No, it's not a march against obesity, it's a march for more pay for our wonderful police. Not since the days of the London dockers strike in support of Enoch Powell have so many overweight bigoted white men been seen on a protest. And just to show the police are accommodating of minorities there is a BNP councillor 'welcomed' to lead the march. Nice touch!The argument is over a 0.6% difference in their pay rise (1.9% instead of 2.5%). It is not the £30m cost that is the problem for the government, it is the signal it sends out to the other 5m public sector workers. If the most well paid and least productive of public sector staff deserve an above inflation rise, then the rest will demand a hefty rise as well. Perhaps the police could follow the example of teachers and accept a three year deal.
Of course, you could argue it is the principle the police are fighting for - the govt have previously honoured the independent review. But did the police complain when their pay went up faster than recommended? Nope.
A fat white bigot? Pretty strong accusations and a bit sweeping. I'd want to be sure that no one could possibly feel I was any of those things before I was so ready to make such a sweeping generalisation :-)
ReplyDeleteIf the government felt that they should reward police more than the independent review that's their choice, but to try and award less than what is independently arrived at being what they deserved is another issue completely.
ReplyDeleteBut then this post of yours was never about reasonable comment, so perhaps this is lost on you :)
I am not any particular friend of the police so I shall try to distance myself from schenfreude and consider the principle of the thing. And that is simple. If the government institutes a pay review body then it should abide by its decision. Whether it decides for the nurses, the teachers or the police. If I were a public sector worker I would not touch three year pay deals with a barge pole as this dishonest government would simply dishonour the agreement if it were in its interests to do so.
ReplyDeleteNothing to add on Donorgate, eh, Neil? Or do you prefer to ignore bad news?
ReplyDeleteNothing to add on Donorgate, eh, Neil?
ReplyDeleteI am guessing that Neil would support the harvesting of organs from everyone, whether or not they objected to it or whether or not their relatives objected to it. If Neil can see no objection to it then no one else should be permitted to have an objection.
For the record, I would support the presumption of consent for organ donorship provided that the citizen has the right to opt out without having to offer a reason.
urko: remember dimbleby on spitting image and the film hot fuzz. I am not being entirely serious here. I know I am playing with fire to criticise the police but we all know the police have a bit of a reputation for sitting in patrol cars eating donuts.
ReplyDeletelee: The govt have not played this cleverly but for some reason they have decided the police are worth fighting. Like I say, the police have done well on pay deals for a long time, I would rather their pay rise go to nurses or teachers.
ReplyDeleteStephen: I am guessing Mark is meaning Peter Hain rather than organ donation but for the record - if someone is dead, harvest away I say.
ReplyDeleteMark: I don't think anyone seriously thinks Hain is corrupt, it is great loss - he was one of Brown's better ministers - the private pension people are pleased with his compensation deal for example.
ReplyDeletePurnell looks and sounds like a Tory and his comments about the BBC show he is a Murdoch stooge. I am deeply worried about this Labour government - I cannot deny they are looking as bad if not worse than Major for competence at the moment. Keep this up and the Tories are coming back, I fear for this country - see Polly Toynbee's article - I am totally in agreement with her. Unless Brown finds some courage and stops dithering he is doomed. Forget the referendum on European democracy, we need the one Labour promised in 1997 on British democracy first!
'the police have a bit of a reputation for sitting in patrol cars eating donuts'
ReplyDeleteWhat did they give you a chewing off for?
(I am beginning to lose the will to take any of this at all seriously)
'I don't think anyone seriously thinks Hain is corrupt'
I don't think that anyone seriously thinks that you are a mindreader, or God.
'I am deeply worried about this Labour government'.
I've noticed that you keep battering on about how awful Nulab are, bemoaning it all. However, the difference between you and a lot of other people who previously voted for them and who now recognise this, or have otherwise seen through them, is that those people are clever enough to realise that it would be actually be better to vote them out
Neil, I and millions of others think that Hain is corrupt.
ReplyDelete"If the most well paid and least productive of public sector staff deserve an above inflation rise, then the rest will demand a hefty rise as well."
ReplyDeleteNeil, you sound almost right wing!
Don't forget MPs, civil servants working in quangos who are also well paid for doing very little!
If Peter Hain was one of Brown's best ministers, the talent pool must be very shallow...
Peter Hain must be guilty otherwise there would be nothing to fear from an incompetent Police investigation. It makes brown envelopes stuffed with cash sound like mere pocket money...