gaz

Quality not quantity as Clotterill used to say...

I can't say it did. If you're on JSA for more than 12 months, then they place you with a training company automatically. I was with A4e on a 6 month program, but it was about a month before it became clear what the situation was (working for pittance while they creamed the rest off the top). I complained to the Training Manager at A4e but was basically told that JSA would be stopped if I didn't attend the placement or leave Focus to go to another placement (same situation with wages and work though). Complained to JCP about it, they said that was the procedure and A4e was right, JSA would be stopped. I thought about it and decided to leave as it was pointless me being stuck working for £1.13 an hour without a job at the end of it, when my time would have been better spent improving my CV, writing a better cover letter and getting applications filled (which is what I thought A4e would do...naiive me). I wasn't a dole dosser, I wasn't on JSA to claim £90 a fortnight to sit around drinking cider on the park with my mates, I was on it because I was made redundant and needed the money to stay with my head above water over my commitments. A lot of people automatically assume that if you're claiming, you're a waste of space with no hope of finding work, and crucially, they assume you WANT to claim. Trust me, that was not the case for me. It was humiliating and I didn't want to be there every fortnight, I wanted to be at work, earning fair money for a fair days work. At the time, when signing on, the process went like this: ME: I'd like to sign on please JCP: Sure, have you applied for any jobs in the last 2 weeks? ME: Yes (they didn't check if you had or not though) JCP: OK, sign here. Occasionally you'd get someone who would talk you through the process of applying, ways to improve your portfolio, but they tended to be temp staff at the JCP office. In the end I found work off my own back and left the whole scheme, I felt like the JCP didn't do enough to help the clients (just meeting bare minimum set out in their guidelines), and I felt like A4e was designed to make money off the government by acting like brokers, finding cheap labour for businesses, making them money as well as A4e money too.

Yes.

Did this while unemployed, via a training company called A4e. No prospect of job at the end of it, expected to work a full day, doing the same roles as regular staff, no special training, but paid JSA to do the role. At the time I worked it out to be £45.50 a week, divided by 5 days, divided by 8 hours. Worked out to be £1.13 an hour, whereas minimum wage at the time was a bit above £5 an hour. Basically slave labour. I wanted a job, I wanted to be paid a fair wage for a fair days work. Asked the store manager where I was placed if there was a full role for me as I was obviously capable and qualified for the job, and was told nope, they get a subsidy from the Government for taking on people from training companies so its in their interest to take them on, at low rates. And that was with a large DIY chain which has now gone bust.

Looking at the team sheet, they can't pack the field!

One of those popped up on PistonHeads ''Shed of the week'' which is basically cool cult, quick or interesting cars for under a grand. Here's what the members thought of it: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=23&t=1177990&nmt=RE%3A+SOTW+Lexus+IS200#topicTop

The Trust's plan has more holes than the Fratton roof.

People in the industry are saying, a VERY decent used car bargain is a Lexus IS200. Depreciation is near the bottom of the curve now, 8-10 year old models can be found for less than £1200, minters for less than £2000. Quality is as good as a BMW E46, handles as nice and is a bit more exclusive than a BMW (they sold more E46s than Mondeos in the early 2000s).

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/politics/leader-says-no-chance-of-council-buying-south-parade-pier-1-412505677 By Joe Nimmo Published on Friday 3 August 2012 07:03 THE leader of Portsmouth City Council has said the authority would not even consider buying South Parade Pier. Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson also ruled out giving financial aid to any group trying to take ownership of the Southsea landmark, arguing the council could not afford to subsidise it. ..... Cllr Vernon-Jackson said there were crucial differences between The Pyramids Centre, which is being supported by the council and South Parade Pier. ‘The Pyramids provides a service that more and more people are using,’ he said. ‘But because it’s in such a state less and less people are using the pier. ‘For all intents and purposes the pier has been closed to the public. What has happened there is an absolute disgrace. ‘But it is a private sector asset and there has to be a private sector solution to its problems. We just can’t afford to get involved.’ ...... Bit like a Football Stadium then, eh?

Love this one. Pretty much all of those fans are quite happy to go along for the ride, gurning and cheering and ringing their ****ing bell at their ridiculously overpaid players that they know are way out of their price range. If they were a bit more vocal then, instead of when it all inevitably turns sour, then I might be a bit more inclined to feel some sympathy for them

Friend from school up here did it, he was one of the first to pass his driving test and got a job as a mechanic, but was always a bit weedy and geeky, used to be bullied terrible at school, seems like it carried on into the workplace and couldn't take any more. Got in his car one day, drove down one of the back lanes around where we live until he saw a woman driving a 4x4 and he rammed it at around 60mph. Put her and her daughter in hospital and succeeded in topping himself. In the days before he was apparently talking to those at work, saying how he wanted to do a massacre like that Korean guy in the Virgina Tech shooting. Also, my step-uncle jumped in front of a train in the Soton area in the early-00's, but I don't know the circumstances around it as we don't talk about him in the family. Second husband of my Mums sister, she has always struggled with depression and he wasn't exactly the strongest person to be able to cope.

