of their own, would not seek to pass as many of those costs on to their employer as possible?
That gives workers two choices, strike at their current job for more pay, or go seek employment elsewhere. Both are rational from the point of view from the worker. Only sitting there and accepting a below inflation pay increase is irrational.
Unfortunately that is how inflation creates wage-price spirals. But that is the fault of the banks for printing money and imagining there would be no consequences.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
Entirely up to Mr Johnson and the Conservatives to resign for the good of the country.
The make up of the government does not change the economic questions and by the way, how is Scotrail cancelling 700 journeys success for the SNP railway policy ?
PS Just out - new timetable in my inbox. Looks markedly better in temrs of time of day, but still restricted.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
MPs just have had 2.7%. But of coruse they are allowed to hustle on the side for whatever they can get. Imagine if a train driver refused to start till the passengers had had a whip round ...
Just as a matter of interest what is the average pay of a train driver
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
If your rent went up by 10% this year, your food bill by 20%, your petrol by 25% etc, but your employer gave you a 2% pay rise, why wouldn't you strike unless your employer met your cost of living increases?
Because you will lose your job as the employer would have to pass on the increases to consumers already squeezed and unable to pay for the service you provide
So what you're saying is, when my rent goes up by 10%, other costs by 20%, etc, I should just sit there like a mug and accept it?
At the bare minimum you resign and go work somewhere else who will pay you more.
I do not have a problem with people asking for pay rises that match the cost of living. If the company won't pay, you go elsewhere.
In many cases that is the reality of the present crisis but of course finding a higher paid job elsewhere is a good solution if there is one available
If you were a business, and your prices rose by 10%, you would seek to pass as much of that price rise on to the consumer as possible.
Why would you assume that workers, facing price rises of their own, would not seek to pass as many of those costs on to their employer as possible?
That gives workers two choices, strike at their current job for more pay, or go seek employment elsewhere. Both are rational from the point of view from the worker. Only sitting there and accepting a below inflation pay increase is irrational.
Unfortunately that is how inflation creates wage-price spirals. But that is the fault of the banks for printing money and imagining there would be no consequences.
Evening all. If it hasn't been mentioned there was also a ComRes today, 40 to 34, so just one off the Lab score earlier in the week. Will recession damage the Tories or provoke a 2010 style 'it started in America' cling to nurse effect that artificially inflated the Brown election result and stopped a total meltdown. Boris' statement today suggests to me they are going to throw money at it.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
Entirely up to Mr Johnson and the Conservatives to resign for the good of the country.
The make up of the government does not change the economic questions and by the way, how is Scotrail cancelling 700 journeys success for the SNP railway policy ?
PS Just out - new timetable in my inbox. Looks markedly better in temrs of time of day, but still restricted.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
If they don't like their wages, they can always look for another job. Supply and demand in action works better than unions fighting political battles.
Yet another reason why private transport is far superior to public transport though.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
MPs just have had 2.7%. But of coruse they are allowed to hustle on the side for whatever they can get. Imagine if a train driver refused to start till the passengers had had a whip round ...
Just as a matter of interest what is the average pay of a train driver
Whatever the right wing newspaper reporting it thinks it is. Very hard to get a meaningful figure because of shifts and training/qualification allowances.not to mention that old PB staple of mode, median and mean.
Rather clearer is that the 2.2% offer is being adversely compared by the unioon to 11.1% RPI inflation.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, salary £575k, tells workers that they really should be sensible and exercise restraint in pay demands.
Rishi Sunak, new entrant to the Sunday Times rich list, agrees with that sentiment.
Re: transliteration of Gaelic/Irish names please note interesting example of Nicholas Macdonald Sarsfield Cod'd, heir to the (Eastern) Roman Empire and self-nominated candidate for King of Greece:
Took me a while to grasp, but Cod'd is just an alternative way of spelling Cody which is just anglised/bastardized form of O'Cuidighthigh or (more helpfully perhaps to most PBers) Mac Óda
Leeds United and Burnley have threatened to bring a claim for substantial damages against the Premier League and Everton believing the Merseyside club have seriously breached financial rules.
The two clubs sent a letter last week warning they reserve the right to take legal action against the Premier League and Everton, and demanding details of what — if any — action or investigation the league has started after Everton recorded losses totalling £371.8 million over the last three years.
The Premier League’s profit and financial sustainability rules allow clubs to lose a maximum £105 million over a three-year period or face sanctions which include points deductions for serious breaches. Leeds and Burnley want an independent commission to decide if Everton should face such sanctions.
Losses caused by the Covid pandemic can be written off but Leeds and Burnley have raised concerns that media reports and Companies House filings show Everton’s Covid-related losses are more than three times that of clubs of a similar size.
The Premier League declined to comment. An Everton spokesman told The Times: “We have worked so closely with the Premier League to make sure we are compliant, we are comfortable we have complied with the rules.
“External auditors have told us what we can and cannot claim against the pandemic.
“If they want to take legal action then they can do so by all means.”
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
Entirely up to Mr Johnson and the Conservatives to resign for the good of the country.
The make up of the government does not change the economic questions and by the way, how is Scotrail cancelling 700 journeys success for the SNP railway policy ?
PS Just out - new timetable in my inbox. Looks markedly better in temrs of time of day, but still restricted.
That's a comparison to the normal timetable, not the work to rule emergency one which was grim. The times of day are better from what I recall, but still grim.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
MPs just have had 2.7%. But of coruse they are allowed to hustle on the side for whatever they can get. Imagine if a train driver refused to start till the passengers had had a whip round ...
Just as a matter of interest what is the average pay of a train driver
Whatever the right wing newspaper reporting it thinks it is. Very hard to get a meaningful figure because of shifts and training/qualification allowances.not to mention that old PB staple of mode, median and mean.
Rather clearer is that the 2.2% offer is being adversely compared by the unioon to 11.1% RPI inflation.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
MPs just have had 2.7%. But of coruse they are allowed to hustle on the side for whatever they can get. Imagine if a train driver refused to start till the passengers had had a whip round ...
Leeds United and Burnley have threatened to bring a claim for substantial damages against the Premier League and Everton believing the Merseyside club have seriously breached financial rules.
The two clubs sent a letter last week warning they reserve the right to take legal action against the Premier League and Everton, and demanding details of what — if any — action or investigation the league has started after Everton recorded losses totalling £371.8 million over the last three years.
The Premier League’s profit and financial sustainability rules allow clubs to lose a maximum £105 million over a three-year period or face sanctions which include points deductions for serious breaches. Leeds and Burnley want an independent commission to decide if Everton should face such sanctions.
Losses caused by the Covid pandemic can be written off but Leeds and Burnley have raised concerns that media reports and Companies House filings show Everton’s Covid-related losses are more than three times that of clubs of a similar size.
The Premier League declined to comment. An Everton spokesman told The Times: “We have worked so closely with the Premier League to make sure we are compliant, we are comfortable we have complied with the rules.
“External auditors have told us what we can and cannot claim against the pandemic.
“If they want to take legal action then they can do so by all means.”
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
MPs just have had 2.7%. But of coruse they are allowed to hustle on the side for whatever they can get. Imagine if a train driver refused to start till the passengers had had a whip round ...
Just as a matter of interest what is the average pay of a train driver
Whatever the right wing newspaper reporting it thinks it is. Very hard to get a meaningful figure because of shifts and training/qualification allowances.not to mention that old PB staple of mode, median and mean.
Rather clearer is that the 2.2% offer is being adversely compared by the unioon to 11.1% RPI inflation.
Re: transliteration of Gaelic/Irish names please note interesting example of Nicholas Macdonald Sarsfield Cod'd, heir to the (Eastern) Roman Empire and self-nominated candidate for King of Greece:
Took me a while to grasp, but Cod'd is just an alternative way of spelling Cody which is just anglised/bastardized form of O'Cuidighthigh or (more helpfully perhaps to most PBers) Mac Óda
I have no idea if this is the same word/name as this chap:
FPT, it's simply bloody illiterate to name yourself or your offspring Mhairi. The name in Gaelic is Mairi; a Mhairi is the vocative, but the half-arsed and ill-educated think the h makes the word look more full of Gaelicky goodness.
Oh, quite so in strict grammar and spelling, but the orthography is now well out into the community and has a life of its own. It's actually quite common - a quick freebie check confirms 17 Mhairi Blacks alone in Scotland.
I thought all spelling rules were off when people's names are involved. As far as grammar is concerned, English doesn't have endings for cases so it's irrelevant anyway. (apart from s for plural)
Naah, there's obvious illiteracy in the likes of Johnathon. And Mhairi is masquerading as Gaelic, which in this instance has beginnings for cases, so your point about English verges on the obscure.
I have a lot of sympathy with the fact that governments - at the start - didn't know very much. And the fact that massive hospitals were being built in Wuhan and people were being welded inside their homes will have really weighed on politicians minds. (The bodies piling up in Milan and New York will have played a role too.)
But we did learn some things pretty quickly, that should have allowed a return to (somewhat) normal life.
The most obvious of which was that Covid didn't spread very easily outside. Sunlight and ventilation rapidly reduced concentrations to levels where infection was extremely unlikely.
Now, I get that stadiums might still have a concentration of people where it would have been a problem, but really - from very early on - we should have been allowing (even encouraging) people to get together and spend time outside.
Here in LA (and yes, I know the weather is better here) there were maybe six weeks through the pandemic when you couldn't go and sit outside at a restaurant or coffee shop with your friends. That made it massively less isolating, and probably had bugger all effect on spread.
A lot of people on here probably think of me as a lockdown hawk, because I take exception to people making crap innumerate arguments against trying to do anything to prevent the spread of a sufficiently deadly infectious virus, but I was one of those making the point that the government should have been positively encouraging social mixing outside as a better alternative to social mixing inside from an early stage.
