Clarksons outburst!!

[Easyplan66]

21000 idiots have complained so far!

In a country of 60million plus 21000 complaints is not many, certainly not enough for the media coverage it is being given, I watched the clip on Have I got news for you last night and was amazed at my difference of opinion once I had seen it in context. As usual the media have taken some insignificant comment and made a story out of it. Is there really nothing more important going on in the world....

 

[andyp250f]

What I have found interesting in all this debate, not just here but many other outlets, is that nobody seems to be mentioning "freedom of speech".

 

[dickygrace]

21000 is a lot of complaints when about 22000 watch the bilge that is the One Show!

Freedom of speech no longer exists in this country. It is all against someone's rights, be it racist, sexist, ageist, bla bla bla!

 

[Woody]

21k is a lot Dicky, yeah. It was less than 5k initially, I think now poeple are jumping on the bandwagon.

As for Freedom of speech, we absoultely have that in this country, no question.....so long as there's zero risk of possibly offending someone. Its a great example of progress taking us backwards.

 

[rs48635]

Haven't read all of it, so apologies If I offend anyone here.

If you are offended by Clarkson, AND choose to watch him you either have never seen him OR you're are not being sensible.

Are people looking for reasons to be outraged these days? There are many channels and mute buttons, to give consumer choice.

Love cars, don't always like Clarkson, in fact I record Top Gear and zip through the jokey-bloky bits. Had my fill of lazy steroetypes of "jonny foreigner", but it still is the best motoring programme in the world.

All those pious members of the public should remember how much money Top Gear raises for the BBC globally. How many would watch if his sardonic input and presenting skills were removed? Would BBC jobs be affected by the likely drop in revenue and popularity globally.

Remember free speech, offensive remarks and bad jokes included, are hard fought rewards of a true democracy.

I would of course love to guarantee fixed final salary pensions to all the wonderful public sector workers, no-one (even Clarkson) denies we have the best people and services in the world.

Economic realities added to demographic boom in older people mean that we will all struggle to draw decent pensions. Remember public sector pensions are NOT backed by a huge fund (in most cases), but are paid directly out of taxpayer receipts. There might not actually be enough money for us all in 20-30 years time. Look at Greece and Italy for economies with enormous public sector liablities - could we stare this in the face, to give guarantees offered in a different age?

 

[lozcb]

21k is a lot Dicky, yeah. It was less than 5k initially, I think now poeple are jumping on the bandwagon.

As for Freedom of speech, we absoultely have that in this country, no question.....so long as there's zero risk of possibly offending someone. Its a great example of progress taking us backwards.

Thats why immigration is such a taboo subject , never heard a white politician mention the word racism , unless its regarding a pending case , as an example we have two Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises up here in MK (hate the stuff myself but Kaz loves it ) in the 4 years ive been here ive never ever ever seen a white person working there ,and that goes for every Indian restaurant and every Chinese reastaurant ive visited aswell , what are the odds that a white/english/european person has never applied for one of those positions ..............where's the multi-culturism in that ....................................aren't there laws about that type of selection , someone would need an awful lot of bottle to address it , as far as the politicians are concerned its easier to turn a blind eye ,rather than dip there toes in a taboo subject thats why things have got so bad its going to be difficult to re dress the balance ...... mind you i bet Jezza would given half the chance maybe when his next DVD is due out

regards loz

 

[rs48635]

It's about time that the sacred cow of public sector pensions was tackled as it's a financial time bomb waiting to go off. The pension liability of public sector workers is astronomical and has to be sorted out as soon as possible. Final salary pensions are all but finished in the private sector but just about every PSW has one. They are paid directly from taxation and not through investments and the country just cannot afford it. They are all kicking off because it is such a perk and it is also an excuse for the unions to flex some muscle and show the Tories who's boss. The strikers can't see they are helping to strangle the country and that things have got to change. I'm afraid i'm with Clarkson on this one.

