Dream on anyone who thinks the SNP are in a "perilous state".
Feels more like a one party state here now, with no valid opposition. Such a progressive party, too, the SNP - allowing police on routine patrol to carry guns, insisting that every child has a named guardian (other than their parents) and trying to create a national database / ID system through the back door which even the Information Commissioner has condemned.
But no point arguing those points with SNP supporters as they are far too besotted with the cult of Nicola...
As I said, they're riding a wave after a strong independence campaign. The fact is independence is currently dead in the water and most Scots are now no longer represented by an MP that will have any meaningful involvement in Westminster for the next 5 years.
I used the word perilous because I am really struggling to foresee how they will hold onto these seats considering they still cannot meaningfully partake in Westminster affairs. Winning seats is one thing - holding onto them is something entirely different. You win a seat because you convince the voters that you will be a good MP. You keep your seat if you actually are a good MP.
Thought Cameron should be on workers side.....but of course he is on the bosses side...it is everymans right to strike, i am amazed on here how some of you dont understand where some of your working conditions came from...they wernt handed down or given to you by greedy bosses, they were fought but your previous generation.....many who went on stirke for.
Dream on anyone who thinks the SNP are in a "perilous state".
Feels more like a one party state here now, with no valid opposition. Such a progressive party, too, the SNP - allowing police on routine patrol to carry guns, insisting that every child has a named guardian (other than their parents) and trying to create a national database / ID system through the back door which even the Information Commissioner has condemned.
But no point arguing those points with SNP supporters as they are far too besotted with the cult of Nicola...
As I said, they're riding a wave after a strong independence campaign. The fact is independence is currently dead in the water and most Scots are now no longer represented by an MP that will have any meaningful involvement in Westminster for the next 5 years.
I used the word perilous because I am really struggling to foresee how they will hold onto these seats considering they still cannot meaningfully partake in Westminster affairs. Winning seats is one thing - holding onto them is something entirely different. You win a seat because you convince the voters that you will be a good MP. You keep your seat if you actually are a good MP.
Seinn Feinn MP's seem to get re elected and I do not think they even attend Parliament .
In any case Scotland loses a lot of seats at the next election as a result of the boundary redistribution .
SF MPs cooperate with the Irish government rather than the UK one. N. Ireland is also a special case - I would not compare their reasons for voting for whichever party to any other part of the UK, for the obvious historical reasons surrounding N. Ireland's political issues.
Thought Cameron should be on workers side.....but of course he is on the bosses side...it is everymans right to strike, i am amazed on here how some of you dont understand where some of your working conditions came from...they wernt handed down or given to you by greedy bosses, they were fought but your previous generation.....many who went on stirke for.
No man strikes alone though does he? I'm sure if the grievance is intolerable they'll get the 40% of members they need to go on strike. It's when you get only 15% of the work force staging a walkout because they don't agree a train driver ,for example,should be suspended when he failed a breathalyser test and was clearly over the limit when on duty.
The early signs are that the Tories are going all out to take on the piss takers of this country. I'm all for it.
Thought Cameron should be on workers side.....but of course he is on the bosses side...it is everymans right to strike, i am amazed on here how some of you dont understand where some of your working conditions came from...they wernt handed down or to you by greedy bosses, they were fought but your previous generation.....many who went on stirke for.
Yep. As a public sector worker I'm not expecting to get a pay rise above inflation for the lifetime of this government and more than likely looking at further pay freezes. And now they are in they want to make it far harder to even protest about that situation.
As you say, there's a generation of younger workers who take sick pay, holiday pay, equality laws, maternity pay, paternity leave, health and safety, working hours laws, proper disciplinary proceedures, etc, etc totally for granted. All these things came out of the power and lobbying of the unions or through our membership of the EU. It's no suprise one of the government's first acts is to clear the way to push through their programme of public sector job losses.
Thought Cameron should be on workers side.....but of course he is on the bosses side...it is everymans right to strike, i am amazed on here how some of you dont understand where some of your working conditions came from...they wernt handed down or given to you by greedy bosses, they were fought but your previous generation.....many who went on stirke for.
No man strikes alone though does he? I'm sure if the grievance is intolerable they'll get the 40% of members they need to go on strike. It's when you get only 15% of the work force staging a walkout because they don't agree a train driver ,for example,should be suspended when he failed a breathalyser test and was clearly over the limit when on duty.
The early signs are that the Tories are going all out to take on the piss takers of this country. I'm all for it.
