Off Topic Politics Thread

It’s what people think though. You can dismiss it as silly if you like. But that isn’t going to stop people thinking it.

I actually don’t know if you are asking seriously about the link or lack thereof. But there are trans drag performers. So that last statement is false. Perhaps you meant to add “most” at the start ?

 

That makes no sense really. Being a trans drag performer doesn’t mean performing in drag made them transition. Flawed logic I’m afraid.

 

If your genuine concern is for ThE cHiLdReN (don't worry, I know it isn't, you just think that trans people are icky and have built a whole worldview around it), we should start with actors and institutions that have a long history of grooming and preying on children, I'd imagine.

So: when are you going to take to the streets to demand that anyone under the age of 18 be banned from attending churches? Because the threat by trans people and drag performers is purely notional, while various churches have not only admitted that they've been vectors for child abuse, they've admitted that they covered it up and facilitated it.

Here's the Church of England admitting that it has been a vector for pedophilia..

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/05/c-of-e-review-uncovers-400-new-cases-of-abuse

And here's the Catholic Church:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...c-church-swept-under-the-carpet-inquiry-finds


So, again: let's start with banning minors from any interaction, in person or via the media, with religious figures. And once we've done that, we can start dealing with issues that are of far less societal concern. Because you're solely concerned about the children, obviously.

 

Posted on Mich the Bitch Mone's twatter page.

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I recently mentioned how the budget was restricting rent increases for council/social housing to no more than 7%, but hadn’t seen any mention of a rent rise restriction for private rental properties.
This is what is happening in Spain, to help people through the economic turmoil.

The Spanish government has confirmed that the current laws and measures restricting rent rises to 2%, will be extended until the end of 2023. Rents on properties currently cannot by law be increased by more than this amount, in an attempt to protect hard pressed families from rises in the cost of living. More on Fresh radio Spain 08.00-10.00

Further to this the Spanish government has put in place systems that allow commuters to book batches of tickets train/bus at vastly reduced prices or free of charge, again to help people in economic difficulties.

 

I didn’t say that or use that logic. But others clearly do and casually dismissing it unfortunately won’t be enough.

 

From the Private Eye

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17% - Pay rise demanded by Royal College of Nursing union, which government says is ‘clearly not affordable’, pointing out they are already on average of £34,000 a year.

20% - Rise in last year in NHS spending on agency nurses, who get up to £2,500 to fill a single shift because hospitals are so short-staffed.

 

It’s not quite as simple as that though. If a nurse will only work agency then the above becomes irrelevant. And at some of the rates there probably is no pay rise the nhs could give that would get them to change

 

The NHS crisis has lead to an overreliance on agency staff that needs highlighting and addressing something this current incompetent incumbents are clearly unable and/or unwilling to do.

Why is Schad's irrelevant post quoted with your comment on mine? Are you on the cooking sherry early today?

 

Except that it's not the nurses who get that kind of money, but the agencies themselves. The nurses get premium pay, but the big advantage for them is the flexibility in being able to choose which shifts they do. They also get a similar flexibility from being on the bank, run by the particular Trust they work for. Agency staff usually only come into play when there are no bank staff available.

 

There are agency pay caps. But it seems like when things get desperate that can’t or won’t stick to them

As to the other point - it is because this website is rubbish and doesn’t clear the reply boxes. I was goi g to reply to that one (I think yesterday) and then decided not to. And it leaves the start of the reply there forever even if you go to another post. And I didn’t notice

 

I have a friend who works bank but not as a nurse. It doesn’t sound overly flexible at all. Now maybe he’s been duped a bit (thinking he is at risk if he doesn’t do a certain amount) or is a bit of a wet blanket but he seems to be bounced into loads of shifts he doesn’t necessarily want to do. If the same applies to nurses then that wouldn’t be ideal

 

I have said before that using average wages as a measure for giving pay rises, is wrong. It gives a false picture and hides the fact that so many nurses are earning way below the average and doesn’t reveal the length of service and expertise that the higher paid nurses have accrued.
Below is a link to nurses pay, with a calculator showing how many years they have to be working, and on which band they need to be to earn the “average” wage.
I would imagine that the average wage could actually fall, if experienced high earning staff retire and following staff give up before reaching the wage levels of their predecessors.

https://www.nurses.co.uk/careers-hub/nhs-pay-calculator/

This is a short report on nursing shortages, which highlights fewer student nurses and the fact that they now have to pay a £9000 bursary per year for gaining nursing degrees.

NURSING shortages will get worse after student numbers plunged by 2,000 in a year, says their union.

A Royal College of Nursing report says Tory failures to tackle the workforce crisis has created the “greatest risk to publicly funded health and care services since their creation”.

Last year alone, more than 25,000 left the Nursing and Midwifery Council register, leaving 47,000 posts vacant.

Now the RCN fears the shortfall in England could soar to more than 140,000 by 2030/31.

It comes as nurses prepare to strike on December 15 and 20 after Health Secretary Steve Barclay refused to discuss pay. The RCN wants 5% above inflation.

RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen said: “Shortages and the impact on patient safety are now so serious, yet the Government has turned down our offer of formal negotiations.

“Strike action is a last resort but staff won’t stand by while patients are put in harm’s way. They are doing this for the future nursing workforce.”

Latest UCAS data shows 2,000 fewer nursing students will graduate in 2025 than in 2024.

