Re: The General Election Thread : Mon May 18, 2015 5:43 pm  

EHW wrote:

Sajid Javid left his £3m a year job to become an MP.

How do you earn that type of money if you aren't:

Ripping people off.
Charging too much.
Not paying the rest a fair salary.
Winning the lottery annually
Receiving "bonuses" which again is another way that the first 2 points apply.

I don't know, but I do know that "trickle down" doesn't work, Food banks are on the increase, there are too many people incapable of doing the jobs that industry is crying out for because you need to be able to think and develop and the current educational system basically discourage such radical thoughts. Add that most businesses see "training" as dead money and if they do train others will poach , yet if £3m a year is available to some, it seems to me that perhaps the whole system is quite a bit wonky.

Ah well

We live in interesting times.

Re: The General Election Thread : Mon May 18, 2015 6:49 pm  

I guess that you aren't earning £3M pa yourself, then?

Re: The General Election Thread : Tue May 19, 2015 12:01 pm  

Leaguefan wrote:

How do you earn that type of money if you aren't:

Ripping people off.
Charging too much.
Not paying the rest a fair salary.
Winning the lottery annually
Receiving "bonuses" which again is another way that the first 2 points apply.

I don't know, but I do know that "trickle down" doesn't work, Food banks are on the increase, there are too many people incapable of doing the jobs that industry is crying out for because you need to be able to think and develop and the current educational system basically discourage such radical thoughts. Add that most businesses see "training" as dead money and if they do train others will poach , yet if £3m a year is available to some, it seems to me that perhaps the whole system is quite a bit wonky.

Ah well

We live in interesting times.

what about being particularly good at what you do. If David Hockney were earning 3m a year how would he fit into your categorisation? Same goes for Rory McIlroy

More complete b0ll0cks from the very envious Leaguefan

Re: The General Election Thread : Tue May 19, 2015 1:00 pm  

EHW wrote: Sajid Javid left his £3m a year job to become an MP. To become an MP ... and DO WHAT? Serve the British public or serve himself and members of his class? I mean, he sure seems like he's on our side - what with him deciding to cut £10bn of "Red Tape From Small Businesses". Who could possibly be against free money? Makes you wonder why no one bothered to do it decades of go. Makes you wonder what he means by "Red Tape" - and whether any of his personal interests are affected by this policy. This is a guy who worked for Deutsche bank. Which means, like his colleagues across the pond, he's been parachuted in to protect the interests of the banking community. I am sure there literally hundreds of other MP's who have been, and could be earning more, in the private sector before becoming an MP. Oh ... the humanity! I'll leave it to Peter O'Borne's superb The Triumph of the Political Class (and subsequent) to administer a much-needed antidote to your perception of (and faith in) members of Parliament.

EHW wrote: Sajid Javid left his £3m a year job to become an MP. To become an MP ... and DO WHAT? Serve the British public or serve himself and members of his class? I mean, he sure seems like he's on our side - what with him deciding to cut £10bn of "Red Tape From Small Businesses". Who could possibly be against free money? Makes you wonder why no one bothered to do it decades of go. Makes you wonder what he means by "Red Tape" - and whether any of his personal interests are affected by this policy. This is a guy who worked for Deutsche bank. Which means, like his colleagues across the pond, he's been parachuted in to protect the interests of the banking community. I am sure there literally hundreds of other MP's who have been, and could be earning more, in the private sector before becoming an MP. Oh ... the humanity! I'll leave it to Peter O'Borne's superb The Triumph of the Political Class (and subsequent) to administer a much-needed antidote to your perception of (and faith in) members of Parliament.

Re: The General Election Thread : Tue May 19, 2015 5:07 pm  

Mugwump wrote:

I remember when Shaun Woodward paid us a visit at work a couple of years ago.

Just before he became Tory leader David Cameron opened our office in Witney. He didn't have security, instead he oozed through the front door, his motion lubricated by the oiliest Lord Mayor you could possibley imagine. He (the Mayor, not Cameron) said to me, while quaffing the free champagne, "if there is anything you need just let me know" while actually nudging me and winking. Straight out of Monty Python.

I also had the misfortune to run into Rees Mogg the Friday morning after the election - 5am at Bath University. The Scotsman I was with decided to share his views with him about leaving the EU. I don't think I could have managed much more than a c***, w*******, J**z faced t***. So elected to remain silent. Where are terrorists when you need them eh?