I principle I am entirely behind the PS workers strike, to get the pension they were promised. There was no impact to me personally on the day.

The harsh reality is that, previous governments failed to invest for this future liability. We can only take their economists word that insufficient money will be available. Perhaps government should be investing some tax receipts now, to provide a top up for PS pensions.
Where to invest in these troubled times? Anyone putting money into their own pensions right now, must be a very nervous optimist.

 

[lozcb]

Most of the private sector pensions were raided , mine included , i had fantanstic promises made to me of how much i would get when i started mine ,but Gordon put pay to a big chunk of that quite a few years ago, what with , interest rates changes the end result gets affected , cant see why the Unions dont agree to the cut with a proviso that if and when the economy picks up that it gets re-instated simple



regards loz

 

[safrane]

Thats why immigration is such a taboo subject , never heard a white politician mention the word racism , unless its regarding a pending case , as an example we have two Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises up here in MK (hate the stuff myself but Kaz loves it ) in the 4 years ive been here ive never ever ever seen a white person working there ,and that goes for every Indian restaurant and every Chinese reastaurant ive visited aswell , what are the odds that a white/english/european person has never applied for one of those positions ..............where's the multi-culturism in that ....................................aren't there laws about that type of selection , someone would need an awful lot of bottle to address it , as far as the politicians are concerned its easier to turn a blind eye ,rather than dip there toes in a taboo subject thats why things have got so bad its going to be difficult to re dress the balance ...... mind you i bet Jezza would given half the chance maybe when his next DVD is due out

regards loz

Loz, sorry this is going to wind you up even more.

In law you can discriminate if for the sake of authenticity you need to take on staff from one ethnic group, so for instance your Chinese can take on only staff who are chinese and say no to someone who is white/black/asia 'no your the wrong creed'. That way it retains its Chinese Reastaurant feel.

 

[Parisien]

All boils down to a lack of money really and poor planning.

Back to basic point guys to those who work in private sector........you do a job for an agreed amount, the job takes a long time ....you pay money in for parts, materials, equipment and then at the end they turn around and say .....sorry we can't afford to pay you the 100k........hows about 65K..........this is what HMG is doing....... no different in my eyes.

We were told that the PS scheme are self sustaining........and each year the surplus goes back into general treasury funds...........not sure who to believe on this point.

Lifes a *****..........then you get taxed to death........


P

 

[Woody]

Most of the private sector pensions were raided , mine included , i had fantanstic promises made to me of how much i would get when i started mine ,but Gordon put pay to a big chunk of that quite a few years ago, what with , interest rates changes the end result gets affected , cant see why the Unions dont agree to the cut with a proviso that if and when the economy picks up that it gets re-instated simple



regards loz

In the above quote is the biggest problem with poeple loving credit and all it affords us. Interest rates will remain low and while they think its the fix for today, it WILL hurt us far, far more in a few years when pensioners are royally shafted by inflation. That will be far worse than some tougher times now but the route of low IRs has been chosen. IMO I think its incredibly short sighted and shortsightensess is what got us in this pickle in the first place.

 

[lozcb]

frank

Back to basic point guys to those who work in private sector........you do a job for an agreed amount, the job takes a long time ....you pay money in for parts, materials, equipment and then at the end they turn around and say .....sorry we can't afford to pay you the 100k........hows about 65K..........this is what HMG is doing....... no different in my eyes

Basically what the administrators do when you are owed money from a company that is in Adminstration or Bancrupt ...............the country is effictively bancrupt the labour government saw to that , after taking over from the Tories , Labour had the most affluent prosperous balance of payments and financilally sound economy virtually ever recorded in the last 50 years and in 10 years they ruined it when we could have been well protected , from the global downturn that we are in now

Had they not focused and concentrated us into joining Europe and gave the people the referendum that they promised , then businesses would have focused their exports worlwide rather than the easy option of the nearer Europe, that and selling off all of our gold reserves within a month of coming into office and wait for it (at an all time low ) , i think gold is something like 18 times its vallue since it was sold , talented the labour party arent they.