Nursing degrees are now self-funded after bursaries were axed by the Tories in 2017, with tuition fees on average £9,000 a year.

The RCN also fears the Government’s plans to change the student loan repayment policy, leading to higher repayments for nurses. Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Labour will train an extra 10,000 nurses and midwives every year, paid for by scrapping the non-dom tax status.”

The Department of Health said the UCAS data does not yet show the final number of new students for this year.

 

A list of railway franchises and their owners. Mick Whelan, general secretary of the train drivers’ union ASLEF, is claiming that the train companies have paid out £3.2 billion in dividends, since 1996.


Avanti West Coast Part owned by Italy’s Trenitalia

C2C Run by Italy’s Trenitalia

Chiltern Railways Run by the Arriva, part of Germany’s state-controlled Deutsche Bahn Group

CrossCountry Run by the Arriva, part of Germany’s state-controlled Deutsche Bahn Group

East Midlands Railway Currently run by Abellio, part of state-owned Dutch parent company Nederlandse Spoorwegen. Plans for management buyout

Great Western Railway Part of FirstGroup, which in June rejected an approach by a American private equity firm

Greater Anglia Joint venture by Abellio, the international arm of the state-owned Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen, and the Japanese trading company Mitsui & Co

Grand Central Run by the Arriva, part of Germany’s state-controlled Deutsche Bahn Group

London North Now run by Department for Transport Eastern Railway after Virgin Trains East Coast handed (LNER) back the franchise

Northern Trains Like LNER, it is a subsidiary of the Department for Transport

Southeastern Run by a subsidiary of the Department for Transport

South Western Railway Run by FirstGroup and MTR, majority- owned by the Hong Kong government

Southern Run by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) GTR is owned by Govia, which is a joint venture between the Go-Ahead Group and France’s Keolis

Transpennine Express Part of FirstGroup

West Midlands Trains Majority owned by Abellio, part of state-owned Dutch parent company Nederlandse Spoorwegen. Plans for a management buyout

 

I wonder if anyone else had caught the interview with Ai WeiWei on Radio 4 last night? The interview followed the news about the crackdowns in China following the protests against the protracted ant-Covid measures. To be honest, I was quite pleased that the Chinese were taking action given that their handling of the issue in the first case caused the pandemic and saw this as a symptom of the failure of their vaccination programme - largely thwarted by the shear size of the population.

Listening to the news and hearing what WeiWei had to say was incredibly fascinating. I had not been aware of the measures taken by the Chinese to combat the spread of Covid and enforce the lockdown. In some cases, the doors of properties had been welded shut to prevent people leaving peoples whereas the less "draconian" measures to thwart people avoiding quarantine entailed monitoring the apps on mobile phones to track people who had left their properties. It also appears that the people who had died in the tragic fire might have been unable to escape due to the metal doors being welded in place. In other instances, the Chinese have used smart technology to prevent people leaving their flats.

WeiWei alsop made another accusation whereby it was alleged that there was a potential run on one of the Chinese banks and that the authorities had used to pretext of Covid to enforce people leaving their homes and taking their savings from the bank. There has been a lot of negative publicity abut comoanies such as Huawei where some Western governments such as the US were hostile against their technology. I had always felt that although this was draconian and perhaps driven by economic or racist pereptions of the Chinese, there was a risk albeit nowhere as near as serious as locking people in their homes. I was unaware of the extent that Smart technology is controlling society in China and found the interview to be alarming.

 

How often can you say “ I agree with Michael Gove”?
Let’s now see if his title has any power or if it is just a “let’s pretend we give a ****” title.


TORY Michael Gove called for the scrapping of tax breaks for private schools, a policy rejected by Rishi Sunak and supported by Labour.

Cabinet Minister Gove said in 2017 that removing the charitable status of private schools, which saves parents paying VAT on fees, would be one of the best ways to end society’s “burning injustices”.

Mr Gove, now Levelling Up Secretary, said to his “continuing surprise we still consider the education of the children of plutocrats and oligarchs to be a charitable activity”.

In the newspaper column, he asked why the “egregious” support should continue, saying: “How can this be justified?” Labour confirmed its policy would be to remove the status, raising £1.7billion a year.

The emergence of Mr Gove’s comments is embarrassing for the Government, which has pledged to keep the tax exemption in place.

Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “For once, I agree with Michael Gove.

“It’s just a shame the Prime Minister doesn’t.”

The PM’s spokesman said private schools’ work with state schools sharing “expertise, best practice and facilities” justified their charitable status.

 

The loss of a bus company, in Southampton, is going to cause a few problems for people, if Blue Star or AN Other doesn’t fill the gaps.

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/23157985.100-drivers-risk-losing-jobs-city-red-pulls-service/

 

This totally exposes the rip off prices being charged by rail companies.


A man saves £360 on one train journey to and from work by buying nine separate tickets.
Kieran Maguire, 60, was horrified when he discovered his return journey from Haywards Heath in West Sussex to Liverpool Lime Street would cost £441.20. The lecturer takes the journey up to twice a week to teach accounting and finance at the University of Liverpool, so was keen to find an alternative.
He worked out that if he split his three hour and 48 minute train journey into multiple tickets - instead of buying a single ticket - he could save hundreds. So now he buys nine tickets - five to Liverpool and four home - for just £81.70.