bridge too far

And workers who contribute to the pension schemes aren't necessarily union members. The schemes have to be independent or, at least, have trustees representing all 'sides'.

He might have thought I was an intelligent, articulate and morally upstanding P**mpey fan angry at what was going on. Hang on - intelligent, articulate, morally upstanding P**pey fan? Does not compute!

To be fair to him, Phil, I never, ever said that I was a SFC fan. I thought that might detract from the information!

Hmm - the traitor, unless P**pey fans have also been contacting him. But I did spot this in the comments David Conn will be aware that a lot of this had all been researched and predicted on another football club's fan's website: so yes, weary familiarity and predictability too. Lots of concerns with the FPPT and the FL, but the news of the administrator being Andronikou is even more concerning. Surely there is a conflict of interest between the existing winding up for CSI and the previous one that he undertook for Chanrai. Who is he really working for (apart from himself, that is)? Unfortunately the comments section on his article is now closed

Does a broken heart count?

I've just read something very interesting. The Local Government Pension Scheme has £120 billion in assets, enough to pay out benefits for 20 years WITHOUT FURTHER ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS. Every year it takes in £4-5 billion more than it pays out. The scheme is a major investor in British business, property and regeneration. The average pension is £4K a year, and £2,600 for women.

Only six have voted yes!

Me too - I had three couples after my house, two offering a lot more than the original offer. All three sent by one estate agent! But I stuck with the original offer, my philosophy being 'I wouldn't want it done to me'.

Couple of misleading statements there IMO. 1. Not long ago the lowest paid in the health sector, for example, were cleaners, cooks and porters. Then these services were 'market tested' and given over to private companies to operate. As soon as the TUPE period had expired, these now private sector workers had their pay and conditions reduced. It's disingenuous to therefore compare apples and pears. These days, the lowest paid in the health sector are clerical staff and, by the very nature of their work, they will be paid more than those who used to be public sector employees but have now been moved into the private sector. 2. There is regional variation in pay - it's called London Weighting and is worth around £2K a year IIRC, although it may be more now. You should also consider, when thinking about average pay in the health sector for example, that there are a lot of high end earners such as consultants and GPs. This skews the averages.

Back briefly to feed the cat...... There is a double bill of OFAH every afternoon ATM. Sorry to rain on your parade.

Right - off I go to our local march. Even though I'm not affected directly. But I will be if this demonisation and demoralisation of the public services continues. Never mind, Georgie Porgie will get his wish at this rate. Destroy the public services and then hand them over at a knock-down price to his buddies to run at a huge profit for a much lower level of service.

I was merely pointing out that taxpayers effectively fund your higher rate of tax relief. You talk about a 'modest' pension of £20K pa. I wish! The AVERAGE public sector pension is c. £4-5K pa. I worked for the NHS for 18 years, much of it at a senior management level. My pension? Just over £4K pa. Imagine what it would have been if I'd been an average NHS worker - say a medical records clerk. You have to remember that the averages can be distorted by the fact that many consultants and doctors also contribute to the NHS scheme and, given their high salaries (I assume you don't disapprove of those) then of course their pensions will be a lot higher. I would remind you that, even as a pensioner, I contribute towards public sector pensions as I still pay income tax. When will the government allow / publish the audit on the affordability of public sector pension schemes I wonder?

Of my immediate family (my partner, my children and their partners), four work in the private sector and all have had pay rises this year. My SiL the teacher got a 2.3% rise this year, but of course his pension contributions will rise more than that. Another one works for a Housing Association and hasn't had a pay rise but has had an increase in pension contributions. The one that works for the NHS hasn't had a pay rise but will see an increase in pension contributions. The final family member is self-employed and is doing very well at the moment. So I think you're wrong to say 'virtually all' private sector employees haven't had a pay rise. It seems to me that it's the public sector who haven't had pay rises.

Pap, don't worry - the private sector will pick up on all the services decimated by the reduction in the public sector. You know, like the Winterbourne View hospital for people with learning difficulties, run by the private sector and now closed because of abuse. Like Southern Cross who provide private care homes for the elderly and who blatantly asset-stripped itself and then went bust. Yep, the private sector does it so much better.

Good for starters. Take a bow everyone on here - it's your diligent research that's provided the backbone for this article to be published. I'm confident there's a lot more to come

Sorry if already posted - my laptop is very slow tonight and it would take me an age to scroll back over the last two or three pages http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15944523.stm

Just had an email from David Conn to say he is now aware of this latest news and is writing about it

He just wants to make sure he earns even more fees and protects his interest in the first administration.

http://fansonline.net/portsmouth/mb/view.php?id=390213

You miss the point, of course. I was talking about the cost of your tax relief at the higher level and how much it costs me as a taxpayer. However, if you abandoned your higher rate tax relief, there would be more money in the pot to fund the public sector schemes (although, the truth is that most of them are actually in credit). As to your second sentence - as a public sector worker I never paid the higher rate of tax. And certainly, on a meagre £4k a year NHS pension, I never will.

Well, given this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15919515 you do wonder what AA's final bill will be!

Good article on the Beeb website http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15925017 When people harp on about the taxpayer 'funding' public sector schemes, they forget a couple of things. 1. I, as a taxpayer, also subsidise private sector schemes in that people in higher tax brackets contributing to such schemes get tax relief at a higher rate than Mr or Mrs Average (as they do in the public sector of course, but 'we' are still subsidising these pensionsnonetheless). I'd suggest that there are probably more higher rate taxpayers getting this relief in the private sector (I'm thinking top level, truly gold-plates schemes enjoyed by the likes of FTSE 100 directors). 2. I, as a consumer, am paying for those private schemes where a private sector employer chooses to contribute to its employees' pensions by buying their goods and services. Sadly these employers are now few and far between to the detriment of their employees.

Off the top of my head (and I haven't got time this morning to google to double-check) I suspect the public sector schemes are managed by a Pensions Board but the appropriate Minister or Secretary of State is legally responsible for the governance of the schemes. Some, but not all, schemes have Trade Union representatives on their boards. The Local Government Pension Scheme certainly invests and according to the Hutton report (I think) does so efficiently and transparently. I think, from memory, it has received a good report from the Audit Commission (as an aside, I wonder who will audit pension schemes both public and private once the Audit Commission has been abolished).

A lot of it is funded by contributions from the employees - the percentage varies but, in my case, it was 6% of my salary. Some are higher. I would ask the same question of people participating in private sector schemes. And I would have no problem with the answer. The truth is that many public sector schemes are self-funding and some of those schemes are in profit. The government is seeking to use those surpluses to reduce the government's debt (still rising, I notice - even after 18 months of the Coalition).