badgerx16

She entered the profession as one of the job converts about 10 years ago, and yes, she starts at 8, she complains if I'm 5 minutes late dropping her off as she'll be the last one in.

Why do you think she's on strike today ? Edit : take a look at Gove's proposed reforms, including extending class hours - in theory if you add up all the statutory subject teaching hours for a primary class, there aren't enough hours in the school day to accommodate them.

How many days are children in school - depends on the parents ;-) How many hours do teachers do ? - My wife start at 8 and finishes at 5, then does about 2 hours at home. She also does about 3 hours at home on each term time weekend, plus some days during the hols. As for the 'overtime', not likely if they're Primary teachers.

The definition of self-funding means that there is no additional burden on the state to make a contribution to keep the funds operative, which there isn't with the LGPS. Yes there is an employers contribution whilst somebody is in employment, but there is no 'black hole' gap between the funds in the scheme and the demands placed upon it, which would otherwise require the Treasury to make budgetary commitments - which other public sector schemes do need. Question - do private sector pensions not have employer contributions ?

What would you call it when you have at least 10% taken from your budget for each of 5 successive years ? Mind you, I loved the quote from GO about Pickles the Hutt being the 'model of lean Government'.

Wow, what a surprise - how convenient. ( Do you honestly believe the ONS is 'independent' ? )

...

Was that on expenses ?

The LGPS is NOT managed by the Government, it follows rules set out by Parliament, but is administered by regional groups of Local Councils. http://www.lgps.org.uk/lge/core/page.do?pageId=100438

And what exactly is your experience of working in the Public Sector ? Or do you merely read the Daily Mail ?

Don't lump all public sector pensions into one bucket - Local Government schemes are self-funded, civil service, many NHS, and armed forces ones are funded by the state.

Maybe Manchester should sue Budweiser ? Bellevue is part of Gorton.

At the risk of monopolising the thread, from one of my favourite English poets : Slough Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough! It isn't fit for humans now, There isn't grass to graze a cow. Swarm over, Death! Come, bombs and blow to smithereens Those air -conditioned, bright canteens, Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans, Tinned minds, tinned breath. Mess up the mess they call a town- A house for ninety-seven down And once a week a half a crown For twenty years. And get that man with double chin Who'll always cheat and always win, Who washes his repulsive skin In women's tears: And smash his desk of polished oak And smash his hands so used to stroke And stop his boring dirty joke And make him yell. But spare the bald young clerks who add The profits of the stinking cad; It's not their fault that they are mad, They've tasted Hell. It's not their fault they do not know The birdsong from the radio, It's not their fault they often go To Maidenhead And talk of sport and makes of cars In various bogus-Tudor bars And daren't look up and see the stars But belch instead. In labour-saving homes, with care Their wives frizz out peroxide hair And dry it in synthetic air And paint their nails. Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough To get it ready for the plough. The cabbages are coming now; The earth exhales. ( Sir John Betjeman )

Allegedly the shortest poem in English, ( would be hard to get a shorter one ), entitled "Fleas" - but apparently originally named "Lines on the antiquity of microbes" ; Adam had 'em

A chicken is a noble beast, The cow is much forlorner; Standing in the pouring rain, With a leg at every corner. ( William McGonagall )

If you can't afford to put a roof over your pool, and have it heated all year round, you shouldn't buy it in the first place.

The less you learn about foreign parts, the less guilt you feel when bombing or invading them.

How many clubs can't afford 2 stewards ?

Why can't they do their Haka ?

The point about Prism is that in the main it's the US authorities 'snooping' on non-US citizens, outside the USofA. They have explicitly stated that this isn't happening on US soil as it contravenes their Civil Rights - "the communications-collection programme was 'designed to facilitate the acquisition of foreign intelligence information concerning non-US persons located outside the United States". "It cannot be used to intentionally target any US citizen, any other US person, or anyone located within the United States...'", ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22809541 ). The Verizon Court Order enforces surveillance on telephone calls where one participant is outside the US, calls entirely within the borders are not affected.

Would that be your facts or mine ?

How many terrorist acts have ever been committed in GB or the US by Afghans, or more specifically the Taliban ? How many Afghan civilians have died since the US started the military campaign ? Who is the 'terrorist' ? The UN SC did not make the war 'legal', it endorsed military and Police support for the Afghan Interim Authority, which was formed as a result of the Bonn Agreement, from a number of anti-Taliban groups and some exiled political leaders that the West approved of. Following your logic we would have been entitled to invade Eire because the IRA had training camps and arms caches there.

But 'war' can only be declared by one state against another - the US instigated an action of 'collective self defence', ( not a 'war of aggression' ), against a terrorist cell, which the UN Security Council did not ratify the action; ISAF was only created after the Afghan Interim Authority had been established, when the UN was presented with a fait-accompli.

As I said, you can pick & choose the legal opinion, ( from WIKI ): The UN Charter is a treaty ratified by the United States and thus part of US law. Under the charter, a country can use armed force against another country only in self-defense or when the Security Council approves. Neither of those conditions was met before the United States invaded Afghanistan. The Taliban did not attack us on 9/11. Nineteen men – 15 from Saudi Arabia – did, and there was no imminent threat that Afghanistan would attack the US or another UN member country. The council did not authorize the United States or any other country to use military force against Afghanistan. The US war in Afghanistan is illegal. — Marjorie Cohn, professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, president of the National Lawyers Guild[3]

There is legal opinion that it is, there is similarly legal opinion that it is not. You can pick whichever opinion best supports your position.