Jeremy Clarkson

I couldn't care less about the anti-strike remarks (best to ignore him when he's saying that stuff - also, it was in a particular context). The unions shouldn't waste energy getting their knickers in a twist.


It's the stuff about people being killed by trains that was downright nasty.
 
horserider said:
Is Unison the new government ?
Power seems to have gone to their heads, not content with trying to leave the sick and elderly without care, children without education, the grieving unable to bury their dead, they now want to deprive us of Top Gear.

I never thought I'd say this, but bring back Mrs Thatcher. Someone needs to have the balls to stop this madness.
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This made me lol!! The government is already doing this with its cuts! Where do you think they cut.I work in care sector trust me they ARE leaving sick and elderly without care.
Social worker told me they were told if assessing someone could touch your toes then they were fine.Qualifying criteria for care is getting tighter and tighter.
There are some folk who don't really need care who abuse it but on the whole theres more who could do with help go without care.

And wonder if someone can tell me if the MP etc pensions are going to be affected as well.I honestly don't know the answer to this one so would be interested to know.
Plus I have a mate whose opted out of works pension scheme all her working days and tbh she will get pension credits etc on top of state pension to bring her in line whilst I have been paying since I was 18 and will prob not get any help as will have a pension which I have at least contributed to.

Oh and OH works for private sector and his pensions way better than mine and no he's not at top level he's a sparky and not on astronomical wages either
 
Is it just public sector workers who are unable to work past 65 then?

How come I worked with an estate maintenance guy on a country estate who was half way into his 60s, had been working there for over 40 years. I was 25, he could nail a post and rail fence up, chop wood, hang gates, fix fencing, drive tractors MILES better than I could - its all in the technique.

Many checkout workers are pension age. Maybe if teaching is beyond you and you want more money, go work in tescos?

And I don't want to pick on you noblesteed, and I'm only using you as an example (I have friends at a similar level) but I find it ridiculous that at 33 you have been/are a senior manager - I'm 30 and am far off being at a senior level in my career, I think teachers get promoted far too quickly (my friend was a head of year after two years of teaching as a learn on the job teacher (can't remember what the scheme is called now)
 
Zuzan said:
Clarkson's comments are uneducated and causing the same polarisation of debate that the T Party have caused in the States... this is not constructive and in a time of crisis doesn't lead to constructive action by the political system.
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JC's comments didn't cause the polarisation - the strike achieved that.
 
i really can't believe that people get so wound up over anything that JC says:rolleyes: his sole purpose is to come out with fantastically ridiculous statements and he does it rather well.
As for all those bleating about small pensions and working until they're 67, get real and open your eyes, plenty of people are already suffering having to work past the current pensionable age because the private pensions they paid into are worth diddly squat, some of these people are doing physical work that most of us couldn't do at half their age:mad:
My dad for example is 72 and still working as a plasterer to top up his pension, oh and because he still works he pays tax, and that takes his pension into account as earnings which means he's paying tax on money he's already been taxed on:mad: Fair ? no, is he complaining and striking like a spoilt kid? no he's getting on with life and making the best of what he's got, like millions of others in his position:rolleyes:
 
noblesteed said:
See this is where it all goes wrong. What the media and the Government are saying about our pensions is lies and rubbish! People really need to get their facts right!!!!!

For example Jen_Cots - We in the public sector do NOT pay 3% of our salary into pensions. We ALREADY pay 6% - the government is planning to INCREASE that by 3.5 % making our monthly contribution nearly 10%. That raises my monthly contribution to my pension from £341 per month as it currently is, to around £420 a month.

The money that I cirrently pay into the pensions fund goes directly to the people who are currently being paid a teacher's pension. The TAX PAYER does not pay it! I do!!! THe idea is when I retire the teachers who are paying into THEIR pension will actually be paying ME...

I don't regard £420 a month as a 'cheap' pension!!!!! Crikey I didn;t realise it was that much til I looked at it....

How many of you Private sector workers pay over £400 a month into your pension???
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Well said

As for the comment someone made about secure jobs - ha, we have lost 20% of out team in the last two years and are still having to hold the service together. We are currently holding our breath to see who goes next as we are about to be culled by another 15% (happy christmas), and that just for this financial year - will standards be allowed to drop - not bloody likely.