I expect that the pro/anti lockdown arguments are going to continue indefinitely, and the less contentious things that were done wrong will receive much less attention, when the government could have done so much more on ventilation, filtering, meeting outside, blood oxygen monitoring, etc.
This is really important: if we'd done a better job of stratifying risk (and changing guidance) as new information came through, then we would probably have been able to do a better job at minimising people's loss of freedom.
But, as you say, we end up with a very polarised argument, with one either being forced to be in favour of massive lockdowns, or in favour of no restrictions whatsoever.
Your point was always that people would lock themselves down regardless and hence you might as well have a government lockdown (you put forward that argument when people rallied against lockdowns - bonjour).
And that would be perfect. People decide to modify their behaviour and the government setting up a compensation scheme so that they don't suffer financially (another argument for govt lockdowns was that it was the only way to be able to compensate people).
The issue is not the lockdown - the issue is the laws dictating lockdown.
And as for segmentation, putting forward this as an alternative to mandatory lockdown was something that "we" were castigated for and we were characterised as anti-lockdown loons also at the time.
If you were going to mandate separation then make it illegal to hug granny but you yourself (fit, younger, etc) could go out clubbing if you wanted. Instead they said it's illegal to hug granny and you must stay at home also. Either way granny doesn't get hugged and I'm sure TfL for example could have made adjustments to keep night bus drivers safe from clubbers.
None of us called this perfectly; I know I certainly didn't. And - of course - no-one knows the exact consequences of the path not travelled.
What we do know is which countries and places performed best from an economic impact, a deaths impact, and a public freedom impact. We also know that certain demographic factors - in particular intergenerational households - correlated very strongly with bad outcomes.
We know - and should have known fairly early on - that the virus (like pretty much all viruses) hated sunshine and fresh air.
We also know that Denmark, which did a lot of risk stratification, had the smallest economic impact, essentially zero excess deaths, and people were able to go about their daily lives largely unimpeded.
But this stratification was not without its civil liberties impacts. Almost everyone was required to get a PCR test every other week for their "Coronapas" app, and to show a green result to get into the supermarket. For someone who worked in a care home, then the testing regime was even more stringent. There were plenty of people in Denmark who - because they had a job that led them to be in contact with lots of people - were not allowed to see older relatives, or even to see people who worked with older residents. There were lots of rules that needed to be followed.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
MPs just have had 2.7%. But of coruse they are allowed to hustle on the side for whatever they can get. Imagine if a train driver refused to start till the passengers had had a whip round ...
I have a lot of sympathy with the fact that governments - at the start - didn't know very much. And the fact that massive hospitals were being built in Wuhan and people were being welded inside their homes will have really weighed on politicians minds. (The bodies piling up in Milan and New York will have played a role too.)
But we did learn some things pretty quickly, that should have allowed a return to (somewhat) normal life.
The most obvious of which was that Covid didn't spread very easily outside. Sunlight and ventilation rapidly reduced concentrations to levels where infection was extremely unlikely.
Now, I get that stadiums might still have a concentration of people where it would have been a problem, but really - from very early on - we should have been allowing (even encouraging) people to get together and spend time outside.
Here in LA (and yes, I know the weather is better here) there were maybe six weeks through the pandemic when you couldn't go and sit outside at a restaurant or coffee shop with your friends. That made it massively less isolating, and probably had bugger all effect on spread.
A lot of people on here probably think of me as a lockdown hawk, because I take exception to people making crap innumerate arguments against trying to do anything to prevent the spread of a sufficiently deadly infectious virus, but I was one of those making the point that the government should have been positively encouraging social mixing outside as a better alternative to social mixing inside from an early stage.
I expect that the pro/anti lockdown arguments are going to continue indefinitely, and the less contentious things that were done wrong will receive much less attention, when the government could have done so much more on ventilation, filtering, meeting outside, blood oxygen monitoring, etc.
This is really important: if we'd done a better job of stratifying risk (and changing guidance) as new information came through, then we would probably have been able to do a better job at minimising people's loss of freedom.
But, as you say, we end up with a very polarised argument, with one either being forced to be in favour of massive lockdowns, or in favour of no restrictions whatsoever.
The smearing of people who were sceptical about the efficacy of lockdowns as "anti-vaxxers" was particularly egregious.
That would somewhat depend on the reasoning that was employed to make that sceptical point.
Not really, since it was possible to be anti-lockdown and pro-vaccine and there were people smearing all anti-lockdowners as anti-vax.
There were all kinds of crazy people: some thought Covid came from 5G, some thought vaccines were mind control, some thought that lockdowns had no impact on the spread of Covid, and some thought that Covid was a visitation from God for our sins.
So I'm not really sure what your point is.
Lockdown zealots used the existence of anti-vax anti-lockdowners to smear all anti-lockdowners as anti-vax so that their beloved tool of social control was spared critical examination.
And anti-lockdowners generally didn't believe "that lockdowns had no impact on the spread of Covid", but I guess you knew that already.
Of course.
The point is that, while there were 60 million experiences of lockdown in the UK, there were also 60 million ideas about what the best response is and was.
And I find the 'chuck everyone in a bucket, label them according to their worst example, and then throw cold sick on them' attitude to be somewhere between boring and absurd.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
If your rent went up by 10% this year, your food bill by 20%, your petrol by 25% etc, but your employer gave you a 2% pay rise, why wouldn't you strike unless your employer met your cost of living increases?
Because you will lose your job as the employer would have to pass on the increases to consumers already squeezed and unable to pay for the service you provide
So what you're saying is, when my rent goes up by 10%, other costs by 20%, etc, I should just sit there like a mug and accept it?
At the bare minimum you resign and go work somewhere else who will pay you more.
I do not have a problem with people asking for pay rises that match the cost of living. If the company won't pay, you go elsewhere.
Of course, the company may also be struggling because its energy and import costs have gone through the roof...
FPT, it's simply bloody illiterate to name yourself or your offspring Mhairi. The name in Gaelic is Mairi; a Mhairi is the vocative, but the half-arsed and ill-educated think the h makes the word look more full of Gaelicky goodness.
And what kind of person says call me Ishmael, with a Z ?
Z is my surname. There's vigorous debate between branches of the family over the whole Zed/Zee thing.
Re: spelling AND prounciation of personal names, one interesting example (among MANY) is common Hungarian surname "Nagy" (meaning in English large, big, great).
Which in Magyar sound to Anglophone ears like "Nodge"
But which in the USA is commonly pronouced - even by people of Hungarian ancestry whose name it is - as "Naggy".
Case where the "rules" of English proununciation trump that of it's origin.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
MPs just have had 2.7%. But of coruse they are allowed to hustle on the side for whatever they can get. Imagine if a train driver refused to start till the passengers had had a whip round ...
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
MPs just have had 2.7%. But of coruse they are allowed to hustle on the side for whatever they can get. Imagine if a train driver refused to start till the passengers had had a whip round ...
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
One of the most revealing stats I saw was that execs have seen 5-7x the wage growth of the plebs yet equity market returns are the same as ever. They just decided to funnel themselves more money and dared shareholders to vote them down.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, salary £575k, tells workers that they really should be sensible and exercise restraint in pay demands.
Rishi Sunak, new entrant to the Sunday Times rich list, agrees with that sentiment.
Yeah, right.
And there you have it.
The inflation rate is the excuse for eternal wage restraint (as I said before, low inflation = you don't need more money, high inflation = you must not have more money because it will cause more inflation,) but the underlying cause is rentier interest. Big businesses don't want to pay higher wages because they might have to cut returns to shareholders and those fat bonuses; Government (especially one that derives the majority of its votes and almost all its funds from homeowning pensioners, their expectant heirs, and the very, very rich) doesn't want to pay higher wages because it would probably be forced to extract more in tax from the well-off.
Don't fall for the panic about wage-inflationary spirals. It's all just an excuse to carve an ever-larger wedge of the cake for the wealthy.
I notice an absence of exhortations not to pay dividends, bonuses or restrict profits to the bare minimum. Plenty of folk haven't got the "massive pool of unemployed" idea out of their head. If everyone gets a better job, who cleans the bogs at the station? And how much should they be paid?
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
If your rent went up by 10% this year, your food bill by 20%, your petrol by 25% etc, but your employer gave you a 2% pay rise, why wouldn't you strike unless your employer met your cost of living increases?
Because you will lose your job as the employer would have to pass on the increases to consumers already squeezed and unable to pay for the service you provide
So what you're saying is, when my rent goes up by 10%, other costs by 20%, etc, I should just sit there like a mug and accept it?
At the bare minimum you resign and go work somewhere else who will pay you more.
I do not have a problem with people asking for pay rises that match the cost of living. If the company won't pay, you go elsewhere.
In many cases that is the reality of the present crisis but of course finding a higher paid job elsewhere is a good solution if there is one available
If you were a business, and your prices rose by 10%, you would seek to pass as much of that price rise on to the consumer as possible.
Why would you assume that workers, facing price rises of their own, would not seek to pass as many of those costs on to their employer as possible?
That gives workers two choices, strike at their current job for more pay, or go seek employment elsewhere. Both are rational from the point of view from the worker. Only sitting there and accepting a below inflation pay increase is irrational.
Unfortunately that is how inflation creates wage-price spirals. But that is the fault of the banks for printing money and imagining there would be no consequences.
Printing money has nothing to do with the inflation we now see which is due to supply-side factors, with supplies from Russia, Ukraine and China disrupted for various obvious reasons.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
MPs just have had 2.7%. But of coruse they are allowed to hustle on the side for whatever they can get. Imagine if a train driver refused to start till the passengers had had a whip round ...
'register' does not mean 'are not allowed to moonlight'.
There is nothing to stop tube drivers having second jobs either, they also just need to declare it.
Based on hours worked MPs earn £23.45 an hour, tube drivers earn £30.18 an hour
Time of day, time of week ... you haven't allowed for that.
