bridge too far

I have to admit that when I recently took on another role, I was off sick a lot. But do you know why? Because I was working with a team of nurses who worked out in the community with people with chronic chest diseases. Obviously those nurses had built up a resistance to all the horrible bugs they were treating but I hadn't and I seemed to catch everything they brought back to the office! A lot of health workers on the front line fall victim to all sorts of bugs and, of course, if they have anything infectious themselves, they're not allowed to come into work for fear of passing stuff on to patients whose immune systems might already be compromised. I'm not aware, in my 20 odd years' working in the NHS, of inappropriate sick leave being taken. Perhaps I was lucky enough to be working with very dedicated people.

Although, of course, the thread is about Gordon Brown.

But GB has chosen to forego his PM pension. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/06/24/david-cameron-is-forced-to-give-up-pension-115875-22355820/

OldNick (), I can tell you that when I was working on PFI hospital building projects, I regularly worked 12 hour days, 6 days a week! And I couldn't take TOIL either! And I wasn't as well paid as my 'opposites' in the private sector team also planning the new building.

There already is - sort of. If you defer your state pension, when you do draw it at a later age you get more. I don't know how much more though.

My eldest daughter went to Bath University (she read Maths) and she loved it there. In her second year she shared a house in Hanover Street (just off the A4) and in her third year she shared again, this time in Lower Bristol Road, near Green Park. Rents were quite expensive then, so I imagine it's the same now. She used to cycle up to the campus. She absolutely loved her time there and they were very good to her when she suffered a relapse of her anorexia - very, very caring and supportive.

They're going to have to do something. This match was started yesterday and stopped for bad light. If it stops for bad light again today the winner won't be able to play the next round match due tomorrow. 53 all as I type.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/10395494.stm Shame the courts don't apply the same criteria to our fishy neighbours. Poor guy

OK - she obviously needs to sell her house, pay off the mortgage and then apply for social housing. She'll be bottom of the list because she will be deemed to have made herself intentionally homeless.

Thanks for your advice, Nick. She will be downsizing in a couple of years, once her daughter is at 'big school'. However, she bought a house that needed a lot of work doing on it. At the moment, with a 2 year old and working full-time hours, she doesn't have a lot of time to get it into a saleable condition. She's done a lot - refitted and retiled her kitchen and bathroom on her own (well, with help from us and her sister and brother) but she still has a lot to do. She'll be OK, I'm sure - we're tough females in my family:). But taking away even a few quid just makes her life that little bit more difficult. She's been raised in the right political household too - she was so angry at the ConDem 'victory' that she's joined the Labour Party

No that's a standard rate in her neck of the woods. As for knowing her rights - yes she does / we do but you can't stop a self-employed wastrel wriggling his way out of his obligations, can you. She does have a large mortgage (again, in her area that gets her a very modest little house) but she had that before she met her ex-partner. She knows life would be easier for her in some ways on benefits but a) she does a very worthwhile job in terms of providing a service to others less fortunate than her and b) she's highly educated and feels it would be a waste of her abilities to live off the state as well as being morally wrong. People like her need support (and we do as much as we are able) - they don't need what little extra help the state provides taken away from them.

Child benefit is, and always has been, paid to the mother of the child (or, where a man is the sole parent, then to the father). It's a throw-back to the days when only men worked and many of them drank their wages instead of giving the children's mother money for food and clothes. That's what happened to me. Even though my then husband earned a good salary, I didn't get much money from him for necessities. It does still happen now and it's a lifeline for some mothers. Oh - and I left him, dear reader

My daughter, through no fault of her own, has to bring up my granddaughter on her own. She earns a shade over £30K but nursery charges are £60 a day. I look after my granddaughter one day a week and my daughter squeezes 5 days work into 4 days so she can save a day's nursery fee. It therefore costs her £180 a week or £800 or so a month all year round before she can even start to work. She has a mortgage of £1K a month and a small car to run. Add in her utility and food bills and, well, she's struggling big style. She doesn't smoke, she doesn't drink, her only socialising is her church and a choir. Her daughter's father pays nothing towards her upkeep and my daughter has taken in a lodger to help out with the bills. So a child tax credit enables her, just, to be better off at work. Maybe she should jack it all in and live on benefits? But hey, the banker's will still get their bonuses so that's all right then.