I get paid beween 10 -25% less than some one doing an equivalent job to mine in the private sector - 'why dont you go to the the private sector?' I hear you ask - because I believe that what I do makes a difference to the community I work and live in. And the disparity in salaries is offset by a FAIR pension.

I too pay about 6% of my earnings into my pension. My particular pension scheme is in the black and if contributions stopped today they could pay out for the next £20 years. It was adjusted 3 years ago to bring it in to line with private sector pensions - and where this final salary nonsense comes from - I wish.

If its cut much more people wont be able to afford to join/pay in and then the government will be in trouble - more folks without pension provisions and less money in the pot - sounds familiar! You have eto rememeber that may public sector workers are part time and on minimum wage.

I think people forget the huge variety of workers who work for the public sector - everyone from brain surgeons to cleaners and lollypop ladies. I certainly wouldnt want any Tom Dick or Harry from the dole cue peforming surgery on me or looking after my children or grandparents.

I guess that piggy bank sitting there is too atractive to the current government.

As far as JC goes, I dont give a fig about his comments, any one who takes them seriously should get a life. I wish David Prentis would focus on the real enemy Mr C.
 
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Meh, imho JC's probably right. But hey, I read the DT and vote Tory so I'm clearly just a ******.

Those whining about cuts - you are aware that government spending has increased under the coalition government, aren't you?
 
Tinselface the reason teachers can get promoted quickly (and as I said I am a middle manager in duties NOT salary) is that in the 1990s teaching was so badly paid that there was a massive shortage of teachers thanks to years of Tory rule. Everyone said I was MAD to go to Uni and get an education degree. But as I said I wanted a job for life and a good pension so was happy to be skint for a while! NOW the people got jobs in the private sector and used to brag to me about how much they were earning in the late 90s/early 00s are the ones whinging at me and calling me 'lucky' - er swings and roundabouts guys!!!!

Nowadays there are many young teachers but also a great deal who leave the profession - something like 40% within the first 5 years. This is mainly due to the awful working conditions in many inner-city schools coupled with the excessive workload. SO there is a shortage of experienced teachers like me, and we are being pushed towards headship. I decided to have a baby instead.
I know MANY headteachers in my LA that are under the age of 40 years, running outstanding schools and getting excellent results.

The reason the teaching unions are worried about the pension reform is that teaching will be less attractive, so there will be fewer good graduates wanting to become teachers, and therefore standards of education will fall. I don't know if they are correct in thinking this though... given the rubbish pay in the private sector (unless you're a banker). And the ridiculous cost of getting a degree in the first place... that will have more effect than pensions...

And I think UNISON are a bit babyish.
 
The teachers on here seem to be a pretty unhealthy lot, too infirm to sit on a carpet at 67 or do colouring in with a group of 5 year olds.

It might be a coincidence, but the three pregnant teachers at my grandson' s school are all on sick leave.

Wonder how 2 daughters and 3 DIL's have managed to get through a total of 8 pregnancies without being off sick, despite 3 of the girls having awful morning sickness and being unable to keep anything down.
 
horserider said:
The teachers on here seem to be a pretty unhealthy lot, too infirm to sit on a carpet at 67 or do colouring in with a group of 5 year olds.

It might be a coincidence, but the three pregnant teachers at my grandson' s school are all on sick leave.

Wonder how 2 daughters and 3 DIL's have managed to get through a total of 8 pregnancies without being off sick, despite 3 of the girls having awful morning sickness and being unable to keep anything down.
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Thats teachers for you!
 
Noblesteed - you see i think all of my teacher friends (prob about 10) only 1 of them ever wanted to be a teacher - the rest ended up there as there were no other jobs for english graduates etc. One friend has a biology and maths degree, MSc and a PhD in modelling - now she can't find a job so is training as a teacher.

So, I think many teachers now do not do it for a vocation, they do it because they got paid to do the training and couldn't find another job. They will strike over anything just to get a day off, and whinge about how hard done by they are.

