Winnersaint

Wife has recently after 7 years been given green light to reorganise her area. Only now after this length of time managing a member of her team has she been empowered to sort things out. A member of staff will take redundancy but has basically done **** all in 7 years earning in excess of 30K pa. Multiply that over many times in the NHS and other public sector organisations and you can see how it all adds up. The other thing that has to be called into question is the right to incremental annual rises that exist in the NHS and up to a point in Education without improvements in, for want of a better word for it, productivity. performance related pay and a rigorous performance management system is required in the public sector. I have 30 years of experience working in education as a secondary school teacher and benefitted for the first few years from these incremental rises, however at a time when cuts are mooted this is an area which should be looked at. For the record my no1 performance target this year is reduce the number of fixed term exclusions in my school by 35% during 2009/10. Rather less tangible is the development of a curriculum to support a reduction in fixed term exclusions. Exclusions as as of Easter were less than 50% of those of 2008/09.

Don't want top go into too much detail here, but I know my wife has been able to streamline her area and lose two non-jobs amounting to serious savings to the NHS even with generous redundancy terms. Her only regret is that it has taken 7 years to be empowered to do this, even though she recognised one of her team as a weak link in 03. 7 years paying someone in excess of 30K pa and noyt being able to do anything about it was a real frustration.

I'm no expert on the NHS, but my wife works in a fairly senior non-clinical management position in a Foundation Trust hospital. her background until a few years ago was in financial services, so she has seen both the public and private sectors in action. Within the area she works in she frequently questions the work ethic, lack of customer focus and the bureaucracy which stands in the way of change, reflecting that practices simply would not pass muster in the more streamlined and competitive world of the private sector. That is only the start of it. Most of the hospitals and PCTs that a majority of SWF posters would use in Hampshire, IoW, Berkshire and Oxfordshire are part of South Central Regional Health Authority and she cannot for the life of her see the rationale for its existence especially in the light of Foundation trust status of the RBH and Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital. South Central is a typical level of bearacracy that could be stripped out of the NHS saving millions.

I thought the first two episodes showed a great deal of promise; however I am going to reserve overall judgement until I have seen all ten. What is clear is that it isn't Band of Brothers and isn’t meant to be either, although the episode title graphics, Tom Hanks voice overs and the use of the veterans speaking as old men to camera make it comfortingly familiar. With Band of Brothers the environment that the series was set in was one which we could relate to and in my mind the events which took place were ones that we grew up with some knowledge of. I can speak to my dad about what it was like living in Southampton in the war; from the Blitz to the preparations for the D-Day landings. Most of the episodes were linked to huge set piece events following the invasion of Europe; like D-Day and the battle for Normandy, Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge, all of which seemed to be the stars of the show rather than the actors themselves This brings me back to The Pacific. Like a lot of people in the UK I have a somewhat limited knowledge of the war in the Pacific compared to that in Europe. Battling through Peleliu and Okinawa in CoD World at War has been my only recent exposure to what happened. I hope the characters of Leckie, Basilone and Sledge will grow as the series progresses and they as much as the battles they fought in will take centre stage. What is clear from the first episodes is that the war in the Pacific was very different from that in Europe. My impression from the series is that it is no less brutal, perhaps more so in terms of the hand to hand combat, psychologically perhaps more unnerving and most importantly about men not just fighting an enemy but a beautiful, harsh environment in which many suffered from malaria dysentery and other tropical diseases.

Finished Assassins Creed 2 (PS3) today including DLC. Still got a few assassination, beat up and race contracts to complete plus two Assassins Tombs in Venice. Loved the game, but not sure I can be arsed to go on with it now I've done with the story mode. Weird ending though.

Lmfao

What like GMTV and Blackpool Zoo only recruiting keepers who are 6ft 2 plus to look after the giraffes and elephants on health and safety grounds?

Met him once. He was the patron of Rupert's Runners Muscular Dystrophy charity, and had the chance for a brief chat and had my photo taken with him at the end of the London Marathon in 1992. Nice guy and genuinely one of the great commentators. RIP Harry.

Absolutely! Thank god they're far enough away just to post bilge on the internet and not spout utter bilge at SMS. Oh well, on to my first trip to Wimbledon.

Well said! I am heartily sick of the T W A T in Jocko land and the T W A T in Von Trapp territory,

We did. It was the first outing for the Admiral thick/thin stripes kit worn in mid to late 70s. The one you'll always picture Stevie Williams and Nick Holmes in.

Penne arabiatta tonight.

No of course not. Just musing more than anything else. Personally I think AP will takes Saints forward, but there is always the nagging suspicion that his heart is in it until something else comes along. What's Coppell doing these days?

Ok! Not big into conspiracy theories, but Warnock to QPR leaves a vacancy at???? NC ****es AP off by not letting him speak to Palarse. Spiritual home and all that? Don't know what to think. Living in the Reading/Wokingham area not many have a good word to say about AP and loyalty. Hope this is all about 2+2 = 5, but would not surprise me if AP not at Saints next Saturday. One of those gut reactions. Not ITK.

I lived in a new house in North Baddesley in 1964, and the Bedes lea didn't even exist then!

I concur

Sorry but, Alpine and Glasgow what the F U C K is wrong with you both?

I tend to agree with a lot of this also. Surely it is in the nature of web forums that all views tend to be expressed. Personally I am more than a little irritated by the negativity of the likes of Alpine and the constant whinging of Glasgow Saint and the utter ******** spouted by Nineteen Canteen,(in my humble opinion of course) but as long as they stick within the rules they deserve the right to express themselves even if people suspect their motives for doing so and disagree with what they say. I believe it's something to do with that fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression.

Enjoy yourself George. I sincerely hope a divine wind (Drew Brees) blows across Florida tonight. And yes! Who Dat! Also OWTSGMI especially for Saturday.

HMS Speaker - Bogue Class Aircraft Carrier part of the British Pacific Fleet. http://www.royalnavyresearcharchive.org.uk/ESCORT/Galleries/SPEAKER_Gllery.htm My dad joined up just before VJ Day. he was peacetime FAA. When he was at sea he was on this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Eagle_%28R05%29

Going back to Egypt in August. Staying at the Sunrise Royal Makadi Bay Hotel. Excellent AI plus free a-la-carte (bookable in advance) restaurants. Going back to do a few of the things we didn't get around to doing this year. Boat trip, camel ride in desert etc. Very relaxing. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g297550-d594132-Reviews-Sunrise_Royal_Makadi_Resort-Makadi_Bay_Red_Sea_and_Sinai.html

Has St George exploded with excitement! Who Dat!

Always thought it rather depressing. Mind you my memories of Eastleigh go back a bit. Spent first two years of my secondary education running back and forth to lessons across Leigh Road from the Chamberlyne Road Annexe to the main part of Toynbee. From what I can remember there were bits of the school all over the town. Random Science labs miles from the rest of the school. Add to that PE lessons at Fleming Park and swimming at Pirellis we always seemed to be moving somewhere. Looking back on it it was absurd to bus all us kids living in Baddesley to Eastleigh.

There's a seven foot six snow **** at the entrance to our cul-de-sac.

You may be lucky on the Algarve. Love the area around Carvoeiro. Go east for Benagil Praia da Gale and Praia da Marinha. Go west for Alvor and Meia Praia. The latter is one big mother of a beach. However given the choice I'd probably plump for Egypt for reliable, affordable Feb sun. Look at El Gouna, Makadi Bay and Marsa Alam as alternatives to Sharm. If going AI choose hotel carefully!