To be honest when there are legitimate gripes and concerns I'm happy to support the right for people to strike, even if I disagree that striking is the wrong course of action.
But the last tube strike was a slap in the face of every worker in this country. Striking because a driver was bollocked for being on the lash? I think this is why the 40% rule is important - that strike did tube drivers absolutely no favours in terms of public sympathy. If I was a tube driver I would be horrified that my union was calling a strike over something that no person outside our profession would agree was a good reason and it damages the reputation of all those working in it. There are whistleblowers within these unions who cannot openly disagree with industrial action because of the aggressive and sometimes violent intimidation that the barons either condone or ignore. At least this way those calling the strikes have to convince at least 40% of their members to vote for strike action. I'd like to see how they would have achieved this by defending someone in outrageous breach of health and safety, not to mention personal and professional moral conduct.
Thought Cameron should be on workers side.....but of course he is on the bosses side...it is everymans right to strike, i am amazed on here how some of you dont understand where some of your working conditions came from...they wernt handed down or to you by greedy bosses, they were fought but your previous generation.....many who went on stirke for.
Yep. As a public sector worker I'm not expecting to get a pay rise above inflation for the lifetime of this government and more than likely looking at further pay freezes. And now they are in they want to make it far harder to even protest about that situation.
As you say, there's a generation of younger workers who take sick pay, holiday pay, equality laws, maternity pay, paternity leave, health and safety, working hours laws, proper disciplinary proceedures, etc, etc totally for granted. All these things csme out of the power and lobbying of the unions or through our membership of the EU. It's no suprise one of the government's first acts is to clear the way to push through their programme of public sector job losses.
What really annoys me is that not everyone in this country can go and work somewhere 'cool' like google. We can't all get on a graduate recruitment scheme for an investment bank. I'm not too familiar with what the staff of Network Rail get paid (using them as an example because they are the ones planning the strike, it might be a good wage to some, not as much as they deserve to others. However, this has come about at the same time as MPs likely to get a 10% increase in their annual salary. I know they skipped 2013, but have a word. The inconsistency is galling.
Thought Cameron should be on workers side.....but of course he is on the bosses side...it is everymans right to strike, i am amazed on here how some of you dont understand where some of your working conditions came from...they wernt handed down or given to you by greedy bosses, they were fought but your previous generation.....many who went on stirke for.
No man strikes alone though does he? I'm sure if the grievance is intolerable they'll get the 40% of members they need to go on strike. It's when you get only 15% of the work force staging a walkout because they don't agree a train driver ,for example,should be suspended when he failed a breathalyser test and was clearly over the limit when on duty.
The early signs are that the Tories are going all out to take on the piss takers of this country. I'm all for it.
What about the midwifes who went on strike for the first time in over 130(?) years then, are they "piss takers" who need taking on? This legislation isn't applicable to just some unions that we might find disagreeable it'll be applicable to all.
Thought Cameron should be on workers side.....but of course he is on the bosses side...it is everymans right to strike, i am amazed on here how some of you dont understand where some of your working conditions came from...they wernt handed down or given to you by greedy bosses, they were fought but your previous generation.....many who went on stirke for.
No man strikes alone though does he? I'm sure if the grievance is intolerable they'll get the 40% of members they need to go on strike. It's when you get only 15% of the work force staging a walkout because they don't agree a train driver ,for example,should be suspended when he failed a breathalyser test and was clearly over the limit when on duty.
The early signs are that the Tories are going all out to take on the piss takers of this country. I'm all for it.
What about the midwifes who went on strike for the first time in over 130(?) years then, are they "piss takers" who need taking on? This legislation isn't applicable to just some unions that we might find disagreeable it'll be applicable to all.
It's only 40% for gods sake. It's like people on here quibbling if the top rate of tax went up if labour got in. You're acting like the Tories have banned protesting.
Thought Cameron should be on workers side.....but of course he is on the bosses side...it is everymans right to strike, i am amazed on here how some of you dont understand where some of your working conditions came from...they wernt handed down or given to you by greedy bosses, they were fought but your previous generation.....many who went on stirke for.
No man strikes alone though does he? I'm sure if the grievance is intolerable they'll get the 40% of members they need to go on strike. It's when you get only 15% of the work force staging a walkout because they don't agree a train driver ,for example,should be suspended when he failed a breathalyser test and was clearly over the limit when on duty.
The early signs are that the Tories are going all out to take on the piss takers of this country. I'm all for it.