Re: The General Election Thread : Tue May 19, 2015 5:34 pm  

Sal Paradise wrote:

what about being particularly good at what you do. If David Hockney were earning 3m a year how would he fit into your categorisation? Same goes for Rory McIlroy

More complete b0ll0cks from the very envious Leaguefan

Again I ask

Of what and whom Am I supposed to envious of?

You didn't answer before and I doubt if you can this time either.

Re: The General Election Thread : Wed May 20, 2015 7:15 am  

Leaguefan wrote:

Again I ask

Of what and whom Am I supposed to envious of?

You didn't answer before and I doubt if you can this time either.

Your attacks are always on those who you deem to be in a priveledged position. Regardless of how clever they are, how hard they may have worked or how much they may have sacrificed to achieve you resent that they earn what they do. Even rugby you think the likes of Keighley should get an equal share of the Sky money despite contributing nothing to generate it. Yours is the rhetoric of envy.

Now just once answer my point about Hockney and McIlroy and your ill concieved meritoracy of earnings

Re: The General Election Thread : Wed May 20, 2015 8:57 am  

Sal Paradise wrote:

Your attacks are always on those who you deem to be in a priveledged position. Regardless of how clever they are, how hard they may have worked or how much they may have sacrificed to achieve you resent that they earn what they do. Even rugby you think the likes of Keighley should get an equal share of the Sky money despite contributing nothing to generate it. Yours is the rhetoric of envy.

Now just once answer my point about Hockney and McIlroy and your ill concieved meritoracy of earnings

Quite right Sal. He must be a member of the Green Party (as in green with envy)

Re: The General Election Thread : Wed May 20, 2015 9:20 am  

DHM wrote:

Just before he became Tory leader David Cameron opened our office in Witney. He didn't have security, instead he oozed through the front door, his motion lubricated by the oiliest Lord Mayor you could possibley imagine. He (the Mayor, not Cameron) said to me, while quaffing the free champagne, "if there is anything you need just let me know" while actually nudging me and winking. Straight out of Monty Python.

They use exactly the same tools and techniques most often associated with confidence tricksters (making someone feel "special" or an "insider" is as old as the hills - and still works). Which is what they are, really.

It was F. Scott Fitzgerald who once said, "An artist is someone who can hold two opposing viewpoints and still remain fully functional".

But even Fitzgerald would have been left open-mouthed at the likes of Tony Blair, who really was the master of the craft. He could hold four different conversations in the same room - each of which fundamentally opposes the other three - and speak with flawless conviction. And he likely believed in all four standpoints - at once.

Cameron is Blair's spiritual progeny. And he's good, too. But he's still a long way short of the Master. Roman Polanski was extremely close to the mark when he made that film, The Ghost Writer.

It's interesting to contrast Blair and Cameron with political operators who are closer to the more traditional "Cult of Personality" school of leadership - the best example being Boris Johnson. Both he and those around him have been very clever in crafting his style and behaviour sufficiently close to Churchill for people to make the connection (seemingly on their own). He likes to project this image of spontaneity. But there's nothing spontaneous about the guy. His image is finely managed (very few people are even aware he's a bloody Yank!). If ever a Tory was being groomed for No. 10, Boris is he. He's done his time giving oral to big business as Mayor and he can expect plenty of benefactors when he throws his hat into the ring.

Re: The General Election Thread : Wed May 20, 2015 10:27 am  

Mugwump wrote:

the best example being Boris Johnson. Both he and those around him have been very clever in crafting his style and behaviour sufficiently close to Churchill for people to make the connection (seemingly on their own). He likes to project this image of spontaneity. But there's nothing spontaneous about the guy. His image is finely managed (very few people are even aware he's a bloody Yank!). If ever a Tory was being groomed for No. 10, Boris is he. He's done his time giving oral to big business as Mayor and he can expect plenty of benefactors when he throws his hat into the ring.

Boris is the political equivalent of Joey Essex. Successfully forging a career on the back of pretending to be the village idiot but the joke really is on us. There are plenty who are still suckered in by the 'bumbling buffoon' Boris as portrayed by the right wing press, but underneath that scruffy hair and cheeky chappy demeanour is a scheming, ruthless mercenary.