whelk

Don’t dare call their voters thick they just want change and someone looking out for them. Hey stupid electorate look over there at that woke stuff, we’ll concentrate over here raiding the finances.

Everyone else mentions joyful things. SOG manages to always brings politics into it, And I haven’t even opened his link!

One thing I will agree with Ralph is that lazy sods are drawn to the public sector. My niece works in NHS and shocking some of the malingerers getting away with murder playing the system and managers who lose the will to drive through their much needed performance management. Obviously loads of brilliant people there too.

How dopey was historian David? Useless throughout

lol - lets try and get some fivers by talking about it. That’s the pitch to the investors. Focus on the big money

lol - I expect know a lot more about the betting industry than you. You think they want or expect to make money out of these type of bets? Their online roulette will make in minutes more than the combined total of all the bets on who is the next manager of any club through the season.

Not expecting an official announcement but would have thought bookies would be piped in so he doesn’t keep getting mentioned as the favourite on SSN

My first Saturday job were a pound an hour. Had to shag some right dodgy old birds for that as well

Just stumbled on this thread. kinda feel for the OP getting so much abuse

Why the fuck has Martin not been ruled out? I will need that picture of the fella handing his ST back if they appointed him again

See above - no deep personal knowledge other than an awareness. It was in response to Ralph saying why are they not reviewing and cutting……they clearly have. And that isn’t a defence of them being super efficient

TBF I think Streeting has acknowledged this that needs reform to not just be a money pit

The trade off for these staff, most of who won’t be earning fortunes, is that there is a reasonable pension at the end as ‘reward’ for their public service. I don’t know personally how gold plated they actually are but know a retired teacher with longish service and wasn’t as much as I assumed.

Don’t know but quick Google came back with UK local government has experienced significant real-term spending cuts, with total core spending power in England falling by approximately 11% between 2010/11 and 2024/25, primarily due to a large reduction in central government grants. While spending power has partially recovered since a low point in 2019/20, it remains substantially lower than in 2010. Specific service cuts have varied, with substantial real-terms reductions seen in areas like highways, culture, and housing. Trends in spending power Overall reduction: Total core spending power for English local authorities was about 11% lower in 2024/25 than in 2010/11, even after some recovery since 2019/20. Government grants: A 40% real-terms cut in central government grants between 2009/10 and 2019/20 was a primary driver of the decrease, though some increased funding for the pandemic partially offset the total grant reduction. Council tax increase: Local councils have increased council tax revenue by 30% in real terms since 2009/10 to compensate for lost grants, a practice enabled by the Localism Act 2011. Specific service impacts Highways and transport: Saw a decrease of 45% in real-terms spending per person between 2010/11 and 2019/20. Culture and leisure: Spending decreased by 45% per person over the same period. Housing: Spending per person fell by 44% between 2010/11 and 2019/20. Adult social care: Saw a 2% real-terms decrease in spending per person between 2010/11 and 2019/20. Children's social care: Increased by 11% in real terms over the same period. Other impacts Increased pressure: Councils are facing immense pressure from rising demand for services like social care and homelessness support, coupled with high inflation and energy costs. Funding gap: These pressures have created a significant funding gap, with some councils facing a combined shortfall of £4 billion over the next two years. Deprivation: Local authorities in more deprived areas, which are more reliant on grants, experienced much larger funding cuts initially. However, the government has since tried to reverse this trend to give more funding to deprived areas

Yeah all those teachers and nurses that are so easy to recruit, most buy coastal homes in Barbados with their windfalls when they retire