Was talking to a guy working at a quarry today, saying how the teachers now are the same as the miners. Striking over the smallest thing - he told me one mine had gone on strike for a week because someone wasn't given a pair of wellies at the right time (the story is longer than that - but thats the gist of it!)

Essentially, I don't think public sectors workers get any respect now for what they're trying to acheive - people have bigger problems, like being unemployed, and not being able to afford heating and food.
 
I think public sector workers do vital and valuable work, and they should be paid appropriately. No problem with that. In fact I worked in the PS for 4 years where I was paid well above the national average, had a guaranteed annual pay rise and increment rise, 8 weeks paid holiday, a great pension and could be off sick for 6 months with full pay!!

I now work in the private sector for half the pay, no benefits package, and a pay freeze for the last 3 years!

So Ive experienced both sides. I love my current job and it was my choice to leave the gilded cage so I don't moan about it. But I do think many public sector workers need a bit of a reality check as to how harsh it is outside.
 
Magicmillbrook said:
As for the comment someone made about secure jobs - ha, we have lost 20% of out team in the last two years and are still having to hold the service together. We are currently holding our breath to see who goes next as we are about to be culled by another 15% (happy christmas), and that just for this financial year - will standards be allowed to drop - not bloody likely.

I have worked in the private sector my entire life and have been made redundant 4 times now:rolleyes: 1 company went from over 200 employess to 23 in 18months, another one went from 600 to 26 in one go - guess what it wasn't what anyone employed there had signed up for but if the money isn't there the choice is between going bust or downsizing. Guess what?:confused: redundancies in the private sectore nearly always happen at the year end - it makes the balance sheets look better for the next financial year.

I think people forget the huge variety of workers who work for the public sector - everyone from brain surgeons to cleaners and lollypop ladies. I certainly wouldnt want any Tom Dick or Harry from the dole cue peforming surgery on me or looking after my children or grandparents.

.
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I really don't think you should include doctors of any sort in this arguement - whilst they are employed in the public sector ie the NHS nearly all hospital Consultants will have a lucrative private practice and GP's have a nice little contract due the last Labour Government. Poor doctors only exist where they have very expensive tastes/hobbies or ex wives:rolleyes:
 
noblesteed said:
The reason the teaching unions are worried about the pension reform is that teaching will be less attractive, so there will be fewer good graduates wanting to become teachers, and therefore standards of education will fall. I don't know if they are correct in thinking this though... given the rubbish pay in the private sector (unless you're a banker). And the ridiculous cost of getting a degree in the first place... that will have more effect than pensions...

.
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Sorry, that's another thing !!!!what is wrong with someone paying back some of the costs of further education??? labour encouraged all sorts of semi literate mongs to go to uni and do potty degree's so the end result?? loads of semi educated idiots with an overgrown sense of intitlement devaluing real achivement and lowering the bar, sorry there
is something realy wrong with our education system, ask an employer about the standard of a large propotion of the applicants!!! no wonder the county is full of eastern europeans..
 
Ha Ha No the reason the doctor has signed me off sick is because I CAN'T sit on the carpet!!! Due to possible onset of SPD I have been told to rest... How ridiculous is that? Neither can I stand at my board and teach or circulate the classroom, or deal with the 3 year old that spits, kicks and tries to scratch me! Though if she doesn't attack me she attacks the other kids, so I can't sit back and do nothing - far better have a supply teacher in who can deal with kids like this without risking harming my baby!!!! I would like to be able to push pens and tap computer keys at a desk like private sector office workers do, but I actually have to WORK for a living... Mind you I would be bored out of my skull in an office and so dull and deadened I would end up believing what I read in the Daily Mail...
I actually have a mixed age class so I do teach more than just colouring in, I have a bunch of Y2s to get ready for their Statutory testing in May, and some Y1s to prepare for their statutory phonics testing but that's another bright idea by our lovely government who like to routinely torture small children... Which is why I have spent all day on the computer between arguing on here and doing planning for my maternity cover teacher...

I think it wrong to say teachers strike at the drop of hat... I have only struck once in my 12 year career which was in June this year, over the same pensions malarkey. I can only really remember in my life-time that some firemen went on strike once... People on here are probably so old and decrepit they remember the 1970/80s clearly but I don't other than my dad spent a lot time marching and shouting angrily about someone called Maggie??????
 