Do let the Express know. I'm sure they'll be delighted to know that the rabid right continue to read their rag. Your comments about the Guardian have reinforced the opinion of you that I was forming but couldn't quite believe. You really are a bit short in the brain-cell department, aren't you.

I bet you're alarmed then that the Mirror easily outstrips your beloved Torygraph. Even the 'mid-market' Express is running it close and the Mail leaves it standing ! (I love that description 'mid-market'.) http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=45575&c=1

Hmmm - it's just been reported that the government has admitted that families with an income of £30K will lose out on child tax credits and not £40K as they claimed! The Institute for Fiscal Studies (a highly regarded independent think-tank) has opined that there is some debate as to whether the budget is as fair as the government is claiming! Incidentally a number of respected economists are saying that the VAT rise will disproportionally affect the poor. Apparently the poorest 10% pay 14% of their disposable income on VAT whereas the richest pay only 5% of their disposable income on VAT. Something else I learned today that surprised me. Oranges are VAT free but orange juice isn't. Digestive biscuits are VAT free but chocolate biscuits aren't! I have too much time on my hands

But not falling as fast as the Telegraph's http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=45576&c=1 The Guardian supported the Liberals during the election campaign. I guess that was before they saw their true colours.

You obviously didn't read the article then I quote: "When it came to efficiency, the UK and Australia ranked first and second, respectively. Efficiency was measured by looking at total national spending on health as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), as well as the amount spent on health administration and insurance"

And your friend should have told you (or maybe he did and you chose not to publish it) that eventually he would have reached a ceiling in the pay spine. It doesn't go on for ever and ever you know. In my never-ending quest to supply you with facts JB, I've found the payscales and bands for NHS workers. Everyone falls into one of these bands. They cannot move into the next band (unless they are promoted). You will see from this link that, for example, someone employed on a band 3 will start on £15,500ish and over the next 7 years will see their salary increase, year on year, to £18,500ish. Once they reach that £18,500ish they will get no more increases (apart from annual cost of living increases which have been frozen for 2 years). http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/details/Default.aspx?Id=766

Had I been able to use the (new) search facility, I would have found the link and posted it. However, in any event, I didn't post an article - I posted a link. People who make stupid comments suggesting some of us should appear on panels and TV programmes to 'peddle our points of view' should look to themselves when they peddle their own points of view to the contrary.

I wonder how our very highly rated health care system will compare in years to come? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/10375877.stm

Under European Procurement legislation there cannot be closed shops. Tendering has to be open and competitive. I know this as, before auditiing contracts, I used to be a procurement manager in the NHS. However, SMEs tend not to tender for large construction contracts because they can't afford the tendering process. But local authorities are encouraged to use SMEs for smaller contracts. I have seen this happen in contracts I've audited for a number of Police Authorities, NHS and local governments. What happens in practice is that the big boys illegally operate cartels and Buggins Turn (google Nottingham Hospitals and you'll get the drift) and there are a number of cases of this before the authorities at the moment. What will actually happen is not that the big boys will trim their OWN costs, Nick. What they will do, and what they've always done, is to squeeze the bloody life out of their subcontractors. Most of the big boys don't have directly employed labour anymore. They just project manage.

Poor and *****y response, Wes. The views I posted were not mine - I don't pretend to understand economics - but the views of respected commentators and advisors. Why did the ConDems form an Office for Budgetary Responsibility and then not listen to the advice? I can't find it now but ages ago I posted a link to an article about Osbourne. He has absolutely no experience of economics and even had to get his wife and his family to arrange a mortgage for him FFS

I reserve my judgement. Interesting comparisons being made with Japan on the News ATM - it didn't work for them.

candy -------------- Where've you been Super M?