The Public Service strike

[Baldy]

Since Belgium has managed without a Government for over a year ...... Frankly I don't think most of us will notice

Seriously I'm with Norman Tebbit on this one ~ the Coalition has chosen the right battle ground at the right time. N.T. was on the radio last week expounding on his views. As he so rightly said ... The reforms to employment law that he pushed through were not a knee-jerk reaction but a carefully and long planned series of measures. Mrs T picked the moment to do battle when they (the Conservatives) judged that the strikers had little or no sympathy from the general public. Scargill & Co fell right into their trap and went for strikes and threats of bringing the country to its knees just at the point when the vast majority were ready to ignore their arguments. Talking to people who are not in line for the sort of pensions that the current public service workers wish to hang onto I have found nobody who can see any reason why they alone should be "protected". Those employed in the public sector that I know take the opposite point of view.
The majority in the country seem to me to see this as an us and them situation where a minority are desperately set on hanging on to their privileges .... yes they do appreciate the arguments but are asking "Where were these people when this was done to us under nu-labour? Didn't see them shouting from the roof-tops when my pension was robbed by G. Brown and I lost out so why the hell should I support them now?"
Add to that the fact that many see the public sector workers as "enforcers and meddlers" and an awful lot are thinking "About bloody time too".
Thursday may inconvenience a few of us but at the end of the day, if they strike, I see it as our money being saved in not paying their wages.

Yes - The Brat will be at home and I will come home after a day at work to find washing up piled high in the sink , the bathroom looking like a chemical explosion as she has been experimenting with this , that and the other, nothing left in the fridge to eat and all the lights, tv's and music turned on in the house   

Then find her something to do! You can't rely on schools to babysit all the time. After all the child is about to have 6 weeks holiday anyway ~ does one more day make any difference?

I have no children currently in school but I have seen a great many teachers coasting though to a handsome early retirement and a fat pension. The school I removed my boys from had class sizes of 28 pupils, each with a teacher + a classroom assistant and sundry "special needs" helpers in the room had the nerve to ask parents to come in to school to listen to the children read as they "didn't have time in the curriculum" to do it themselves.
I have seen elderly patients in hospital being ignored by "Graduate" nurses who think that actually feeding the infirm is beneath them, that changing a soiled bed is a job for the unqualified ancillary staff and that anyone wanting help is an inconvenience who should be shouted at for daring to ask for it.
AND don't get me started on the police etc.

About right Snoops......but I really like the police so you are wrong on that point 

[Grumpmeister]

Teachers strike on, kids roaming around with nothing to do and suddenly an 'unfriendly and hungry' boa constrictor escapes... 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-13971779

One way to keep them out of trouble I supopse.

[Pastis]

The PCS Union (Public & Commercial Services) decided they would come out and picket. Did the staff at the V&A know that Members room would remain locked today? Did they, eh? 
Apparently they only found out this morning  , and guess who had arranged a meeting there at 11:00am? 

Anyhoo, plans duly changed, meeting done, good lunch at a Spanish restaurant 

[Nick]

HMRC are on strike