And I haven't noticed subsidised restaurant cars for staff on LT trains. Or people queuing to [edit] bribe, or rather subsidise out of the kindness of the heart, them and their union, in marked contrast to the Conservative Party.
Actually, I think there is a case fort increasing MP's pay - but banning all moonlighting and outside money at the same time.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
If your rent went up by 10% this year, your food bill by 20%, your petrol by 25% etc, but your employer gave you a 2% pay rise, why wouldn't you strike unless your employer met your cost of living increases?
Because you will lose your job as the employer would have to pass on the increases to consumers already squeezed and unable to pay for the service you provide
So what you're saying is, when my rent goes up by 10%, other costs by 20%, etc, I should just sit there like a mug and accept it?
At the bare minimum you resign and go work somewhere else who will pay you more.
I do not have a problem with people asking for pay rises that match the cost of living. If the company won't pay, you go elsewhere.
Of course, the company may also be struggling because its energy and import costs have gone through the roof...
Totally agree. But that doesn't mean a worker, behaving rationally, looking at their heating bill going through the roof and worrying about putting food on the table for their family, wouldn't want to push for a pay increase that matches inflation.
As I said, this is how wage-price inflationary spirals happen, but to ask workers for restraint while accepting that companies can raise prices due to inflation is just hypocrisy, as others have pointed out in this thread.
“Wall Street stocks sink into bear market as growth concerns mount
S&P 500 down 20% from record peak reached early in 2022”
On est presque entierement en especes, but seriously exercised about the fact that *real* interest rates are plummeting like a paralysed falcon, which is surely going to lead to a stampede into Anything But Cash in the short to medium term. Testing times.
FPT, it's simply bloody illiterate to name yourself or your offspring Mhairi. The name in Gaelic is Mairi; a Mhairi is the vocative, but the half-arsed and ill-educated think the h makes the word look more full of Gaelicky goodness.
Oh, quite so in strict grammar and spelling, but the orthography is now well out into the community and has a life of its own. It's actually quite common - a quick freebie check confirms 17 Mhairi Blacks alone in Scotland.
I thought all spelling rules were off when people's names are involved. As far as grammar is concerned, English doesn't have endings for cases so it's irrelevant anyway. (apart from s for plural)
Naah, there's obvious illiteracy in the likes of Johnathon. And Mhairi is masquerading as Gaelic, which in this instance has beginnings for cases, so your point about English verges on the obscure.
I meant changes for cases whether at the beginning or the end. I disagree about johnathon. You can spell your name how you want, the versions of Mohammed indicate that. I've seen David, Davyd, Dafydd, Peter, Pieter, Petr, John, Jon. You can spell your name how you want.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
MPs just have had 2.7%. But of coruse they are allowed to hustle on the side for whatever they can get. Imagine if a train driver refused to start till the passengers had had a whip round ...
We really should not try to normalise our western, biased perspective on this conflict. It is vital to see this from Russia's perspective. They have been invaded time and time again, from west, east north and south, and from space and from strange creatures deep underground, and it is utterly fair enough for them to want a buffer zone. Imagine if Scotland and England had fought for centuries; surely England would want all of the Borders up to the Clyde-Forth barrier to act as their security zone lebensraum?
The western media - whether the BBC, Guardian, or the RMT's in-house journal - has an inherent anti-Russian bias, and we should judge the information accordingly, particularly when compared to the free Russian media. How do we know the tanks shown on Oryx are Russian and not Ukrainian? Bias is everywhere, and both sides are as bad as each other. In fact, I'd argue the so-called 'free' western media is worse, because claiming you are free is a sure-fire indicator you are, in reality, a mouthpiece of a fascist state.
Throughout history, combatants in a special operation have portrayed the other side as 'evil' or 'non-human'; witness cartoons of the Hun bayonetting babies. Our media might well be brainwashing us. We see pictures of destroyed Russian tanks - that's obviously just the Russians getting rid of old stock, and causing the fascist western governments to deplete their stockpile of cheaper missiles!
As for the way the war has been conducted: there is no independent evidence of Russian atrocities. None. There is plenty of evidence of Ukrainian Nazism; from the Azov regiment through grannies poisoning cakes to the Jewishness of their president (and what is a greater sign of being a Nazi than being a Jew?) Heck, the Azov in Mariupol have performed a war crime simply by not surrendering!
So we all need to be careful. We should always remember that we are in the wrong here. We caused this war - and by 'we', I mean us Brits, and the Russians are utterly blameless in this operation. Our soldiers are well-trained and well-organised, and our retreat from Kiev was just a feint to draw more western weapons into the theatre for them to be destroyed.
And can Putin please fill me with his little babies?
Leeds United and Burnley have threatened to bring a claim for substantial damages against the Premier League and Everton believing the Merseyside club have seriously breached financial rules.
The two clubs sent a letter last week warning they reserve the right to take legal action against the Premier League and Everton, and demanding details of what — if any — action or investigation the league has started after Everton recorded losses totalling £371.8 million over the last three years.
The Premier League’s profit and financial sustainability rules allow clubs to lose a maximum £105 million over a three-year period or face sanctions which include points deductions for serious breaches. Leeds and Burnley want an independent commission to decide if Everton should face such sanctions.
Losses caused by the Covid pandemic can be written off but Leeds and Burnley have raised concerns that media reports and Companies House filings show Everton’s Covid-related losses are more than three times that of clubs of a similar size.
The Premier League declined to comment. An Everton spokesman told The Times: “We have worked so closely with the Premier League to make sure we are compliant, we are comfortable we have complied with the rules.
“External auditors have told us what we can and cannot claim against the pandemic.
“If they want to take legal action then they can do so by all means.”
Re: spelling AND prounciation of personal names, one interesting example (among MANY) is common Hungarian surname "Nagy" (meaning in English large, big, great).
Which in Magyar sound to Anglophone ears like "Nodge"
But which in the USA is commonly pronouced - even by people of Hungarian ancestry whose name it is - as "Naggy".
Case where the "rules" of English proununciation trump that of it's origin.
The American pronunciation of Strachan is interesting.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
MPs just have had 2.7%. But of coruse they are allowed to hustle on the side for whatever they can get. Imagine if a train driver refused to start till the passengers had had a whip round ...
'register' does not mean 'are not allowed to moonlight'.
There is nothing to stop tube drivers having second jobs either, they also just need to declare it.
Based on hours worked MPs earn £23.45 an hour, tube drivers earn £30.18 an hour
Time of day, time of week ... you haven't allowed for that.
And I haven't noticed subsidised restaurant cars for staff on LT trains. Or people queuing to [edit] bribe, or rather subsidise out of the kindness of the heart, them and their union, in marked contrast to the Conservative Party.
There are staff canteens for drivers.
I haven't noticed MPs striking either, or RMT drivers working 6 or 7 day weeks as MPs do with constituency surgeries and events at weekends as well as long days in Parliament in the week, including sometimes late into the evening if late votes.
Leeds United and Burnley have threatened to bring a claim for substantial damages against the Premier League and Everton believing the Merseyside club have seriously breached financial rules.
The two clubs sent a letter last week warning they reserve the right to take legal action against the Premier League and Everton, and demanding details of what — if any — action or investigation the league has started after Everton recorded losses totalling £371.8 million over the last three years.
The Premier League’s profit and financial sustainability rules allow clubs to lose a maximum £105 million over a three-year period or face sanctions which include points deductions for serious breaches. Leeds and Burnley want an independent commission to decide if Everton should face such sanctions.
Losses caused by the Covid pandemic can be written off but Leeds and Burnley have raised concerns that media reports and Companies House filings show Everton’s Covid-related losses are more than three times that of clubs of a similar size.
The Premier League declined to comment. An Everton spokesman told The Times: “We have worked so closely with the Premier League to make sure we are compliant, we are comfortable we have complied with the rules.
“External auditors have told us what we can and cannot claim against the pandemic.
“If they want to take legal action then they can do so by all means.”
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
MPs just have had 2.7%. But of coruse they are allowed to hustle on the side for whatever they can get. Imagine if a train driver refused to start till the passengers had had a whip round ...
That report is inaccurate. Headteachers get between six and eight weeks of holidays, depending on their contracts. There still has to be at least one member of SLT in the school during the holidays, leaving aside exam results days.
Re: spelling AND prounciation of personal names, one interesting example (among MANY) is common Hungarian surname "Nagy" (meaning in English large, big, great).
Which in Magyar sound to Anglophone ears like "Nodge"
But which in the USA is commonly pronouced - even by people of Hungarian ancestry whose name it is - as "Naggy".
Case where the "rules" of English proununciation trump that of it's origin.
The American pronunciation of Strachan is interesting.
What is it? Never knew anyone named that to ask them. Strack-an?
The Lib Dems could field a pug ape, and they'd still win this.
We never agree on anything SeanF. I am not convinced this seat is a certain loss for Conservatives. Firstly, when is a scandal not really a scandal in everybody’s minds, hence sense of grievance. I think local voters may have some sympathy for how their last MP was forced out, some thinking was this really a forced out end of career crime, or apologise it won’t happen again crime? So whichever Conservative stands could retain that sympathy vote from sense of injustice.
Every seat and backdrop is unique, in candidates, age of voters etc, we can’t expect libdems to always achieve the ridiculous swing required after Shropshire North.
I haven’t bet on this one, but found 6-1 too juicy to refuse for Conservatives in Wakefield (any sort of angry local labour candidate standing against Starmer’s stooge will help my bet)
I’m minded to bet against Libdems winning this West Country seat too - in a credible effort but no cigar type of thing.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
MPs just have had 2.7%. But of coruse they are allowed to hustle on the side for whatever they can get. Imagine if a train driver refused to start till the passengers had had a whip round ...