Very easy for an individual to treat the present situation as a dod eat dog world and just think of themselves , my heart goes to to my kids generation who are going to have to pay for it all , thats if they stay and be patriotic, thats what i see the tories doing , trying to be fiscal and making sure we dont spend now what our kids will have to pay for later


regards loz

 

[Parisien]

Thats why Loz, those who've gained power/ran the banks/made the decisions shouldnt be immune from prosecution after they C*O*C*K up.......its not just sufficient redress to vote them out of office or pay CEOS etc off with big payouts because of water tight contracts!

Its all very sad Loz when those you think should know better make the same mistakes....over and over again.

Again Loz.....they listed the exposure by the UK banking system to EU debt.......they lent billions to the banks etc of Greece, Portugal and Italy.......................BUT the UK banks lent the Irish banking system....MORE than those countries put together......£90 billion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ireland a pop of 4.2 millions.......other countries above 80 millions.

Sure the Labour people are idiots........................but the bankers are imbeciles....IMHO




P

 

[Easyplan66]

The simple fact is that the public sector is far too large and has too
Many people doing pointless jobs that just would not exist if it was a private company, the problem is that it has grown slowly over many years and each government does don't have the guts or money to fix it. In my opinion this recession is the best thing that could have happened as it has given the government an excuse to try and do something about a bad situation that is only going to get worse. If we sacked 50% of public sector workers tomorrow the country would carry on as normal and we would be a lot richer for it.

Rant over

 

[Parisien]

Thats a rather broad brush stroke Andrew......note my recent experience of the private sector getting a car delivered.............not very inspiring is it.........1/2 the private sector isn't all that either.......IMHO


P

 

[lozcb]

Thats why Loz, those who've gained power/ran the banks/made the decisions shouldnt be immune from prosecution after they C*O*C*K up.......its not just sufficient redress to vote them out of office or pay CEOS etc off with big payouts because of water tight contracts!

Its all very sad Loz when those you think should know better make the same mistakes....over and over again.

Again Loz.....they listed the exposure by the UK banking system to EU debt.......they lent billions to the banks etc of Greece, Portugal and Italy.......................BUT the UK banks lent the Irish banking system....MORE than those countries put together......£90 billion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ireland a pop of 4.2 millions.......other countries above 80 millions.

Sure the Labour people are idiots........................but the bankers are imbeciles....IMHO




P

At last we agree Frank , i'll drink to that , lockem all up especially Gordon (not Ghecco) Brown and Tony Blair for the Iraq and Afghan fiasco's that cost us billions

 

[Easyplan66]

I do appreciate that there are a large number of basic services that are very important to us all, I have family in the police, fire and nursing so no what they do for us, however it is the other service sectors that I deal with on a day to day basic which just live in another world to the rest of us

 

[Parisien]

At last we agree Frank , i'll drink to that , lockem all up especially Gordon (not Ghecco) Brown and Tony Blair for the Iraq and Afghan fiasco's that cost us billions

J***S Loz...thats another Baileys I owe you........too many people failed US.....those who are better qualified, more knowledgeable, more talented....in positions to make hard hitting and long lasting decisions....but they let us all down....


P

 

[Parisien]

I do appreciate that there are a large number of basic services that are very important to us all, I have family in the police, fire and nursing so no what they do for us, however it is the other service sectors that I deal with on a day to day basic which just live in another world to the rest of us

We all have anecdotal stories Andrew.........poor service, poor outcomes, things sold for vastly inflated prices, shoddy quality....applies to all sectors........


P

 

[Easyplan66]

We do but how many times do you hear someone say, my local council were really good and gave a great service.... It's normally the case of ....'don't bother with the council they are f...... Useless.
Normally a bunch of mindless box tickers with no common sense who seem to think we all owe them a living for being incompetent.
Please don't take offence public sector workers but I am just saying what many of us think, getting bored of beating around the bush on this subject.