My normal radio choice has been put in disarray for contrary to belief there is too much of a good thing. It's a fault of the media going crazy over the birth of a baby, a royal baby, too royalty. Personally I don't give a damn about royalty so why should I have to endure vast amounts of news time on this non event. It certainly isn't because the entire British public want to hear about a royal baby. For the statistics of those who feel royalty has a place in the UK are worth looking at. In the Guardian 24th May 2012, of respondents to a survey on royalty, a total of 22 per cent said of English people said we'd be better off without them, whereas 69 per cent said we'd be worse off. These statistics also showed royal popularity had been at it's highest for the last 15 years. I've tried to pull up historical statistics on the royal popularity contest, but it is difficult. There are just too many web sites. However, 2012 was special, it was a jubilee year so the whole nation was under an obligation to be part of it. On jubilee day, I refused to watch the news or any TV, again that was another bad news day.
I find the figure of just 22 per cent holding an anti royalty feeling as overwhelmingly low. Also these surveys can be inconclusive. For example why did the 69 per cent think the UK would be better keeping the royal family? The biggest factor is because they feel it is worth world press coverage and advertising. It makes the rest of the world come to the UK with the misguided perception of kings and queens being wonderful traditional things. There's a romantic ethereal quality to them. They don't consider their inbreeding, and historically tyrannical behaviour towards their own subjects. However, it wasn't long ago when there was a national crisis with the public and with the royal family. Had it been done at the time of Princess Diana's death in 1997, popularity dropped like a stone. The queen knows this herself and the public got to a precipice of resentment turning to loathing and complete contempt. There was suggestions of Dianna about to announce her engagement and marriage to Dodi Fayed. Nobody knows for sure, but such an act would in itself of caused a lot of issues. He being of Islamic faith some conspiracy theorists suggest had a part to play. To have a Muslim vein to the royal family could of been just stretching the political correctness vein just a little far.
See! Already I know too much about the British royal family than I want. This anally retentive information has been forced on me through the media. I'd rather there were news programs about economic theory, or exposes of the real cost of politics in the UK. Royalty has no place in my life and were I able to expunge it from my memory by taking a royal memory erasing pill I would. They have no real function, all they do is sap money away from tax payers and live the golden life style. I am not a subject of them, I owe them nothing, they have done nothing for me other than peer out from the face of coins and notes. In short if I never hear, see or read another article about the royal family it will be too soon in my life.
Wednesday 24 July 2013
Friday 12 July 2013
MPs lose the plot as they ready for a pay rise
There is a caricature sketch in today's Times newspaper. It is of Cameron and a thought bubble pops up about MPs pay, he thinks it would be bad to give them a pay rise, but his next thought is to delegate it to a body separate from MPs. Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) then were passed the buck. However, the body who overlooked MPs allowances then proposed the biggest pay increase for MPs in the history of British politics at nearly 11 per cent. Now Cameron looks as much an individual lining his pockets as do the rest of our MPs at a time they all advocate austerity is the best policy. The IPSA findings have been put out to public consultation and so the public is given a chance to have their say. I for one intend to fully take up this opportunity. Another salient point of this fact is not a single MP has proposed a motion to vote this down. Every single one of those MPs look as though they are rubbing their hands together in greed. The very thought of this rise makes them drool saliva as they think of how they are going to spend the money. Privately they want to take the money, publicly though they will intimate it is disgraceful, but not too loudly of course.
The UK has a budget deficit. Although economists and politicians define the deficit as not growing, in real terms the actual debt is growing year on year. The deficit is the rate of borrowing per year, whereas the debt is the accumulated borrowing over the years. There is a debt and a deficit because not enough money is being taken in tax receipts in relation to the amount of money which is spent. Spending goes on pensioners, welfare benefits, the NHS , education and defence to name a few. Politicians are afraid to tackle the growing pension bill or pensioner benefits because pensioners are the most likely people to vote. The grey vote is about the biggest say anyone in retirement can get. It's their chance to moan at the polls. Saying this however, I'd bet there must be a few pensioners out there who feel the ill wind of recession because they will take it on themselves to financially help support their families when they can. After all they do not want to see their loved ones in poverty either. Put it another way, they are not untouched by the recession although being partly protected.
Those hardest hit by the continuing entrenched recession are those on welfare benefits and those who are on low incomes but having to claim supporting welfare benefits. Sometimes the two are treated in the same way. Indeed it has recently been remarked Universal Credits will not give working families more incentive to work as the pay-off taper against earnings and UC is barely noticeable. Those who receive just welfare benefits are now demonised by politicians as though it is their own fault. There may well be some case of long term unemployment where individuals have been institutionalised into receiving benefit and not attempting to work, but this demonising is good old scape goating and nothing more. For it is a delicate two way process pulling a nation out of recession and it's not just the job of government as a duty of care, it is also it's job to help raise the country's economic growth. Something severely missing at this time. In reality, what MPs have imposed on the country is zero performance growth and ever greater welfare bills. The only people who can be at fault are the politicians. In the same instances some political parties believe government should be more privatised. Yet if privatisation and its success is based on performance, because it is simple capitalism then every MP in the current government would be sacked or their employer taking capability action against them. So a pay rise should only be awarded where there has been shown a respective improvement in performance. The UK is still in debt and the debt crisis is growing for future generations therefore the notion of performance related pay does not equate and neither an MPs pay.