Re: spelling AND prounciation of personal names, one interesting example (among MANY) is common Hungarian surname "Nagy" (meaning in English large, big, great).
Which in Magyar sound to Anglophone ears like "Nodge"
But which in the USA is commonly pronouced - even by people of Hungarian ancestry whose name it is - as "Naggy".
Case where the "rules" of English proununciation trump that of it's origin.
We have our own problems with our own native surnames. How confusing must it be to a foreigner that Cholmondly is pronounced “Chumley” and Bottomley is pronounced
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
Ah, you mean the RMT, who has as deputy assistant general secretary Eddie Dempsey, who is well-known as a supporter of liberalism and democracy?
I'm sorry, but as long as he's in position I see any current RMT action as support for Russia.
Not a great Yougov for the Tories certainly, 31% would be back to 2001 levels and barely above their 1997 voteshare.
Techne a bit better for them at 35%
No Tory poll leads for 5 months and 14 days...
There was a period of over two years during the 2010-15 Parliament where no Conservative leads were recorded - and much good that ended up doing EdM.
IMHO the main point to be taken away from the polling at present is that Labour shows no signs of getting away from what is, by most reasonable measures, a pretty hopeless Government. Tony Blair typically held leads of anything between fifteen and thirty points for years on end prior to the '97 election.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
MPs just have had 2.7%. But of coruse they are allowed to hustle on the side for whatever they can get. Imagine if a train driver refused to start till the passengers had had a whip round ...
On topic. In my analyse of polls for trends I am no longer including Yougov. They are just too wild and all over the shop. If I am currently closely looking for sign of Tory share shrinking (not finding it yet by the way) including Yougov could suggest a trend that isn’t true, and yougov flip wildly the other way two weeks later making mockery of peoples trend following.
I’m just putting a line through all their polls to be honest.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
MPs just have had 2.7%. But of coruse they are allowed to hustle on the side for whatever they can get. Imagine if a train driver refused to start till the passengers had had a whip round ...
'register' does not mean 'are not allowed to moonlight'.
There is nothing to stop tube drivers having second jobs either, they also just need to declare it.
Based on hours worked MPs earn £23.45 an hour, tube drivers earn £30.18 an hour
Time of day, time of week ... you haven't allowed for that.
And I haven't noticed subsidised restaurant cars for staff on LT trains. Or people queuing to [edit] bribe, or rather subsidise out of the kindness of the heart, them and their union, in marked contrast to the Conservative Party.
There are staff canteens for drivers.
I haven't noticed MPs striking either, or RMT drivers working 6 or 7 day weeks as MPs do with constituency surgeries and events at weekends as well as long days in Parliament in the week, including sometimes late into the evening if late votes.
Your comparisons are utterly meaningless till MPs are banned from accepting all outside money, and given a rather higher salary (which I think is itself justifiable, but not when too many are taking the piss).
On topic. In my analyse of polls for trends I am no longer including Yougov. They are just too wild and all over the shop. If I am currently closely looking for sign of Tory share shrinking (not finding it yet by the way) including Yougov could suggest a trend that isn’t true, and yougov flip wildly the other way two weeks later making mockery of peoples trend following.
I’m just putting a line through all their polls to be honest.
A serious post (for once) on the strikes and railways:
Drivers get paid too much. I knew a railway worker - one of the grunts on the ground who had to go out in all weathers to keep the railways working, often doing hard physical labour - who was fed up with the way the railway unions concentrated on the public-facing roles such as drivers or guards, over the people who actually kept the system running. And whose failures could cause as many delays or deaths as drivers - if not more.
In fact, there was a certain amount of condescension from drivers towards trackworkers.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
If your rent went up by 10% this year, your food bill by 20%, your petrol by 25% etc, but your employer gave you a 2% pay rise, why wouldn't you strike unless your employer met your cost of living increases?
Because you will lose your job as the employer would have to pass on the increases to consumers already squeezed and unable to pay for the service you provide
So what you're saying is, when my rent goes up by 10%, other costs by 20%, etc, I should just sit there like a mug and accept it?
At the bare minimum you resign and go work somewhere else who will pay you more.
I do not have a problem with people asking for pay rises that match the cost of living. If the company won't pay, you go elsewhere.
In many cases that is the reality of the present crisis but of course finding a higher paid job elsewhere is a good solution if there is one available
If you were a business, and your prices rose by 10%, you would seek to pass as much of that price rise on to the consumer as possible.
Why would you assume that workers, facing price rises of their own, would not seek to pass as many of those costs on to their employer as possible?
That gives workers two choices, strike at their current job for more pay, or go seek employment elsewhere. Both are rational from the point of view from the worker. Only sitting there and accepting a below inflation pay increase is irrational.
Unfortunately that is how inflation creates wage-price spirals. But that is the fault of the banks for printing money and imagining there would be no consequences.
Printing money has nothing to do with the inflation we now see which is due to supply-side factors, with supplies from Russia, Ukraine and China disrupted for various obvious reasons.
“Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output.”
UK M2 money supply has increased by 25% since the pandemic started...
Re: spelling AND prounciation of personal names, one interesting example (among MANY) is common Hungarian surname "Nagy" (meaning in English large, big, great).
Which in Magyar sound to Anglophone ears like "Nodge"
But which in the USA is commonly pronouced - even by people of Hungarian ancestry whose name it is - as "Naggy".
Case where the "rules" of English proununciation trump that of it's origin.
The American pronunciation of Strachan is interesting.
What is it? Never knew anyone named that to ask them. Strack-an?
Straun. At least it was in a sportsball game I was watching one time. Took me a while to realise they weren't just mis-identifying the player. Strack-an with the ck as in loch is how it is here.
Re: spelling AND prounciation of personal names, one interesting example (among MANY) is common Hungarian surname "Nagy" (meaning in English large, big, great).
Which in Magyar sound to Anglophone ears like "Nodge"
But which in the USA is commonly pronouced - even by people of Hungarian ancestry whose name it is - as "Naggy".
Case where the "rules" of English proununciation trump that of it's origin.
The American pronunciation of Strachan is interesting.
What is it? Never knew anyone named that to ask them. Strack-an?
Straun. At least it was in a sportsball game I was watching one time. Took me a while to realise they weren't just mis-identifying the player. Strack-an with the ck as in loch is how it is here.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
Ah, you mean the RMT, who has as deputy assistant general secretary Eddie Dempsey, who is well-known as a supporter of liberalism and democracy?
I'm sorry, but as long as he's in position I see any current RMT action as support for Russia.
(dons his flameproof coat)
This RMT
The RMT Union president who is threatening to bring Britain's railways to a standstill this summer is a Putin apologist and senior member of the Communist Party backing pro-Russian separatists
A union baron plotting a summer of rail chaos is a senior member of the Communist Party who has backed pro-Russian separatists in the Ukraine. Alex Gordon, president of the RMT union, is a longstanding Marxist who has previously echoed the Kremlin’s propaganda by branding Ukraine ‘a failed state held to ransom by neo-Nazis’.
Following Moscow’s invasion of Crimea, the militant former train driver protested outside Ukraine’s embassy in London in 2015 while wearing the black and orange Ribbon of St George, a symbol of Russian military valour.
It comes as the RMT threatens to bring Britain to a standstill with the biggest rail strike in modern history. More than 40,000 staff are being balloted on industrial action in a row over pay and jobs. If members back the move, millions of passengers will endure rail misery as early as next month.
Alex Gordon, president of the RMT union, is a longstanding Marxist who has previously echoed the Kremlin’s propaganda by branding Ukraine ‘a failed state held to ransom by neo-Nazis’
Already Britain’s most militant union, the RMT has veered even further Left over the past year, rail industry sources say. ‘We could never understand why the RMT is calling strike ballots when the railway is on life support and before there have even been any proper talks,’ one senior source said. ‘Communists and Putin sympathisers have taken over key jobs in the union leadership. They are trying to drag ordinary rail workers into a confrontation which would deeply damage everyone working on the railway.’
Mr Gordon presides over the RMT’s ruling national executive committee. But he is also a major figure in the Communist Party of Britain, sitting on both its executive and political committees. The 55-year-old is also chairman of the Marx Memorial Library in North London, where Communist dictator Vladimir Lenin worked during his exile from Russia.
It comes as the RMT threatens to bring Britain to a standstill with the biggest rail strike in modern history. More than 40,000 staff are being balloted on industrial action in a row over pay and jobs
Re: spelling AND prounciation of personal names, one interesting example (among MANY) is common Hungarian surname "Nagy" (meaning in English large, big, great).
Which in Magyar sound to Anglophone ears like "Nodge"
But which in the USA is commonly pronouced - even by people of Hungarian ancestry whose name it is - as "Naggy".
Case where the "rules" of English proununciation trump that of it's origin.
We have our own problems with our own native surnames. How confusing must it be to a foreigner that Cholmondly is pronounced “Chumley” and Bottomley is pronounced
In USA "Chumley" is name for mid-20th cen. cartoon character as well as early-21st cen. "reality" TV icon from "Pawn Stars".
The coffeeshop across from my own humble abode offers a "Chumley" which is their version of Starfucks "Frappiccino".
Addendum - Maybe also worth mentioning, that in America we have Worcester, Massachusetts AND Wooster, Ohio.
Re: spelling AND prounciation of personal names, one interesting example (among MANY) is common Hungarian surname "Nagy" (meaning in English large, big, great).
Which in Magyar sound to Anglophone ears like "Nodge"
But which in the USA is commonly pronouced - even by people of Hungarian ancestry whose name it is - as "Naggy".
Case where the "rules" of English proununciation trump that of it's origin.
The American pronunciation of Strachan is interesting.
What is it? Never knew anyone named that to ask them. Strack-an?
Straun. At least it was in a sportsball game I was watching one time. Took me a while to realise they weren't just mis-identifying the player. Strack-an with the ck as in loch is how it is here.
