At Grangemouth there's going to be about 1,000 people on the dole instead of being employed, albeit on lower pensions, etc. Imigrants from poor countries desperate for work must be must be looking on with amazement.
Absolutely,this is what globalisation does.... I have worked with some amazingly protected companies,but when they were faced with global competition,they fell apart. One made 30% of the workforce redundant,and no one noticed the difference. On rail fares ,nobody subsidises my gas guzzler,why do I subsidise the rail users,let the fares rise to their true economic cost. No doubt some wise PB er will tell me my gas guzzler is being subsidised by the state. I also have a bus pass and enjoy using it just for the sport,but can't help but notice that almost everyone on board is on a free pass after 10.00am,so the bus companies are also being hugely subsidised.
Off the top of my head roads are paid for by general taxation.
Isn't there some theoretical hypothecation with Road Tax?
Not since the 30s I think.
I'll take your word for that, thanks. Actually I'll look it up just out of random interest. It was abolished over here about 10 years ago as part of a tax simplification effort.
EDIT: You are on the money tonight with the pub trivia. Spot on - 1937 to be precise. Thanks again. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_Excise_Duty
I'm something of a cyclist (although haven't been doing much recently) so the point that we pay for the roads as much as every other user does is one we hold onto firmly.
Salmond was hinting on WATO that the stumbling block in the negotiations was not the terms & conditions - I wonder if it was the disciplinary action against the UNITE official/employee involved in Falkirk that proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back?
No. I'm with you on that. I particularly like cranes. I've always fancied working at a busy docks, wearing a high-viz vest and pointing at containers. And stuff.
I wonder if it was the disciplinary action against the UNITE official/employee involved in Falkirk that proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back?
Only people after money, as you say, which is why they deserve a good old fashioned shoeing.
Or whatever the politically correct equivalent is. A talking to about their attitudes and moral compass with a team of counsellors. Followed by a good shoeing.
Siobhán Dowling @SiobhanDowling 22m Yes, Roma can have blonde children: DNA test proves girl (7) belongs to Roma family in Ireland. http://shar.es/IarwE via
By the logic of the tabloids thats "bad news for the parents of Maddie and Ben"
Not at all. The power and awe of industrial and urban landscapes can be just as fascinating as those of untouched nature.
Not at all,I love to see such a huge,and complex industrial city such as Grangemouth,at the same time,I love the wilderness of Bowland,Teesdale, and large parts of Scotland,Knoydart etc. Being a ChemEng,I suppose it distorts my views.
Twitter ScotlandTonight @ScotlandTonight 49m We'll be live at the Grangemouth plant during our one-hour #scotnight special tonight. Watch on STV from 10:30pm.... http://fb.me/6jRr86Hxq
Newsnight Scotland @NewsnightScot 1h Join us at 10.30 tonight on BBC-2 for a full length #newsnicht as the Grangemouth story continues to unfold.
Is Edmund's widget the thingy that can block a particular poster? (Makes me wonder whether anyone blocks my comments).
Andy – the widget is for wimps who like to talk only to people who agree with them in a locked room. Why they come on a cross-partisan politics forum if this is their preference is beyond me.
The trick when using the widget is only to put tim on Ignore; nobody else.
On a site called Political Betting, why on earth would you "ignore" one of the few people who sometimes posts about, er, Political Betting?
Twitter ScotlandTonight @ScotlandTonight 49m We'll be live at the Grangemouth plant during our one-hour #scotnight special tonight. Watch on STV from 10:30pm.... http://fb.me/6jRr86Hxq
Newsnight Scotland @NewsnightScot 1h Join us at 10.30 tonight on BBC-2 for a full length #newsnicht as the Grangemouth story continues to unfold.
No ta. I'm bored sick of it just reading this thread.
Is Edmund's widget the thingy that can block a particular poster? (Makes me wonder whether anyone blocks my comments).
Andy – the widget is for wimps who like to talk only to people who agree with them in a locked room. Why they come on a cross-partisan politics forum if this is their preference is beyond me.
The trick when using the widget is only to put tim on Ignore; nobody else.
On a site called Political Betting, why on earth would you "ignore" one of the few people who sometimes posts about, er, Political Betting?
I'm not going to swim a mile through a sewer with my mouth open in the hope of catching a single pearl between my teeth.
Either a. the draconian, Dickensian cuts are causing mass deprivation, starvation, children in bare feet, rickets, families on the streets etc. 'The toynbee gambit'
or B. the cap is ineffective, we are actually spending more and nothing has changed. 'The tim gambit;
Whichever spin has the most effect on a particular day...
Whatever the rights and wrongs I cannot help feeling Mr Rafferty misread Ineos' determination here.
It's a mess. Unite have certainly proved unable to see the bigger picture, as was the case with unions in many now-defunct industries in the past. I'm rather uncertain about Ineos's culpability: currently the story could be written in either direction, with Ineos being the transgressor or a victim of union intransigence. The truth probably lies in between those extremes.
Unions in many sectors manage to work together with the companies to mutual benefit. Sadly, for whatever reason, that was not the case here. And instead of protecting the jobs of their workers, Unite has seen hundreds of their own members losing their jobs.
Ineos will continue as a company. Unite's members have lost their jobs. That makes Unite the losers, with collateral damage to the Scottish economy.
One thing is for certain: Ed should release the Falkirk report into events which may sit at the heart of this mess.
Tim Bale @ProfTimBale This just in: #UKIP's official membership last week rose to 31,550. Must be hoping they'll meet the Tories going in the other direction...
Comments
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Black_square.jpg
The Unite effect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_(railroad)
If true.....goodness.
Or whatever the politically correct equivalent is. A talking to about their attitudes and moral compass with a team of counsellors. Followed by a good shoeing.
Being a ChemEng,I suppose it distorts my views.
http://www.joke.co.uk/child-catcher-costume~67146/
ScotlandTonight @ScotlandTonight 49m
We'll be live at the Grangemouth plant during our one-hour #scotnight special tonight. Watch on STV from 10:30pm.... http://fb.me/6jRr86Hxq
Newsnight Scotland @NewsnightScot 1h
Join us at 10.30 tonight on BBC-2 for a full length #newsnicht as the Grangemouth story continues to unfold.
Either a. the draconian, Dickensian cuts are causing mass deprivation, starvation, children in bare feet, rickets, families on the streets etc. 'The toynbee gambit'
or B. the cap is ineffective, we are actually spending more and nothing has changed. 'The tim gambit;
Whichever spin has the most effect on a particular day...
Unions in many sectors manage to work together with the companies to mutual benefit. Sadly, for whatever reason, that was not the case here. And instead of protecting the jobs of their workers, Unite has seen hundreds of their own members losing their jobs.
Ineos will continue as a company. Unite's members have lost their jobs. That makes Unite the losers, with collateral damage to the Scottish economy.
One thing is for certain: Ed should release the Falkirk report into events which may sit at the heart of this mess.
This just in: #UKIP's official membership last week rose to 31,550. Must be hoping they'll meet the Tories going in the other direction...