What about the midwifes who went on strike for the first time in over 130(?) years then, are they "piss takers" who need taking on? This legislation isn't applicable to just some unions that we might find disagreeable it'll be applicable to all.
It's only 40% for gods sake. It's like people on here quibbling if the top rate of tax went up if labour got in. You're acting like the Tories have banned protesting.
One very common feature of strike action is that employers refuse to engage, and very often it is because employers don't follow the procedures they themselves have established in the workplace to deal with issues. The firefighters retirement age/pension dispute is almost a model case where the employers want to by pass very reasonable procedures which they agreed to. Anyway as I intimated on the Labour Party thread, what's to stop all the workers phoning in sick on the same day? Many years ago I worked at a beneath the streets ( small and non unionised) wine merchants where we were obliged to load the van up a very rickety wooden ladder, worn and fragile and often wet with rain. Cases of Champagne are awkward and heavy, we often said we needed a better ladder or even a modest electronic lift in the cellar to street level void. One gloomy and rainy February morning one of the guys, I even remember his name... Ronnie, slipped on the worn ladder and broke his leg and wrist. The company feigned concern, didn't change anything, didn't pay him when he was off sick, and Ronnie didn't know anything about compensation or anything and even assumed it was probably mainly his own fault for not being able to heft the cases better than he did. I give this example as either one reason Unions are of value, but there are probably some who would regard it as health and safety gone mad.
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'," he will say.
A genuine quote from David Cameron's speech today about their new snoopers charter. Trying to sneak through a way to take everyone's communication freedoms away under the guise of tackling extremism.
SF MPs cooperate with the Irish government rather than the UK one. N. Ireland is also a special case - I would not compare their reasons for voting for whichever party to any other part of the UK, for the obvious historical reasons surrounding N. Ireland's political issues.
I do understand the context of SF .My point is that I suspect many SNP supporters will take a similar view.
It will take Labour some time to make any sort of comeback . Ironically in my view the process that will derail the SNP is if Scotland get taxation powers and the Barnett formula is scrapped . Like the pre 2010 Clegg it is easy to promise the world ,it is much harder to deliver .
SF MPs cooperate with the Irish government rather than the UK one. N. Ireland is also a special case - I would not compare their reasons for voting for whichever party to any other part of the UK, for the obvious historical reasons surrounding N. Ireland's political issues.
I do understand the context of SF .My point is that I suspect many SNP supporters will take a similar view.
It will take Labour some time to make any sort of comeback . Ironically in my view the process that will derail the SNP is if Scotland get taxation powers and the Barnett formula is scrapped . Like the pre 2010 Clegg it is easy to promise the world ,it is much harder to deliver .
Giving Scotland taxation and spending powers is fine (but there will no doubt be an argument over oil taxation revenues) but they will want and need borrowing powers as well to get anywhere near their manifesto pledges without scrapping trident and claiming all the oil for themselves. The point is who underwrites Scottish borrowing so the SNP can overspend? I hope and trust that under the Tories it won't be England.
They will also learn the hard way how easy it is for business to relocate on the mainland if they put taxes up too much.
SF MPs cooperate with the Irish government rather than the UK one. N. Ireland is also a special case - I would not compare their reasons for voting for whichever party to any other part of the UK, for the obvious historical reasons surrounding N. Ireland's political issues.
I do understand the context of SF .My point is that I suspect many SNP supporters will take a similar view.
It will take Labour some time to make any sort of comeback . Ironically in my view the process that will derail the SNP is if Scotland get taxation powers and the Barnett formula is scrapped . Like the pre 2010 Clegg it is easy to promise the world ,it is much harder to deliver .
Giving Scotland taxation and spending powers is fine (but there will no doubt be an argument over oil taxation revenues) but they will want and need borrowing powers as well to get anywhere near their manifesto pledges without scrapping trident and claiming all the oil for themselves. The point is who underwrites Scottish borrowing so the SNP can overspend? I hope and trust that under the Tories it won't be England.
They will also learn the hard way how easy it is for business to relocate on the mainland if they put taxes up too much.
I'd welcome this experiment - allow the different nations to vary income and corporation rates of tax.
No one on the Left seems to believe that businesses and professionals naturally gravitate to areas where there's lower tax. Let this happen within the UK and we'll see if they still deny it.
Thought Cameron should be on workers side.....but of course he is on the bosses side...it is everymans right to strike, i am amazed on here how some of you dont understand where some of your working conditions came from...they wernt handed down or given to you by greedy bosses, they were fought but your previous generation.....many who went on stirke for.
