SeanMacGabhann

Eh? Where are you extrapolating all that nonsense from. I countered your question and now you say it's no longer a discussion but a private club?

I'm not as despairing of the structures that are in place as you are m7 - so you could say I am FOR them I would change some things - remove first past the post, continue to press for less deference to banking systems (which is not the same as me saying said systems are "evil") but then again I'm not the one who has started posting with some vehemence about the need for change. So the onus is not on ME to say what I'm for, I would say that was on you

A very good point Marmora Man - but I'm not sure about the examples. I suspect they all had majority backing, but the majority was denied access to the levers of power I'm not so sure what m7post is FOR - I have a fair idea of what he is against but I'm not seeing much in the way of "persuasion, good arguments, marketing, strong feeling"

It's not clear from the OP why time was so tight - left the house due to unavoidable circs and a job with zero tolerance on lateness? or is the whole thing a result of impatience? The excess fair counter turning out to be a fine-collection counter is really annoying it's true. But other than that, you know the score as a regular commuter - you just took it upon yourself to ignore all of the rules so to me it all sounds like an awful lot of drama and fuss considering this is entirely self-inflicted Wether you are entitled to claim back or legally fight the thing is surely secondary to the fact that you were running late (I'm guessing not for the first time), felt the Q was too long for youto wait (not possible to ring work and point out you'll be 10 minutes late?) and then when you got to the far end you piggybacked another commuter and I speak as someone who has been in the same boat - it just taught me a lesson and I haven't done it again. Fighting the whole process just smacks of self-importance where everyone was wrong but you.

Obviously I agree with you *B* but I've done it often enough to know I'm wasting my time. I can't MAKE other people do the same m7post - one of the reasons teh current parties "seem to do little more than tinker with the status-quo when power swings between them" is that to manage this many people IS a balancing act and most voters tend to not want things to change too much. This is where I come back and agree with *Bob* fundamentally - blame the voters, not the politicians Any individual can easily jump up and down and say how cross they are, and in so doing they attract other cross people whothen collectively think they represent a majority. But they are just cross people

When I moved to ED 9 years ago, I too had heard the Stokey comparisons. In fact we had been looking in Stokey for a good few months but couldn't find anywhere for our money. But having spent many a day/evening there it was fairly easy to see how those comparisons were made when we first walked up LL I'm broadly in agreement with quids statement too

I know that many DVD players have this facility, but I've never tested it with CDs in the drive instead of DVD's - have you tried it in a DVD player steve? I'm not saying it will work but worth a try A quick google suggests anyone else who has asked your question hasn't had much joy

*Bob* It isn't quite fair to place the blame solely on voters with that one - i have lived in many a constituency where voting for (in most cases) LibDem - but just as often Labour or Tory where the likelyhood if it having any effect is minimal If I vote libdem in, say, east Ham, I'm simply ensuring the Labour candidate wins. But if I vote Tory I MIGHT effect a change of MP. But if I vote LibDem.... nada

what would you suggest is an acceptable solution?

Is the health plan JUST about making people live longer? I'd be happier about the fact that I wouldn't get turned away at a hospital because I didn't have insurance. Interesting re: minimum wage tho. You could argue that without the minimum wage, the equality gap would be a hell of a lot wider so on that score, it has helped reduce the gap On the one hand a minimum wage should ensure that the basics for life are taken care of - or at least go some way to improving those chances. On the other hand - if the gap with the richest is getting wider it will mean things like a roof over your head become more and more unnatainable (as house price inflation far outsripped any minimum wage increase) . I would still prefer to be on a minimum wage than at the mercy of employers alone mind you rather than an arbitrarily chosen amount, I would like to see the minimum wage set at a ratio of the maximum wage in a given company. Maybe something more sophisticated than something THAT simple, but the principle would be the same - "well done CEO, you've led the company to a record year, have your 50% pay rise, but it also means my 10k a year gets bumped by 10% as well" or something

some fairly vague accusations of your own thrown in there Dave - but welcome anyway As I've already posted today, the US introducing the healthcare system is exactly the kind of measure that's real and an example of what I mean by equality Labour introducing minimum wage in the face of ridiculous claims of the damage it would do is another concrete example To think that 15 years ago it was possible to legally pay someone a quid an hour takes the breath away I'm not out to bash any " evil capitalists, greedy bankers, disenfranchised workers etc " but I am willing to look at the worst symptoms of whatever economic model we adopt and try and mitigate them For the last century+, any introduction of equality (be it abolition of slavery or introducing minimum wage) has all manner of vested interests up in arms. And anyone standing up to those vested interests has the usual mud thrown at them "do-gooders, left liberals, anti-capitalists etc" so I do take short shrift with people who won't even accept there are problems and we should just let the market deal with things

I think the US Healthcase bill that Obama has pushed through in the face of mind-melting opposition is a good example of how progress can be made in the name of equality. It doesn't mean that someone earning 15k a a year will enjoy the same health benefits as someone earning 150ka year - but it does mean that the poorer person might not have to sell their firstborn to be treated in a hospital How can this be a bad thing?

I thought if there was one thread where people wouldn't head for the gutter it might be this one - I was wrong

Fake chrome and a lick of paint and a change of name announced by some menswear dummy turned messenger of a master whose name he cannot pronounce

wow LadyM - that's some post there. I think as time goes on more and more people will find themselves in simiar positions to both you and your friend, but right now you haven't got too much to draw upon The lady in questions sounds like quite the force tho - someone like that will leave a hole in your life I would echo what people are saying on here - you will spend years kicking yourself if you don't go and visit. Which won't make it any easier when you do and you will be bent out of shape for quite a while, but it sounds like you already know what you need and want to do. And it sounds like you have the people you need to support you best of luck

These people, they speak the truth Think of Huguenot, digesting all the days postings and then firing off a volley of responses whilst we all sleep Have a great time in NH and keep in touch - you should have had a leaving party or something

allocating budgets like this isn't confined to the public sector or much to do with politics - exactly the same thing happens in big corporates too

Oh god it's true as well. And I must have realised as I was posting it. Ah well not much I can add now is there apart from I talk shite sometimes.

Mr Walsh renumeration approx

I repeat - a company losing 700 million a year could look at it's head, paid 700 million a year and come up with options cutting one's cloth can take many forms

a bit strong no? You don't like buses fair enough but to suggest that those of us who do are plague-ridden? Even if meant tongue in cheek....

arse

They almost certainly knew those perks would be withdrawn - the 2 airline staff I know seem to be aware anyway. But the reason the lower paid airline staff don't strike?? Oh come on... those airlines exist because they don't recognise unions Those staff don't have the same rights as BA staff - and whatever salary they exist on now will be driven lower

Another way of asking it is why can't other staff be paid as much (oooh 18k - don't go spend it all in one year now) as BA staff why go lower - why not raise standards?

Observing events of recent years it's not just poor people who looked at a pile of bad debt for private and instant gratification and swallow it anyway, is it? Only the financial institutions who did it get billions of public money to help them out and individuals are left to sort their own problems out. That may be the only way out of the hole but to turn around to individuals and say "your own fault mate" is rubbing salt in the wounds a bit