Though the original Scots aspirated /ch/ is not a /k/ obvs.
The surname was often anglicised to Strahan, for obvious reasons as being closer to the original phonemes while still written in (southern) English orthography.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
Ah, you mean the RMT, who has as deputy assistant general secretary Eddie Dempsey, who is well-known as a supporter of liberalism and democracy?
I'm sorry, but as long as he's in position I see any current RMT action as support for Russia.
(dons his flameproof coat)
This RMT
The RMT Union president who is threatening to bring Britain's railways to a standstill this summer is a Putin apologist and senior member of the Communist Party backing pro-Russian separatists
A union baron plotting a summer of rail chaos is a senior member of the Communist Party who has backed pro-Russian separatists in the Ukraine. Alex Gordon, president of the RMT union, is a longstanding Marxist who has previously echoed the Kremlin’s propaganda by branding Ukraine ‘a failed state held to ransom by neo-Nazis’.
Following Moscow’s invasion of Crimea, the militant former train driver protested outside Ukraine’s embassy in London in 2015 while wearing the black and orange Ribbon of St George, a symbol of Russian military valour.
It comes as the RMT threatens to bring Britain to a standstill with the biggest rail strike in modern history. More than 40,000 staff are being balloted on industrial action in a row over pay and jobs. If members back the move, millions of passengers will endure rail misery as early as next month.
Alex Gordon, president of the RMT union, is a longstanding Marxist who has previously echoed the Kremlin’s propaganda by branding Ukraine ‘a failed state held to ransom by neo-Nazis’
Already Britain’s most militant union, the RMT has veered even further Left over the past year, rail industry sources say. ‘We could never understand why the RMT is calling strike ballots when the railway is on life support and before there have even been any proper talks,’ one senior source said. ‘Communists and Putin sympathisers have taken over key jobs in the union leadership. They are trying to drag ordinary rail workers into a confrontation which would deeply damage everyone working on the railway.’
Mr Gordon presides over the RMT’s ruling national executive committee. But he is also a major figure in the Communist Party of Britain, sitting on both its executive and political committees. The 55-year-old is also chairman of the Marx Memorial Library in North London, where Communist dictator Vladimir Lenin worked during his exile from Russia.
It comes as the RMT threatens to bring Britain to a standstill with the biggest rail strike in modern history. More than 40,000 staff are being balloted on industrial action in a row over pay and jobs
Strikes are probably one of the few things that could push the polls back to the Tories, particularly if they are led by Putin sympathisers.
Not a great Yougov for the Tories certainly, 31% would be back to 2001 levels and barely above their 1997 voteshare.
Techne a bit better for them at 35%
No Tory poll leads for 5 months and 14 days...
There was a period of over two years during the 2010-15 Parliament where no Conservative leads were recorded - and much good that ended up doing EdM.
IMHO the main point to be taken away from the polling at present is that Labour shows no signs of getting away from what is, by most reasonable measures, a pretty hopeless Government. Tony Blair typically held leads of anything between fifteen and thirty points for years on end prior to the '97 election.
If though you are implying that Labour actually need to pull away to double digit to be able to win, and swing back as 2015 is always the norm, I would call you wrong. An alternative example could be the 2005 election campaign, much smaller Labour leads, and pretty much the popular vote the parties ended with, suggesting Tories would get about 33 and they got about 33. What slightly obscures both 2005 and 2015 is the vagaries of tactical voting against Tories in the three Blair wins, that in 2015 ended with a bang. Hint: it might be back.
Not a great Yougov for the Tories certainly, 31% would be back to 2001 levels and barely above their 1997 voteshare.
Techne a bit better for them at 35%
No Tory poll leads for 5 months and 14 days...
We are doomed to a Labour government unless the Tories grow some and get rid of The Clown
If not recently, then when?
Because every day that BoJo stays in No 10 is a day that he drags the state of the country, and the reputation of his party, further onto the rocks.
At some point, I'm not sure exactly when, the mind of the Conservative Party will flip from "perhaps we need to vapourise Johnson, but the time is not yet ripe" to "maybe we should have got rid of him, but it's too late now".
BERLIN — Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder on Friday resigned from his position as chairman of Russian state energy giant Rosneft amid growing calls in Europe for him to face sanctions unless he gives up his income from Russia.
Rosneft said Schröder had informed the company that it was “impossible” to continue in the role. The former chancellor — who took up his $600,000-a-year position at Rosneft in 2017 — had been “invaluable” in implementing large-scale infrastructure projects in Russia and Germany, the company said in a statement.
Re: spelling AND prounciation of personal names, one interesting example (among MANY) is common Hungarian surname "Nagy" (meaning in English large, big, great).
Which in Magyar sound to Anglophone ears like "Nodge"
But which in the USA is commonly pronouced - even by people of Hungarian ancestry whose name it is - as "Naggy".
Case where the "rules" of English proununciation trump that of it's origin.
The American pronunciation of Strachan is interesting.
What is it? Never knew anyone named that to ask them. Strack-an?
Straun. At least it was in a sportsball game I was watching one time. Took me a while to realise they weren't just mis-identifying the player. Strack-an with the ck as in loch is how it is here.
Though the original Scots aspirated /ch/ is not a /k/ obvs.
The surname was often anglicised to Strahan, for obvious reasons as being closer to the original phonemes while still written in (southern) English orthography.
Think that the American surname Strahan (Stray-han or Stray-an) is derived from Strachan?
Plenty of Scots names got put through the ringer in America.
And others. One common surname here is Snyder or Snider which in most cases started out as Schneider. Similar to Dutch (Neatherlands not Pennslyvania) Snijders, which also means "cutter, tailor" in English.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
If your rent went up by 10% this year, your food bill by 20%, your petrol by 25% etc, but your employer gave you a 2% pay rise, why wouldn't you strike unless your employer met your cost of living increases?
Because you will lose your job as the employer would have to pass on the increases to consumers already squeezed and unable to pay for the service you provide
So what you're saying is, when my rent goes up by 10%, other costs by 20%, etc, I should just sit there like a mug and accept it?
At the bare minimum you resign and go work somewhere else who will pay you more.
I do not have a problem with people asking for pay rises that match the cost of living. If the company won't pay, you go elsewhere.
In many cases that is the reality of the present crisis but of course finding a higher paid job elsewhere is a good solution if there is one available
If you were a business, and your prices rose by 10%, you would seek to pass as much of that price rise on to the consumer as possible.
Why would you assume that workers, facing price rises of their own, would not seek to pass as many of those costs on to their employer as possible?
That gives workers two choices, strike at their current job for more pay, or go seek employment elsewhere. Both are rational from the point of view from the worker. Only sitting there and accepting a below inflation pay increase is irrational.
Unfortunately that is how inflation creates wage-price spirals. But that is the fault of the banks for printing money and imagining there would be no consequences.
Printing money has nothing to do with the inflation we now see which is due to supply-side factors, with supplies from Russia, Ukraine and China disrupted for various obvious reasons.
“Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output.”
UK M2 money supply has increased by 25% since the pandemic started...
Not a great Yougov for the Tories certainly, 31% would be back to 2001 levels and barely above their 1997 voteshare.
Techne a bit better for them at 35%
No Tory poll leads for 5 months and 14 days...
There was a period of over two years during the 2010-15 Parliament where no Conservative leads were recorded - and much good that ended up doing EdM.
IMHO the main point to be taken away from the polling at present is that Labour shows no signs of getting away from what is, by most reasonable measures, a pretty hopeless Government. Tony Blair typically held leads of anything between fifteen and thirty points for years on end prior to the '97 election.
No one's ever had poll leads over a sustained period like Blair. So that's hardly the comparison to judge by.
On topic. In my analyse of polls for trends I am no longer including Yougov. They are just too wild and all over the shop. If I am currently closely looking for sign of Tory share shrinking (not finding it yet by the way) including Yougov could suggest a trend that isn’t true, and yougov flip wildly the other way two weeks later making mockery of peoples trend following.
I’m just putting a line through all their polls to be honest.
Tsk! Cherry-picking in other words!
The cherry’s a rotten apple that could make my predictions look pear shaped.
Re: spelling AND prounciation of personal names, one interesting example (among MANY) is common Hungarian surname "Nagy" (meaning in English large, big, great).
Which in Magyar sound to Anglophone ears like "Nodge"
But which in the USA is commonly pronouced - even by people of Hungarian ancestry whose name it is - as "Naggy".
Case where the "rules" of English proununciation trump that of it's origin.
We have our own problems with our own native surnames. How confusing must it be to a foreigner that Cholmondly is pronounced “Chumley” and Bottomley is pronounced
In USA "Chumley" is name for mid-20th cen. cartoon character as well as early-21st cen. "reality" TV icon from "Pawn Stars".
The coffeeshop across from my own humble abode offers a "Chumley" which is their version of Starfucks "Frappiccino".
Addendum - Maybe also worth mentioning, that in America we have Worcester, Massachusetts AND Wooster, Ohio.
You might enjoy this: free access at the cost of a little hassle, but you can see the first page first. Not many academic papers start with a Cholmondeley joke.
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
Ah, you mean the RMT, who has as deputy assistant general secretary Eddie Dempsey, who is well-known as a supporter of liberalism and democracy?
I'm sorry, but as long as he's in position I see any current RMT action as support for Russia.
(dons his flameproof coat)
This RMT
The RMT Union president who is threatening to bring Britain's railways to a standstill this summer is a Putin apologist and senior member of the Communist Party backing pro-Russian separatists
A union baron plotting a summer of rail chaos is a senior member of the Communist Party who has backed pro-Russian separatists in the Ukraine. Alex Gordon, president of the RMT union, is a longstanding Marxist who has previously echoed the Kremlin’s propaganda by branding Ukraine ‘a failed state held to ransom by neo-Nazis’.