No man strikes alone though does he? I'm sure if the grievance is intolerable they'll get the 40% of members they need to go on strike. It's when you get only 15% of the work force staging a walkout because they don't agree a train driver ,for example,should be suspended when he failed a breathalyser test and was clearly over the limit when on duty.
The early signs are that the Tories are going all out to take on the piss takers of this country. I'm all for it.
What about the midwifes who went on strike for the first time in over 130(?) years then, are they "piss takers" who need taking on? This legislation isn't applicable to just some unions that we might find disagreeable it'll be applicable to all.
It's only 40% for gods sake. It's like people on here quibbling if the top rate of tax went up if labour got in. You're acting like the Tories have banned protesting.
The left in getting hysterical shocker....
Um...no one's getting hysterical but thanks for your input anyway.
Secondly, once the principle of an arbitrary amount required for strike action is established, rather than simple majority 'yes', then the next conversation is around where that level is set. It may be 40% to start with but if the union members do start voting in greater numbers than that I would stake a large amount of money that percentage will be quickly 'reviewed' upwards.
As it happens, I think large scale strikes are only effective in very limited circumstances and what the unions will focus on instead are targeted strikes at critical workers and a work to rule instead. If everyone worked to rule in my organisation it would cause no end of difficulty for senior management and ultimately effect the general public far more and over a longer period of time than a day or two lost service here or there. No one WANTS to do that but sadly that's the corner the public sector is being backed into.
Thought Cameron should be on workers side.....but of course he is on the bosses side...it is everymans right to strike, i am amazed on here how some of you dont understand where some of your working conditions came from...they wernt handed down or given to you by greedy bosses, they were fought but your previous generation.....many who went on stirke for.
No man strikes alone though does he? I'm sure if the grievance is intolerable they'll get the 40% of members they need to go on strike. It's when you get only 15% of the work force staging a walkout because they don't agree a train driver ,for example,should be suspended when he failed a breathalyser test and was clearly over the limit when on duty.
The early signs are that the Tories are going all out to take on the piss takers of this country. I'm all for it.
What about the midwifes who went on strike for the first time in over 130(?) years then, are they "piss takers" who need taking on? This legislation isn't applicable to just some unions that we might find disagreeable it'll be applicable to all.
It's only 40% for gods sake. It's like people on here quibbling if the top rate of tax went up if labour got in. You're acting like the Tories have banned protesting.
The left in getting hysterical shocker....
Um...no one's getting hysterical but thanks for your input anyway.
Secondly, once the principle of an arbitrary amount required for strike action is established, rather than simple 'yes', then the next conversation is around where that level is set. It may be 40% to start with but if the union members do start voting in greater numbers than that I would stake a large amount of money that percentage will be quickly 'reviewed' upwards.
As it happens, I think large scale strikes are only effective in very limited circumstances and what the unions will focus on instead are targeted strikes at critical workers and a work to rule instead. If everyone worked to rule in my organisation if would cause no end of difficulty for senior management and ultimately effect the general public far more and over a longer period of time than a day or two lost service here or there. No one WANTS to do that but sadly that's the corner the public sector is being backed into.
Well I make you right and think you will have no problem getting 40% of members to vote for that. But when a minority of tube drivers earning £67,000 a year have got the ball ache because they can't be pissed on the job then surely there's something wrong with the system.
Agree totally with everything you have said Bournemouth and well put. Last week i was in germany and got hit with the rail strike there. Instead of costing me just under 7 euros to get to Berlin and back it cost me 70 euros with 2 taxis. But i support them 100%.
Agree totally with everything you have said Bournemouth and well put. Last week i was in germany and got hit with the rail strike there. Instead of costing me just under 7 euros to get to Berlin and back it cost me 70 euros with 2 taxis. But i support them 100%.
He cherrypicks the marginals the Tories won doesn't he? What about marginal wins by other parties.
Don't you know that 76.4% of statistics are made up on the spot?
That's the point. He's saying that if 901 voters had changed their minds from Tory to Labour in those marginals, the Tories wouldn't be in power (with a majority at least).
Agree totally with everything you have said Bournemouth and well put. Last week i was in germany and got hit with the rail strike there. Instead of costing me just under 7 euros to get to Berlin and back it cost me 70 euros with 2 taxis. But i support them 100%.
