buctootim

There was a lot of irresponsible union militancy, especially in ther car industry, but an awful lot of **** poor management also. A friend of mine used to run sections of the assembly line at Fords Dagenham in the early 1980s. One of the reasons he was successful there was because he was 6'3" 16 stone and powerful. When he came out of his office to sort out problems on the line he'd, literally, take a short length of scaffold pipe with him to defend himself because some of the guys on production were violent psychos who wouldnt take kindly to being told what to do, but couldnt be sacked because of the unions. By the same token, every time Fords had excess inventory they couldnt sell they would deliberately provoke a strike by sacking someone so they could close the plant down without paying anyone until the stock was cleared, then settle the dispute and go back to normal. After Fords he went to work at Toyota when Burnaston in Derby opened. Totally night and day different. Instead of trying to dictate everything with no explanation Toyota emphasise all working together to the same goal.

I assumed it was because he could only get two home tickets so just dumped the missus and the youngest in with the skates. He's probably making them catch the bus as well.

Thats what the parties and CBI would have you believe. Mostly its just low skilled young people moving within the EU. After that is families from abroad joining people here, fiancees of UK passport holders and asylum seekers.

Im not as downbeat as you about the future however the total level of UK indebtedness is scary. If you total government, private and corporate debt it come to over 400% of GDP, far worse than the total for 'basket cases' like Italy, Japan and US.

Actually let in 600,000 new people last year. Desperate need got a quota system to make sure arrivals dont exceed departures imo.

Two years? surely it should be instant?

Getting yet another dodgy owner isnt just co-incidence, it proves that there is no honest, legal and decent potential owner out there for them. At some point the FA, courts or somebody will have to decide whether or not the club can be recovered. Given the lack of assets, numerous legacy issues, a severely compromised brand, small fanbase and continuing losses its hard to see how they could.

I guess its worth doing but how often does a match hinge on whether a ball crossed the line or not? pretty rare imo compared with the numerous wrong open play decisions. Saturday against Brighton beiing a good example. Six or more potential penalties, a sending off and some bookings have far more impact on a game's outcome.

Every year the average Briton uses 105kg of plastic, 195kg of paper, 600kg of steel, 1,200kg of coal and 1,290kg of cement. Without being hairy shirted about it, we buy a huge amount of crap which is designed and built to last until you have lost the guarantee and receipt - and its packaged in loads more crap. If every appliance you bought was subject to an automatic, registered at the till three year guarantee then the quality of goods would go up sharply - as would the price obviously, but still cheaper in the long run and a lot less wasteful. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15863049

More of an indication of Germany being faced with bailing out most of Southern Europe and France tbf.

The Times is pretty centrist rather than right.

My brother is an editor at the Times. Good paper, everybody likes it, but people are stopping buying the printed paper and just wont take out online subscriptions because they think the internet should be free. All the broadsheets are shedding masses of staff and quality is sliding. In a few years time good researched jounalism will have all but disappeared and been replaced by pop trash and weirdos blogging. Ironically I think its creating a new need for the BBC, after arguably 20 or 30 years from the 1980s when it struggled for a role.

The run up to Christmas has seen players and staff from Portsmouth FC visiting a local children's hospital. "It's nice to put a smile on the faces of those who are worse off than we are and who are facing a long uphill struggle," said David Wilson aged 6.

Celtic signing Lustig isnt necessarily good news for us. It indicates Johan Mjallby is having a big say in transfers and it was Mjallby who wanted to sign Hooiveld for Celtic in the first place.

A man accused of injecting a woman's buttocks with a mixture of cement and tyre inflater has been arrested. 'kin bizarre. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/15818910

I agree that just because you can afford it doesnt mean that you should buy it. Im pretty strict with my two, but they are still products of their generation - in that its difficult to intill them a sense of valuing things and looking after them. Id rather spend money on going somewhere (eg West End show or even ski ing) than buyimng an elctronic box which is constantly outdated by the next one.

34,500

Paying people by results is good thing. At the beginning of 2000 the FTSE 100 was 6930. Its currently trading at 5207, the same level as in 1997. So FTSE directors should be earning the same as in 1997? after all thats capitalism isnt it? Or do we simply have a corrupted croneyism version of capitalism - a self perpetuating oligarchy. Basically you and me, have our pensions invested by bankers who earn vast sums based on 'performance'. They invest our money in companies whose management are also paid vast sums. Surely if we are paying top money to attract the best talent available globally you should get stellar returns, otherwise whats the point? Losing 25% of pension holders capital since 2000 doesnt seem that stellar to me - but thats probably because Im a stupid socialist who doesnt understand the careful nuances like Dune does.

Lennon says he wasnt aware talks are going on and whether or not Hooiveld should /would come back. http://sport.stv.tv/football/scottish-premier/celtic/280182-celtic-manager-unaware-of-jos-hooiveld-departure-talks/

Not forgetting those people for whom commenting on a football forum about those who comment about those "watching minor celebrities shrieking at eating a beetle is all they have in life" is all they have in life too.

Really sad news. Two other brothers died early, one only 30 and one in his 50s but their muim is still fit at 91. You can never take anything for granted. On a side note, Wiki entry says "only Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees". Had no idea Garth Brooks was in that sort of league.

As with most offensive words (spastic, queer, paki etc) ****** has innocuous origins (meaning people living around the Niger river). The offence arises not because the word in itself is derogatory but because it takes on negative connotations through its usage by people as an insult. You can end up with perverse results, like imo the positive 'handicapped' which really means carrying an extra burden losing favour to the downbeat -disabled ('nothing you can do mate, its broken). Just as bad are the torch wavers - quick to condemn older people because they dont use the current word du jour - but who themselves live lives of unimpeachable apartheid.

Good move. The idea that wealthier pension payers should get a 40% discount off their tax bill whilst the majority get only 23% has always been perverse.

Yep, I left home and school at 16 thinking I could do just fine without a degree. Proved not to be the case and eventually went to uni at 24.

16. Kept on going back intermittently eveytime up I ****ed up until 24