bridge too far

isle

quite -------------------------- minster

question

loathing

separate

otis

In any event, until the dissolution of the previous government, he was Secretary of State for Health.

You should write to his rag and point out his 'mistake'. I think they're duty bound to publish a correction Littlejohn = the Alf Garnett of the 21st century.

That's a very low sickness rate. Especially so as many NHS frontline staff ARE NOT ALLOWED to come into work if they have any sort of bug.

Are you Stanley in disguise? And if you think attending a case conference about an abused child is a jolly then you are a sad, deluded idiot.

I'd forgotten we have that option. I'll use it right now

Oh OK - I don't know how London 'works' these days. It's a long time since I worked for local government in London. Is each borough now responsible for education? You would have thought it would make economic sense to have the equivalent of the old ILEA to manage education London wide.

Stanley in 'not bothering to read perfectly valid points by people who actually know stuff' shocker. You also miss the point that you seem to spend an inordinate amount of time on here when, I imagine, you are supposed to be working. You finally miss the point that many teachers actually spend time on their school work during school holidays and weekends, not to mention the unpaid work they do for parents' evenings and preparation for OFSTED visits. But I forgot, you've been so busy with that tar brush, you've forgotten to go to the opticians to get your tunnel vision corrected.

Angelman - are you talking about your County Council or your District Council? You mention education - that's part of the County remit. But you actually pay your Council Tax to the District Council and it is not, generally, responsible for education. Unless you live in a Unitary Council area? To me it seems sensible to merge County and District Councils. There would huge economies of scale. But that would go against the current government's idea of community powers and the devolving thereof.

Or trolling on an internet forum? You must have a job lot of tar to brush people with.

My son has a Philosophy degree. He has a very senior job in IT. Employers consider that achieving a good degree shows application and motivation as well as intelligence so, for non technical jobs, the subject matter doesn't matter. I know a lot of teachers. I don't know one who actually only works school hours and who doesn't do anything job related in the holidays.

I see your point but I guess if you apply some logic to it, it can be easily explained. The physio will have an allotted time of, say, 20 minutes per patient (I don't know what the actual time is - just guessing based on personal experience). So the physio can see 3 patients an hour = 21 patients a day. There will be a waiting list for the physio so if s/he spends an extra session with you then the next person on the waiting list will not get that appointment. And if everyone presenting with one ailment then went on to ask for treatment for a secondary ailment, the waiting list would becoming huge!

Angelman - maybe you don't see the 'effect on services' that you talk about because they are services that you don't need but that others do? Usually the more vulnerable. Most of us are happy if our rubbish is collected and our streets swept. But there's a lot more to council services than just that.

He's been cleared According to BBC news banner http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds_bucks_and_herts/10473008.stm

Excellent point. And let me add another. The respiratory nurses I worked for HAD to have the swine flu jab last winter. They work in the community with people who have chronic breathing problems, so the risk of the catching even mild flu and passing it onto very vulnerable patients had to be obviated. Most of the nurses were fine after the jab but two of them were quite poorly. Their incapacity was incurred as a result of a requirement of their employment. Should they, too, have been penalised for having time off ill?

You really don't know what you're talking about. My son-in-law is a teacher and he works from 7am to 5pm 5 days a week and then spends either Saturday or Sunday preparing for the next week. During the recent bad snow, he walked 3 miles to his school to help clear the road / path / playground although in the end the school didn't open. He regularly goes into school during the school holidays and he also attends courses, case conferences etc. Quite often he spends his own money buying stuff relevant to projects he's undertaking with the children (he teaches primary school children with special needs). I think he is one of the most hard-working dedicated people I've ever met.

flinstone

But hang on a minute! Isn't the government saying that the private sector will 'mop up' those made redundant from the public sector?

hamsters

Venus