There are now many people in the UK who use food banks. The number of children in poverty has grown. Educational ignorance is strife because of the fear University students have carrying a debt around their necks for the rest of their lives. A debt which would have to be considered if they were going to purchase a property. The tendency now is towards an ever growing rental market because built housing is at it's lowest, the population is every increasing and immigration (another scape goat) could be an added cause. The UK will at some point go through a righting process and an even larger part of the population will descend into poverty, especially once interest rates begin to rise again. Yet amongst all this politicians think their friendly independent IPSA support group can surrender up to them a greater rate of pay for the work they do. The disparity is mind boggling. Their pay is nearly two and a half times the average pay as it is, how they think it then means they are representatives of the British people would seem to suggest there could be a mental illness.
The financial righting in the UK could result in civil unrest because the full impact of bankrupt Britannia has still not been felt. Looking around the world and viewing the current civil unrest it is not inconceivable this may be bloody and violent. At least comfortable MPs can afford to purchase their own protective clothing, it's a little different for the rest of us though.
The UK has a budget deficit. Although economists and politicians define the deficit as not growing, in real terms the actual debt is growing year on year. The deficit is the rate of borrowing per year, whereas the debt is the accumulated borrowing over the years. There is a debt and a deficit because not enough money is being taken in tax receipts in relation to the amount of money which is spent. Spending goes on pensioners, welfare benefits, the NHS , education and defence to name a few. Politicians are afraid to tackle the growing pension bill or pensioner benefits because pensioners are the most likely people to vote. The grey vote is about the biggest say anyone in retirement can get. It's their chance to moan at the polls. Saying this however, I'd bet there must be a few pensioners out there who feel the ill wind of recession because they will take it on themselves to financially help support their families when they can. After all they do not want to see their loved ones in poverty either. Put it another way, they are not untouched by the recession although being partly protected.
Those hardest hit by the continuing entrenched recession are those on welfare benefits and those who are on low incomes but having to claim supporting welfare benefits. Sometimes the two are treated in the same way. Indeed it has recently been remarked Universal Credits will not give working families more incentive to work as the pay-off taper against earnings and UC is barely noticeable. Those who receive just welfare benefits are now demonised by politicians as though it is their own fault. There may well be some case of long term unemployment where individuals have been institutionalised into receiving benefit and not attempting to work, but this demonising is good old scape goating and nothing more. For it is a delicate two way process pulling a nation out of recession and it's not just the job of government as a duty of care, it is also it's job to help raise the country's economic growth. Something severely missing at this time. In reality, what MPs have imposed on the country is zero performance growth and ever greater welfare bills. The only people who can be at fault are the politicians. In the same instances some political parties believe government should be more privatised. Yet if privatisation and its success is based on performance, because it is simple capitalism then every MP in the current government would be sacked or their employer taking capability action against them. So a pay rise should only be awarded where there has been shown a respective improvement in performance. The UK is still in debt and the debt crisis is growing for future generations therefore the notion of performance related pay does not equate and neither an MPs pay.
There are now many people in the UK who use food banks. The number of children in poverty has grown. Educational ignorance is strife because of the fear University students have carrying a debt around their necks for the rest of their lives. A debt which would have to be considered if they were going to purchase a property. The tendency now is towards an ever growing rental market because built housing is at it's lowest, the population is every increasing and immigration (another scape goat) could be an added cause. The UK will at some point go through a righting process and an even larger part of the population will descend into poverty, especially once interest rates begin to rise again. Yet amongst all this politicians think their friendly independent IPSA support group can surrender up to them a greater rate of pay for the work they do. The disparity is mind boggling. Their pay is nearly two and a half times the average pay as it is, how they think it then means they are representatives of the British people would seem to suggest there could be a mental illness.
The financial righting in the UK could result in civil unrest because the full impact of bankrupt Britannia has still not been felt. Looking around the world and viewing the current civil unrest it is not inconceivable this may be bloody and violent. At least comfortable MPs can afford to purchase their own protective clothing, it's a little different for the rest of us though.
Monday 8 July 2013
Ignorance
What pisses me off is ignorance. When someone is expected to do a part of their job and they don't, because they were the wrong person employed, or they haven't been trained and the the buck gets passed when it could of been dealt with at an earlier point. Ignorance is what makes customer services departments the most dangerous part of any organization. They simply are not up to doing the job. They end up being people on the end of phones who answer callers but don't actually give any answers, they may follow a script but not listen. They are impotent and they in turn make the organizations they work for look uncaring, incapable and likely to lose custom. Just in the same way pushy phone sell ling pops up every now and again. The sales rep on the end of the phone who just wants to keep pushing and pushing, the rep who thinks they know everything. They pressurise people they call into purchasing goods and if the phone is put down on them, they just ring again at another time. This is not only ignorance it is harassment and should be criminal. Just as ignorance should be criminal. There are a lot of defences which are put up but they end up with no solution to the problem. Customer service reps and sales reps are prime examples of stupid.
It has been said, stupid things happen to stupid people, such is the karma of this world.
It has been said, stupid things happen to stupid people, such is the karma of this world.
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