Following Moscow’s invasion of Crimea, the militant former train driver protested outside Ukraine’s embassy in London in 2015 while wearing the black and orange Ribbon of St George, a symbol of Russian military valour.
It comes as the RMT threatens to bring Britain to a standstill with the biggest rail strike in modern history. More than 40,000 staff are being balloted on industrial action in a row over pay and jobs. If members back the move, millions of passengers will endure rail misery as early as next month.
Alex Gordon, president of the RMT union, is a longstanding Marxist who has previously echoed the Kremlin’s propaganda by branding Ukraine ‘a failed state held to ransom by neo-Nazis’
Already Britain’s most militant union, the RMT has veered even further Left over the past year, rail industry sources say. ‘We could never understand why the RMT is calling strike ballots when the railway is on life support and before there have even been any proper talks,’ one senior source said. ‘Communists and Putin sympathisers have taken over key jobs in the union leadership. They are trying to drag ordinary rail workers into a confrontation which would deeply damage everyone working on the railway.’
Mr Gordon presides over the RMT’s ruling national executive committee. But he is also a major figure in the Communist Party of Britain, sitting on both its executive and political committees. The 55-year-old is also chairman of the Marx Memorial Library in North London, where Communist dictator Vladimir Lenin worked during his exile from Russia.
It comes as the RMT threatens to bring Britain to a standstill with the biggest rail strike in modern history. More than 40,000 staff are being balloted on industrial action in a row over pay and jobs
Strikes are probably one of the few things that could push the polls back to the Tories, particularly if they are led by Putin sympathisers.
A serious post (for once) on the strikes and railways:
Drivers get paid too much. I knew a railway worker - one of the grunts on the ground who had to go out in all weathers to keep the railways working, often doing hard physical labour - who was fed up with the way the railway unions concentrated on the public-facing roles such as drivers or guards, over the people who actually kept the system running. And whose failures could cause as many delays or deaths as drivers - if not more.
In fact, there was a certain amount of condescension from drivers towards trackworkers.
Interesting. Was that in the BR era or the Railtrack one? Sounds like BR - a contractor for Railtrack perhaps wouldn't.
BERLIN — Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder on Friday resigned from his position as chairman of Russian state energy giant Rosneft amid growing calls in Europe for him to face sanctions unless he gives up his income from Russia.
Rosneft said Schröder had informed the company that it was “impossible” to continue in the role. The former chancellor — who took up his $600,000-a-year position at Rosneft in 2017 — had been “invaluable” in implementing large-scale infrastructure projects in Russia and Germany, the company said in a statement.
You can continue to hope he will, eventually, show some remorse -- if you are a cockeyed optimist..
He is an utterly despicable human being.
Keynes famously said "I change my mind when the facts change". Schroder - if he were merely a fallible human being like the rest of us - should have said
"I thought that by tying Germany and Russia closer together we could help bring peace to Europe. Unfortunately I was mistaken. The Putin regime has used the revenues from selling us gas to invade a sovereign nation and inflict terrible hardships and death onto innocent people."
We really should not try to normalise our western, biased perspective on this conflict. It is vital to see this from Russia's perspective. They have been invaded time and time again, from west, east north and south, and from space and from strange creatures deep underground, and it is utterly fair enough for them to want a buffer zone. Imagine if Scotland and England had fought for centuries; surely England would want all of the Borders up to the Clyde-Forth barrier to act as their security zone lebensraum?
The western media - whether the BBC, Guardian, or the RMT's in-house journal - has an inherent anti-Russian bias, and we should judge the information accordingly, particularly when compared to the free Russian media. How do we know the tanks shown on Oryx are Russian and not Ukrainian? Bias is everywhere, and both sides are as bad as each other. In fact, I'd argue the so-called 'free' western media is worse, because claiming you are free is a sure-fire indicator you are, in reality, a mouthpiece of a fascist state.
Throughout history, combatants in a special operation have portrayed the other side as 'evil' or 'non-human'; witness cartoons of the Hun bayonetting babies. Our media might well be brainwashing us. We see pictures of destroyed Russian tanks - that's obviously just the Russians getting rid of old stock, and causing the fascist western governments to deplete their stockpile of cheaper missiles!
As for the way the war has been conducted: there is no independent evidence of Russian atrocities. None. There is plenty of evidence of Ukrainian Nazism; from the Azov regiment through grannies poisoning cakes to the Jewishness of their president (and what is a greater sign of being a Nazi than being a Jew?) Heck, the Azov in Mariupol have performed a war crime simply by not surrendering!
So we all need to be careful. We should always remember that we are in the wrong here. We caused this war - and by 'we', I mean us Brits, and the Russians are utterly blameless in this operation. Our soldiers are well-trained and well-organised, and our retreat from Kiev was just a feint to draw more western weapons into the theatre for them to be destroyed.
And can Putin please fill me with his little babies?
Re: spelling AND prounciation of personal names, one interesting example (among MANY) is common Hungarian surname "Nagy" (meaning in English large, big, great).
Which in Magyar sound to Anglophone ears like "Nodge"
But which in the USA is commonly pronouced - even by people of Hungarian ancestry whose name it is - as "Naggy".
Case where the "rules" of English proununciation trump that of it's origin.
The American pronunciation of Strachan is interesting.
What is it? Never knew anyone named that to ask them. Strack-an?
Straun. At least it was in a sportsball game I was watching one time. Took me a while to realise they weren't just mis-identifying the player. Strack-an with the ck as in loch is how it is here.
A serious post (for once) on the strikes and railways:
Drivers get paid too much. I knew a railway worker - one of the grunts on the ground who had to go out in all weathers to keep the railways working, often doing hard physical labour - who was fed up with the way the railway unions concentrated on the public-facing roles such as drivers or guards, over the people who actually kept the system running. And whose failures could cause as many delays or deaths as drivers - if not more.
In fact, there was a certain amount of condescension from drivers towards trackworkers.
Interesting. Was that in the BR era or the Railtrack one? Sounds like BR - a contractor for Railtrack perhaps wouldn't.
He overlapped: started with BR, then Jarvis (RI-not-in-peace).
Re: spelling AND prounciation of personal names, one interesting example (among MANY) is common Hungarian surname "Nagy" (meaning in English large, big, great).
Which in Magyar sound to Anglophone ears like "Nodge"
But which in the USA is commonly pronouced - even by people of Hungarian ancestry whose name it is - as "Naggy".
Case where the "rules" of English proununciation trump that of it's origin.
We have our own problems with our own native surnames. How confusing must it be to a foreigner that Cholmondly is pronounced “Chumley” and Bottomley is pronounced
In USA "Chumley" is name for mid-20th cen. cartoon character as well as early-21st cen. "reality" TV icon from "Pawn Stars".
The coffeeshop across from my own humble abode offers a "Chumley" which is their version of Starfucks "Frappiccino".
Addendum - Maybe also worth mentioning, that in America we have Worcester, Massachusetts AND Wooster, Ohio.
You might enjoy this: free access at the cost of a little hassle, but you can see the first page first. Not many academic papers start with a Cholmondeley joke.
A young man called Cholmondeley Colquhoun Kept as a pet a babolquhoun. His mother said, "Cholmondeley, Do you think it quite colmondeley To feed your babolquhoun with a spolquhoun?"
Re: spelling AND prounciation of personal names, one interesting example (among MANY) is common Hungarian surname "Nagy" (meaning in English large, big, great).
Which in Magyar sound to Anglophone ears like "Nodge"
But which in the USA is commonly pronouced - even by people of Hungarian ancestry whose name it is - as "Naggy".
Case where the "rules" of English proununciation trump that of it's origin.
The actor Steve Buscemi spoke about visiting Sicily and finding out he'd been mispronouncing his surname all his life.
Not a great Yougov for the Tories certainly, 31% would be back to 2001 levels and barely above their 1997 voteshare.
Techne a bit better for them at 35%
No Tory poll leads for 5 months and 14 days...
We are doomed to a Labour government unless the Tories grow some and get rid of The Clown
If not recently, then when?
Because every day that BoJo stays in No 10 is a day that he drags the state of the country, and the reputation of his party, further onto the rocks.
At some point, I'm not sure exactly when, the mind of the Conservative Party will flip from "perhaps we need to vapourise Johnson, but the time is not yet ripe" to "maybe we should have got rid of him, but it's too late now".
Yep, he's going nowhere. Labour isn't doing well enough to cause panic; a lot of his MPs probably reckon (perhaps with justification) that he's best positioned to hold the 2019 voter coalition together; and a great many will doubtless be less frightened of Johnson leading them into the next election than they are of rolling the dice on a regicide and ending up with the Foreign Secretary instead.
The few Tory MPs who called for his resignation have mostly gone silent. There is no sign at all of any of them following Christian Wakeford across the floor. Johnson is safe.
“The harsh truth is that if the policy isn't hurting, it isn't working. I know there is a difficult period ahead but the important thing is that we cannot and must not fudge the determination to stop inflation in its tracks.”
Re: spelling AND prounciation of personal names, one interesting example (among MANY) is common Hungarian surname "Nagy" (meaning in English large, big, great).
Which in Magyar sound to Anglophone ears like "Nodge"
But which in the USA is commonly pronouced - even by people of Hungarian ancestry whose name it is - as "Naggy".
Case where the "rules" of English proununciation trump that of it's origin.
The actor Steve Buscemi spoke about visiting Sicily and finding out he'd been mispronouncing his surname all his life.
Have only met one Italian America with a "gl" or "gn" in their surname who pronouces it in the Italian fashion ("g" as a semi-"y" sound) as opposed to American style that says each letter separately.
The exception is named Doglio, which she & her family pronounce "Dole-ee-oh" instead of "Dog-lee-oh" for pretty obvious reason.
Also, when I was a kid a girl in my class had the surname Suck which she & her family were VERY careful to pronounce "Soook".