Comments
I used the word perilous because I am really struggling to foresee how they will hold onto these seats considering they still cannot meaningfully partake in Westminster affairs. Winning seats is one thing - holding onto them is something entirely different. You win a seat because you convince the voters that you will be a good MP. You keep your seat if you actually are a good MP.
In any case Scotland loses a lot of seats at the next election as a result of the boundary redistribution .
I'm sure if the grievance is intolerable they'll get the 40% of members they need to go on strike.
It's when you get only 15% of the work force staging a walkout because they don't agree a train driver ,for example,should be suspended when he failed a breathalyser test and was clearly over the limit when on duty.
The early signs are that the Tories are going all out to take on the piss takers of this country.
I'm all for it.
As you say, there's a generation of younger workers who take sick pay, holiday pay, equality laws, maternity pay, paternity leave, health and safety, working hours laws, proper disciplinary proceedures, etc, etc totally for granted. All these things came out of the power and lobbying of the unions or through our membership of the EU. It's no suprise one of the government's first acts is to clear the way to push through their programme of public sector job losses.
But the last tube strike was a slap in the face of every worker in this country. Striking because a driver was bollocked for being on the lash? I think this is why the 40% rule is important - that strike did tube drivers absolutely no favours in terms of public sympathy. If I was a tube driver I would be horrified that my union was calling a strike over something that no person outside our profession would agree was a good reason and it damages the reputation of all those working in it. There are whistleblowers within these unions who cannot openly disagree with industrial action because of the aggressive and sometimes violent intimidation that the barons either condone or ignore. At least this way those calling the strikes have to convince at least 40% of their members to vote for strike action. I'd like to see how they would have achieved this by defending someone in outrageous breach of health and safety, not to mention personal and professional moral conduct.
The left in getting hysterical shocker....
The firefighters retirement age/pension dispute is almost a model case where the employers want to by pass very reasonable procedures which they agreed to.
Anyway as I intimated on the Labour Party thread, what's to stop all the workers phoning in sick on the same day?
Many years ago I worked at a beneath the streets ( small and non unionised) wine merchants where we were obliged to load the van up a very rickety wooden ladder, worn and fragile and often wet with rain. Cases of Champagne are awkward and heavy, we often said we needed a better ladder or even a modest electronic lift in the cellar to street level void.
One gloomy and rainy February morning one of the guys, I even remember his name... Ronnie, slipped on the worn ladder and broke his leg and wrist. The company feigned concern, didn't change anything, didn't pay him when he was off sick, and Ronnie didn't know anything about compensation or anything and even assumed it was probably mainly his own fault for not being able to heft the cases better than he did.
I give this example as either one reason Unions are of value, but there are probably some who would regard it as health and safety gone mad.
A genuine quote from David Cameron's speech today about their new snoopers charter. Trying to sneak through a way to take everyone's communication freedoms away under the guise of tackling extremism.
It will take Labour some time to make any sort of comeback . Ironically in my view the process that will derail the SNP is if Scotland get taxation powers and the Barnett formula is scrapped . Like the pre 2010 Clegg it is easy to promise the world ,it is much harder to deliver .
They will also learn the hard way how easy it is for business to relocate on the mainland if they put taxes up too much.
No one on the Left seems to believe that businesses and professionals naturally gravitate to areas where there's lower tax. Let this happen within the UK and we'll see if they still deny it.
Secondly, once the principle of an arbitrary amount required for strike action is established, rather than simple majority 'yes', then the next conversation is around where that level is set. It may be 40% to start with but if the union members do start voting in greater numbers than that I would stake a large amount of money that percentage will be quickly 'reviewed' upwards.
As it happens, I think large scale strikes are only effective in very limited circumstances and what the unions will focus on instead are targeted strikes at critical workers and a work to rule instead. If everyone worked to rule in my organisation it would cause no end of difficulty for senior management and ultimately effect the general public far more and over a longer period of time than a day or two lost service here or there. No one WANTS to do that but sadly that's the corner the public sector is being backed into.
But when a minority of tube drivers earning £67,000 a year have got the ball ache because they can't be pissed on the job then surely there's something wrong with the system.
of costing me just under 7 euros to get to Berlin and back it cost me 70 euros with 2 taxis. But i support them 100%.
901 voters decided the election result.
It's funny that, how sick must labour feel and it's supporters it is like losing 901 nil
Don't you know that 76.4% of statistics are made up on the spot?
British legal experts judging British legal issues.
So, it would be ok if the judge was someone like Paul J. Mahoney, I guess?