I really don't get this outpouring of adoration for Jeremy Clarkson. I know his initials are JC,;):D anyone would think his comments have kick started the second coming.
 
noblesteed said:
I would like to be able to push pens and tap computer keys at a desk like private sector office workers do, but I actually have to WORK for a living... Mind you I would be bored out of my skull in an office and so dull and deadened I would end up believing what I read in the Daily Mail...
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Lol - I dug out a badger sett by hand today - hardly sitting at a desk :D

(under licence btw, I'm not baiting ;) )

And my 5mths pregnant colleague was doing dusk and dawn bat surveys this summer - not for a fainthearted, and certainly practise for sleepless nights.....
 
Just a little tale about my son for whining whingeing striking PS workers.
My 20 yr old son is a PS worker.
He is a soldier.
He is not complaining about his increased pension contributions nor the 1% only pay rise.
He is most definitely not striking!
He is shortly to be deployed abroad.
He is willing to lay down his life for this country,[ even if he cannot afford to buy a home here] and that includes the whingeing moaning strikers,who have it so good they dont know they are born.
Something to think about.
 
blazingsaddles said:
I really don't get this outpouring of adoration for Jeremy Clarkson. I know his initials are JC,;):D anyone would think his comments have kick started the second coming.
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:D:D

I suspect that the rest of the world takes the man far more seriously, than he takes himself. His un-pc tirades, allow those who need to have a rant, the excuse, or the catalyst, to let rip.

As a matter of interest, has anyone viewed any of his serious work? I have and it was remarkable, I thought. There's a balance to most people.

A.
 
Horsesforever1 said:
Just a little tale about my son for whining whingeing striking PS workers.
My 20 yr old son is a PS worker.
He is a soldier.
He is not complaining about his increased pension contributions nor the 1% only pay rise.
He is most definitely not striking!
He is shortly to be deployed abroad.
He is willing to lay down his life for this country,[ even if he cannot afford to buy a home here] and that includes the whingeing moaning strikers,who have it so good they dont know they are born.
Something to think about.
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We will winge and moan on his behalf then. The strikes are on behalf of ALL public sector workers ALL of whom should be valued for the jobs they do, in particular soldiers who risk life and limb. I bet your son is not sitting at an office - or gilded cage pen pushing and computer tapping. This is what makes me sick - that every one lumps - public sector workers into one category.
 
perfect11s said:
Sorry, that's another thing !!!!what is wrong with someone paying back some of the costs of further education??? labour encouraged all sorts of semi literate mongs to go to uni and do potty degree's so the end result?? loads of semi educated idiots with an overgrown sense of intitlement devaluing real achivement and lowering the bar, sorry there
is something realy wrong with our education system, ask an employer about the standard of a large propotion of the applicants!!! no wonder the county is full of eastern europeans..
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Referring to people as semi-literate mongs is just wrong. Don't know what else to say.
 
perfect11s said:
Sorry, that's another thing !!!!what is wrong with someone paying back some of the costs of further education??? labour encouraged all sorts of semi literate mongs to go to uni and do potty degree's so the end result?? loads of semi educated idiots with an overgrown sense of intitlement devaluing real achivement and lowering the bar, sorry there
is something realy wrong with our education system, ask an employer about the standard of a large propotion of the applicants!!! no wonder the county is full of eastern europeans..
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Your spelling mistakes make this kind of hilarious BUT I should point out that it was the Tories under John Major who transformed the old polys into universities.
 
Horsesforever1 said:
Just a little tale about my son for whining whingeing striking PS workers.
My 20 yr old son is a PS worker.
He is a soldier.
He is not complaining about his increased pension contributions nor the 1% only pay rise.
He is most definitely not striking!
He is shortly to be deployed abroad.
He is willing to lay down his life for this country,[ even if he cannot afford to buy a home here] and that includes the whingeing moaning strikers,who have it so good they dont know they are born.
Something to think about.
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Sorry, but soldiers are not in the PS in the general sense, they sign up to "lay down their lives for queen and country " and sign away the right to strike.
 
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