Ministers fear ‘biggest rail strike in modern history’ Freight could be prioritised over passengers to counter food and petrol shortages
Fears are growing that union action on the railways billed as the biggest in modern history will bring the UK to a standstill, with empty shelves and petrol pumps running dry. Plans are being drawn up for freight trains to take priority over passenger services to keep supermarket shelves stocked... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ministers-fear-biggest-rail-strike-in-modern-history-509fzzzlp
Good on the RMT. Fight for the workers. Why not maximise their leverage to get a fair deal.
In a low inflationary environment low wage increases are tolerable but not in the current environment and cutting the numbers of skilled professionals involved in track maintenance is a battle worth fighting for
I am not at all sure this is a good news story for the country not least wage increases will add to inflation depending on the % demanded
I have said several times that Starmer and labour have not been tested on making unpopular decisions, and it will be interesting which side of the argument they come down on and how it is received in the country
The Government and businesses alike are eternally arguing for wage restraint. On the one hand, if inflation is low then the plebs don't need more money. On the other, if inflation is high then the plebs must not have more money, because that will simply stoke inflation. Either way, wages must be suppressed.
These rules do not, of course, apply to asset values, or to the pay, allowances and bonuses of special sunflowers such as CEOs of large companies and our beloved MPs.
MPs just have had 2.7%. But of coruse they are allowed to hustle on the side for whatever they can get. Imagine if a train driver refused to start till the passengers had had a whip round ...
'register' does not mean 'are not allowed to moonlight'.
There is nothing to stop tube drivers having second jobs either, they also just need to declare it.
Based on hours worked MPs earn £23.45 an hour, tube drivers earn £30.18 an hour
Time of day, time of week ... you haven't allowed for that.
And I haven't noticed subsidised restaurant cars for staff on LT trains. Or people queuing to [edit] bribe, or rather subsidise out of the kindness of the heart, them and their union, in marked contrast to the Conservative Party.
There are staff canteens for drivers.
I haven't noticed MPs striking either, or RMT drivers working 6 or 7 day weeks as MPs do with constituency surgeries and events at weekends as well as long days in Parliament in the week, including sometimes late into the evening if late votes.
Your comparisons are utterly meaningless till MPs are banned from accepting all outside money, and given a rather higher salary (which I think is itself justifiable, but not when too many are taking the piss).
Tube drivers are also not banned from outside earning but still earn more per hour worked than MPs.
Banning outside earnings even with a slightly higher salary paid for by taxpayers just further reduces the incentive for top professionals eg barristers and solicitors and doctors to become MPs
Re: spelling AND prounciation of personal names, one interesting example (among MANY) is common Hungarian surname "Nagy" (meaning in English large, big, great).
Which in Magyar sound to Anglophone ears like "Nodge"
But which in the USA is commonly pronouced - even by people of Hungarian ancestry whose name it is - as "Naggy".
Case where the "rules" of English proununciation trump that of it's origin.
The American pronunciation of Strachan is interesting.
What is it? Never knew anyone named that to ask them. Strack-an?
Straun. At least it was in a sportsball game I was watching one time. Took me a while to realise they weren't just mis-identifying the player. Strack-an with the ck as in loch is how it is here.
Though the original Scots aspirated /ch/ is not a /k/ obvs.
The surname was often anglicised to Strahan, for obvious reasons as being closer to the original phonemes while still written in (southern) English orthography.
Think that the American surname Strahan (Stray-han or Stray-an) is derived from Strachan?
Plenty of Scots names got put through the ringer in America.
And others. One common surname here is Snyder or Snider which in most cases started out as Schneider. Similar to Dutch (Neatherlands not Pennslyvania) Snijders, which also means "cutter, tailor" in English.
I’ve know Strachans who’ve pronounced their surname “Strawn” - and don’t get me started on Norman French surnames as they are another level of spelling/pronounciation issues.
Not a great Yougov for the Tories certainly, 31% would be back to 2001 levels and barely above their 1997 voteshare.
Techne a bit better for them at 35%
No Tory poll leads for 5 months and 14 days...
There was a period of over two years during the 2010-15 Parliament where no Conservative leads were recorded - and much good that ended up doing EdM.
IMHO the main point to be taken away from the polling at present is that Labour shows no signs of getting away from what is, by most reasonable measures, a pretty hopeless Government. Tony Blair typically held leads of anything between fifteen and thirty points for years on end prior to the '97 election.
No one's ever had poll leads over a sustained period like Blair. So that's hardly the comparison to judge by.
That's a fair point. Still think it's reasonable to conclude that the Opposition should be doing better though.
Not a great Yougov for the Tories certainly, 31% would be back to 2001 levels and barely above their 1997 voteshare.
Techne a bit better for them at 35%
No Tory poll leads for 5 months and 14 days...
There was a period of over two years during the 2010-15 Parliament where no Conservative leads were recorded - and much good that ended up doing EdM.
IMHO the main point to be taken away from the polling at present is that Labour shows no signs of getting away from what is, by most reasonable measures, a pretty hopeless Government. Tony Blair typically held leads of anything between fifteen and thirty points for years on end prior to the '97 election.
If though you are implying that Labour actually need to pull away to double digit to be able to win, and swing back as 2015 is always the norm, I would call you wrong. An alternative example could be the 2005 election campaign, much smaller Labour leads, and pretty much the popular vote the parties ended with, suggesting Tories would get about 33 and they got about 33. What slightly obscures both 2005 and 2015 is the vagaries of tactical voting against Tories in the three Blair wins, that in 2015 ended with a bang. Hint: it might be back.
My recollection of 2015 was folk refusing to believe the polling evidence of a total collapse of the Lib Dems in the areas they held. There was an ITN poll some way out which showed them losing every single seat in the South West. No one took it seriously. I did. Hence I called Tory majority very early.*
*This isn't a boast. I called 2017 totally wrong. And Brexit.
Comments
I think Starmer may well have a similar defence and I think he is more than likely to avoid a FPN but I am less sure about Rayner
Try being an employer trying to recruit at minimum wage just now.
That applies to both public and private sector. They simply can't.
For fans of the free market, that means the only solution is pay rises.
The consumer will have to lump it.
Why would you assume that workers, facing price rises of their own, would not seek to pass as many of those costs on to their employer as possible?
That gives workers two choices, strike at their current job for more pay, or go seek employment elsewhere. Both are rational from the point of view from the worker. Only sitting there and accepting a below inflation pay increase is irrational.
Unfortunately that is how inflation creates wage-price spirals. But that is the fault of the banks for printing money and imagining there would be no consequences.
Will recession damage the Tories or provoke a 2010 style 'it started in America' cling to nurse effect that artificially inflated the Brown election result and stopped a total meltdown.
Boris' statement today suggests to me they are going to throw money at it.
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/fury-as-more-than-700-rail-journeys-a-day-are-slashed-by-scotrail/
Yet another reason why private transport is far superior to public transport though.
Rather clearer is that the 2.2% offer is being adversely compared by the unioon to 11.1% RPI inflation.
Rishi Sunak, new entrant to the Sunday Times rich list, agrees with that sentiment.
Yeah, right.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Macdonald_Sarsfield_Cod'd
Took me a while to grasp, but Cod'd is just an alternative way of spelling Cody which is just anglised/bastardized form of O'Cuidighthigh or (more helpfully perhaps to most PBers) Mac Óda
Leeds United and Burnley have threatened to bring a claim for substantial damages against the Premier League and Everton believing the Merseyside club have seriously breached financial rules.
The two clubs sent a letter last week warning they reserve the right to take legal action against the Premier League and Everton, and demanding details of what — if any — action or investigation the league has started after Everton recorded losses totalling £371.8 million over the last three years.
The Premier League’s profit and financial sustainability rules allow clubs to lose a maximum £105 million over a three-year period or face sanctions which include points deductions for serious breaches. Leeds and Burnley want an independent commission to decide if Everton should face such sanctions.
Losses caused by the Covid pandemic can be written off but Leeds and Burnley have raised concerns that media reports and Companies House filings show Everton’s Covid-related losses are more than three times that of clubs of a similar size.
The Premier League declined to comment. An Everton spokesman told The Times: “We have worked so closely with the Premier League to make sure we are compliant, we are comfortable we have complied with the rules.
“External auditors have told us what we can and cannot claim against the pandemic.
“If they want to take legal action then they can do so by all means.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/leeds-and-burnley-threaten-legal-action-over-everton-finances-ptttlj9fc
https://uk.jobted.com/salary/train-driver
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7422750/tube-drivers-paid-london-underground-salary/
MPs work 69 hours a week on average
https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/apr/23/who-works-most-teachers-or-mps
Eggs 101: Everything You Need To Know About Eggs - Dr. Oz: The Best Of Season 12
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIbOji9PJ_0
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-Barra-Coddy-Compton-MacKenzie/dp/1912476177
What we do know is which countries and places performed best from an economic impact, a deaths impact, and a public freedom impact. We also know that certain demographic factors - in particular intergenerational households - correlated very strongly with bad outcomes.
We know - and should have known fairly early on - that the virus (like pretty much all viruses) hated sunshine and fresh air.
We also know that Denmark, which did a lot of risk stratification, had the smallest economic impact, essentially zero excess deaths, and people were able to go about their daily lives largely unimpeded.
But this stratification was not without its civil liberties impacts. Almost everyone was required to get a PCR test every other week for their "Coronapas" app, and to show a green result to get into the supermarket. For someone who worked in a care home, then the testing regime was even more stringent. There were plenty of people in Denmark who - because they had a job that led them to be in contact with lots of people - were not allowed to see older relatives, or even to see people who worked with older residents. There were lots of rules that needed to be followed.
The point is that, while there were 60 million experiences of lockdown in the UK, there were also 60 million ideas about what the best response is and was.
And I find the 'chuck everyone in a bucket, label them according to their worst example, and then throw cold sick on them' attitude to be somewhere between boring and absurd.