Looking for one for my bedroom, for both watching TV and playing on the PS3 via HDMI. I've got a Hitachi Freeview recorder so would mainly be using that via SCART to watch and record TV. A bit worried that the sound will be poor on a TV of this size, the reviews I've seen say the sound can be flat and bassless which makes it worse than what I currently have (21ins CRT, but the PS3 graphics are too blurry to read writing on some games). I'm wanting to spend around £150 so what would you recommend? I'm leaning towards this, as the specs seem better than most Argos/Comet fodder: http://www.kogan.co.uk/shop/26-full-hd-led-tv-pvr-and-digital-tuner-kogan-led/

Spotted this comment on one of the articles about TBH. http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/pompey-past/andronikou-convinced-on-player-compromise-1-4095098 ''2old2beg 5:42 PM on 26/07/2012 A cat among the pigeons, maybe, because the story is that Tal Ben Haim is not contracted to PFC but he has a limited company, set up before he joined Pompey for "tax reasons", which is his employer. As such, he is employed as a director by his company and his company has a contract with PFC for his services. Therefore, his "company" stands to lose, as a creditor, and not the amount of money that Mr Ben Haim is claiming is personally owed to him. Food for thought, eh? But, surely, Mr Birch knows this and, being as astute as we are learning to believe, will handle the matter prudently!''

What was the outcome of Trev's rallying cry to CVA Mk1 Creditors? Is the Portpin 2% of 20% valid?

I read that part too, my brain hurts and I think I'm actually stupider for the experience. It reads like it was written by a person with cognitive difficulties.

Tryouts for the Phoenix Club?

Only one fact to post back to them. Half a billion quid flushed through the fat-ridden pipes and naff-all to show for it apart from a trophy which COST them more money than it earned them.

Something just doesn't add up to me. OK, they need to reduce the wage bill and sacking the players isn't an option. Why isn't Trev faxing every league club with a list of their remaining players, saying ''buy them for a nominal fee (a quid)?'' He can't be holding out for market value, can he? And surely clubs interested in signing them would pay a quid now and secure their services rather than risk bidding for the player as a free agent? Even with the wages they are on, they'll be in demand somewhere if the price was a quid, rather than £250-500k. A bit like someone saying to you, you can buy Ferrari A for £100,000 and it'll cost you £3000 a year to run it, or you can buy Ferrari B for £1 and it'll cost the same £3000 to run. Whatever saving you make on the purchase price of the player, it can be passed on to funding his wages. No movement from the players, but equally, very litle movement from Pompey. Like I say, it doesn't add up.

Well I'm going against the grain and say Yes. Why? Simple, they give no advantage over legs. Its a bit like running shoes, some are better than others, so going by all your arguements, why allow differences? Everyone should run with the same shoes, or barefoot? The Paralympics were set up to give a platform for disabled men and women to compete on a level playing field as they couldn't compete against able-bodied people head to head. But, now they can with whatever handicaps they have. Its not like they woke up one morning and thought ''right, I'm not fast enough to run, so I'll chop my legs off and gain an unfair advantage?''. In Oscar's case, he's had no legs since the age of 11. He's not the first disabled competitor at the Olympics either, and won't be the last. In 1982, New Zealander Neroli Fairhall won gold in Archery at the Commonwealth games, and competed at the Olympics in '86. People complained because she was sitting in a wheelchair, after being paralyzed from the waist down after a motorbike accident, when some rivals suggested she had an advantage in shooting from a sitting position. The controversy waned when, asked if that were so, she replied: "I don't know. I've never shot standing up. Its the same for Oscar.

Jose Fonte Kevin Phillips Jos Hooiveld Jamie Redknapp Dennis Wise None of the Keegan league of ability, but all made me go ''wow, we managed to sign HIM?''.

Here ya go Trev, page 57. http://www.pkf.co.uk/web/pkf.nsf/9B17ED7F7B6C6DBD80257A1700350840/$file/PFC+%282010%29+Ltd+CVA+proposals+8+06+2012+FINAL+v1.pdf Hmmm, link not working now, Google "Pompey CVA Creditors List", its the 5th link and works directly. Or is this the wrong CVA? I've lost track because they've gone bust so many times.

''Life-long Blues supporter Dave Ellis has dug into his own pockets and stumped up a five-figure sum to enable Michael Appleton’s men to travel to southern Spain.'' Someone should tell the Snoozre that the trialists haven't signed, can't afford to pay them, so aren't Appy's Boys.

Scarily close to becoming true!

If the liquadator is called, what assets could the PST buy, in similarities to CharlesGreenRangers? He bought the ''club'' in that he paid £5m for the player contracts (so he says), the ground and training ground, and all the other associated items from the liquadtor.

Exactly, but being found not guilty isn't the same as not committing the crime. Its about committing the crime with evidence to put the decision beyond reasonable doubt. I agree that the doubt means he's found not guilty in the eyes of the law, but his type is the type who always makes mistakes (Joey Barton et al), so its just a matter of time before it happens again.