“Wall Street stocks sink into bear market as growth concerns mount
S&P 500 down 20% from record peak reached early in 2022”
Which in Magyar sound to Anglophone ears like "Nodge"
But which in the USA is commonly pronouced - even by people of Hungarian ancestry whose name it is - as "Naggy".
Case where the "rules" of English proununciation trump that of it's origin.
Based on hours worked MPs earn £23.45 an hour, tube drivers earn £30.18 an hour
The inflation rate is the excuse for eternal wage restraint (as I said before, low inflation = you don't need more money, high inflation = you must not have more money because it will cause more inflation,) but the underlying cause is rentier interest. Big businesses don't want to pay higher wages because they might have to cut returns to shareholders and those fat bonuses; Government (especially one that derives the majority of its votes and almost all its funds from homeowning pensioners, their expectant heirs, and the very, very rich) doesn't want to pay higher wages because it would probably be forced to extract more in tax from the well-off.
Don't fall for the panic about wage-inflationary spirals. It's all just an excuse to carve an ever-larger wedge of the cake for the wealthy.
Plenty of folk haven't got the "massive pool of unemployed" idea out of their head.
If everyone gets a better job, who cleans the bogs at the station?
And how much should they be paid?
And I haven't noticed subsidised restaurant cars for staff on LT trains. Or people queuing to [edit] bribe, or rather subsidise out of the kindness of the heart, them and their union, in marked contrast to the Conservative Party.
Actually, I think there is a case fort increasing MP's pay - but banning all moonlighting and outside money at the same time.
As I said, this is how wage-price inflationary spirals happen, but to ask workers for restraint while accepting that companies can raise prices due to inflation is just hypocrisy, as others have pointed out in this thread.
We really should not try to normalise our western, biased perspective on this conflict. It is vital to see this from Russia's perspective. They have been invaded time and time again, from west, east north and south, and from space and from strange creatures deep underground, and it is utterly fair enough for them to want a buffer zone. Imagine if Scotland and England had fought for centuries; surely England would want all of the Borders up to the Clyde-Forth barrier to act as their security zone lebensraum?
The western media - whether the BBC, Guardian, or the RMT's in-house journal - has an inherent anti-Russian bias, and we should judge the information accordingly, particularly when compared to the free Russian media. How do we know the tanks shown on Oryx are Russian and not Ukrainian? Bias is everywhere, and both sides are as bad as each other. In fact, I'd argue the so-called 'free' western media is worse, because claiming you are free is a sure-fire indicator you are, in reality, a mouthpiece of a fascist state.
Throughout history, combatants in a special operation have portrayed the other side as 'evil' or 'non-human'; witness cartoons of the Hun bayonetting babies. Our media might well be brainwashing us. We see pictures of destroyed Russian tanks - that's obviously just the Russians getting rid of old stock, and causing the fascist western governments to deplete their stockpile of cheaper missiles!
As for the way the war has been conducted: there is no independent evidence of Russian atrocities. None. There is plenty of evidence of Ukrainian Nazism; from the Azov regiment through grannies poisoning cakes to the Jewishness of their president (and what is a greater sign of being a Nazi than being a Jew?) Heck, the Azov in Mariupol have performed a war crime simply by not surrendering!
So we all need to be careful. We should always remember that we are in the wrong here. We caused this war - and by 'we', I mean us Brits, and the Russians are utterly blameless in this operation. Our soldiers are well-trained and well-organised, and our retreat from Kiev was just a feint to draw more western weapons into the theatre for them to be destroyed.
And can Putin please fill me with his little babies?
(does this get Nigel's award?)
However. Fundamentally it is Super League by other means.
I haven't noticed MPs striking either, or RMT drivers working 6 or 7 day weeks as MPs do with constituency surgeries and events at weekends as well as long days in Parliament in the week, including sometimes late into the evening if late votes.
Every seat and backdrop is unique, in candidates, age of voters etc, we can’t expect libdems to always achieve the ridiculous swing required after Shropshire North.
I haven’t bet on this one, but found 6-1 too juicy to refuse for Conservatives in Wakefield (any sort of angry local labour candidate standing against Starmer’s stooge will help my bet)
I’m minded to bet against Libdems winning this West Country seat too - in a credible effort but no cigar type of thing.
I'm sorry, but as long as he's in position I see any current RMT action as support for Russia.
(dons his flameproof coat)
IMHO the main point to be taken away from the polling at present is that Labour shows no signs of getting away from what is, by most reasonable measures, a pretty hopeless Government. Tony Blair typically held leads of anything between fifteen and thirty points for years on end prior to the '97 election.
Same for august Washington State Legislature as for your Step-Mother of Parliaments.
Members are always moaning about how hard they work. With the ones moaning loudest typically working the least.
SOME do work very hard. But may do fuck-all. So "69-hours a week" as an "average" is ipso facto "hog-wash".
I’m just putting a line through all their polls to be honest.
Drivers get paid too much. I knew a railway worker - one of the grunts on the ground who had to go out in all weathers to keep the railways working, often doing hard physical labour - who was fed up with the way the railway unions concentrated on the public-facing roles such as drivers or guards, over the people who actually kept the system running. And whose failures could cause as many delays or deaths as drivers - if not more.
In fact, there was a certain amount of condescension from drivers towards trackworkers.
UK M2 money supply has increased by 25% since the pandemic started...
Strack-an with the ck as in loch is how it is here.
The RMT Union president who is threatening to bring Britain's railways to a standstill this summer is a Putin apologist and senior member of the Communist Party backing pro-Russian separatists
A union baron plotting a summer of rail chaos is a senior member of the Communist Party who has backed pro-Russian separatists in the Ukraine. Alex Gordon, president of the RMT union, is a longstanding Marxist who has previously echoed the Kremlin’s propaganda by branding Ukraine ‘a failed state held to ransom by neo-Nazis’.
Following Moscow’s invasion of Crimea, the militant former train driver protested outside Ukraine’s embassy in London in 2015 while wearing the black and orange Ribbon of St George, a symbol of Russian military valour.
It comes as the RMT threatens to bring Britain to a standstill with the biggest rail strike in modern history. More than 40,000 staff are being balloted on industrial action in a row over pay and jobs. If members back the move, millions of passengers will endure rail misery as early as next month.
Alex Gordon, president of the RMT union, is a longstanding Marxist who has previously echoed the Kremlin’s propaganda by branding Ukraine ‘a failed state held to ransom by neo-Nazis’
Already Britain’s most militant union, the RMT has veered even further Left over the past year, rail industry sources say. ‘We could never understand why the RMT is calling strike ballots when the railway is on life support and before there have even been any proper talks,’ one senior source said. ‘Communists and Putin sympathisers have taken over key jobs in the union leadership. They are trying to drag ordinary rail workers into a confrontation which would deeply damage everyone working on the railway.’
Mr Gordon presides over the RMT’s ruling national executive committee. But he is also a major figure in the Communist Party of Britain, sitting on both its executive and political committees. The 55-year-old is also chairman of the Marx Memorial Library in North London, where Communist dictator Vladimir Lenin worked during his exile from Russia.
It comes as the RMT threatens to bring Britain to a standstill with the biggest rail strike in modern history. More than 40,000 staff are being balloted on industrial action in a row over pay and jobs
The coffeeshop across from my own humble abode offers a "Chumley" which is their version of Starfucks "Frappiccino".
Addendum - Maybe also worth mentioning, that in America we have Worcester, Massachusetts AND Wooster, Ohio.
The surname was often anglicised to Strahan, for obvious reasons as being closer to the original phonemes while still written in (southern) English orthography.
Because every day that BoJo stays in No 10 is a day that he drags the state of the country, and the reputation of his party, further onto the rocks.
At some point, I'm not sure exactly when, the mind of the Conservative Party will flip from "perhaps we need to vapourise Johnson, but the time is not yet ripe" to "maybe we should have got rid of him, but it's too late now".
You can continue to hope he will, eventually, show some remorse -- if you are a cockeyed optimist..
Plenty of Scots names got put through the ringer in America.
And others. One common surname here is Snyder or Snider which in most cases started out as Schneider. Similar to Dutch (Neatherlands not Pennslyvania) Snijders, which also means "cutter, tailor" in English.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/05/19/monetarists-right-inflation-now-have-different-warning/ (£££)
So that's hardly the comparison to judge by.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3814220
You can continue to hope he will, eventually, show some remorse -- if you are a cockeyed optimist..
He is an utterly despicable human being.
Keynes famously said "I change my mind when the facts change". Schroder - if he were merely a fallible human being like the rest of us - should have said
"I thought that by tying Germany and Russia closer together we could help bring peace to Europe. Unfortunately I was mistaken. The Putin regime has used the revenues from selling us gas to invade a sovereign nation and inflict terrible hardships and death onto innocent people."
Kept as a pet a babolquhoun.
His mother said, "Cholmondeley,
Do you think it quite colmondeley
To feed your babolquhoun with a spolquhoun?"
the wonder of google!
The few Tory MPs who called for his resignation have mostly gone silent. There is no sign at all of any of them following Christian Wakeford across the floor. Johnson is safe.
John Major, 1989
It was Boris who got the Tories that landslide win in 2019 after all
The exception is named Doglio, which she & her family pronounce "Dole-ee-oh" instead of "Dog-lee-oh" for pretty obvious reason.
Also, when I was a kid a girl in my class had the surname Suck which she & her family were VERY careful to pronounce "Soook".
Banning outside earnings even with a slightly higher salary paid for by taxpayers just further reduces the incentive for top professionals eg barristers and solicitors and doctors to become MPs
There was an ITN poll some way out which showed them losing every single seat in the South West. No one took it seriously.
I did. Hence I called Tory majority very early.*
*This isn't a boast. I called 2017 totally wrong. And Brexit.