Jeremy Clackson

[bonus2010]

I don't have a pension so it's a bit difficult to understand, apart from the fact I've never worked for the public sector.

Is it not the case that the government is wanting to pay less towards public sector employee pensions as a percentage.

The closes I ever got to a pension was being offered an occupational pension from my first employer. I refused because I saw it as a poor investment opportunity. Anyway, the way it worked was this... I was to pay x hundreds per month and the employer would match it, as their contribution towards the fund.

My question being, in respect of public workers, is the government not just reducing their contribution, but the employees are not forced to contribute anymore?

[Snowy79]

Off topic: The basics is there is not enough money to go around to pay the pensions that were intially offered as a back hander to the Unions to vote labour. At the onset it seamed reasonable as a lot of Public Sector workers were poorly paid. Low pay but a decent pension.

Various Governments then set about privatising most of the low paid jobs, cleaners, dustmen, care workers etc. This led to the private sector now having poorer paid workers than a lot of the public sector. As the public sector workers had low pay and and are not getting a protected pension they end up losing out. They also tend to work longer hours and get on average less holidays. A minimum of 28 days for some working a 5 day week.

Compare this with Teachers who get 13.5 weeks holiday. A good wage for some decent contracted hours and a Gold Plated pension. These working hours are taken from the TES site:

Teachers pay and conditions in England and Wales requires them to be available for work on 195 days per year and be available to teach pupils for 190 of those. The number of contracted hours per year is 1265, so:

1265 / 195 = 6.49 hours per day, five days a week = 32.4 hours.

I'm sure a lot mark exams etc in their spare time but this is the contracted hours.

This will probably explain why the BBC only received 21,000 complaints. Not bad when they average 5 million viewers per week. You can probably knock off a few thousand of those complaining as they will be Union members that never even saw the program.

Ultimately if they keep their pension the Government will just get the money back elsewhere. Raise fuel duty, Council Tax, NI contributions etc. The moneys got to come from somewhere to get us out of the financial brown stuff.

[Bulld0g]

Off topic: The basics is there is not enough money to go around to pay the pensions that were intially offered as a back hander to the Unions to vote labour. At the onset it seamed reasonable as a lot of Public Sector workers were poorly paid. Low pay but a decent pension.

ON TOPIC: The Unions fund the Labour party at least get it right FFS

[Snowy79]

Sorry Bulldog. I never meant financial back hander, more of a back scratch. You fund us and we will see you alright kind of thing. A bit like when they want working hours changed etc.

[eddie4x]

thats jc for you free advertiseing for his book he does it all the time good man
its obv a joke

[bonus2010]

thats jc for you free advertiseing for his book he does it all the time good man
its obv a joke

Yes, Clarkson's good at his advertising... remember the last one, where he got a pie thrown in his face..his reaction looked as if he was expecting it... brought him publicity though..

[MrFug]

Teachers aren't the only public sector works. Yes, they work less hours and get better holidays and pay than the rest of us - and good luck to them. There are many in the public sector who work long hours for less pay than their private sector counterparts, although comparison is difficult since there are few comparable jobs in both sectors.

I was born in 1981. Under the new government plans to accelerate pension age increases, I could expect to work until I'm 68. I'm fine with that. As mentioned before, when the pensionable age was first conceived those who reached pension age only had a relatively short time to enjoy it. Now, a 65-year old retired pensioner has, on average, 21.5 years left to enjoy their retirement.

The government also plans to reduce their deficit by ?6 billion by calculating pension increases using the CPI (Consumer Price Index) instead of the, currently used, RPI (Retail Price Index). There are notable differences. The CPI omits certain commodities from their inflation calculations. In practice, this is the difference it makes to a pension: a 65-year old who retires today on a ?10,000pa pension would see their pension rise to over ?20,000 after 21.5 years using the RPI. However, using the CPI the same pension would only be worth around ?15,000 pa.

Then they want to cut their deficit by another few billion by asking us to pay MORE in contributions for LESS pension benefits. Those earning less will pay less however. Earnings under ?15,000 will not attract increased contributions while those earning under ?21,000 will only see a 1.5% increase.

They also want to switch public sector pensions from the 'final salary' scheme to a career average scheme. Presently, our pensions are based on our final salary. Take a friend of mine who is approaching retirement in age in a couple of years. He worked all his days as a bus driver, probably earning around the equivalent of ?17,000 pa. He has recently applied for a supervisor position at 63 that will push his earnings up to around ?25,000. So, for the last 2 years of his career as a supervisor earning ?25,000, his pension will be based on that wage. It's an incentive for workers to pursue promotions right up until their last day on the job.

[Lainie]

well said aftermath - they know ~~~~ all. i was on strike and believe me my pension is not that brilliant as people think. i will get around ?5000 a year if i stay there till i am 67 and i will have had 25 yrs service. ask the ~~~~in mps that are demanding this what they will get in a pension!!

as civil servants we get ~~~~ all. no bonuses (contrary to what others think) no perks, no christmas meals paid for us, no night outs paid for us, we dont even get an hour for lunch at xmas to sit with our teams. my ex is a cleaner at braehead and even they get a ?50 voucher at christmas. so dont hit me with we are privileged to be civil servants pish. if i could find another job i would. i only stick it cause of the hours i do.

i do a bloody good days work and most of the time all i get is verbal abuse.

clarkson is a ~~~~ing arsehole who gets paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to play with cars!! wonder how much his pension is?

[MrFug]

clarkson is a ~~~~ing arsehole who gets paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to play with cars!! wonder how much his pension is?

Precisely; he is a rich, pompous, ignorant twat who will never have to worry about heating his house in the winter.

Of course it was a joke, but its a sensitive issue and people have a tendency to lose their sense of humour when the quality of their final years on this earth are being debased by other rich, pompous right-wing bastards.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[bonus2010]

?5000 - ?7000 seems a good pension to me. In addition, folks will also receive their full state pension.... and still be able to work, as many pensioners continue to do... You can live to 100 and still receive your pension every year.

All I've heard about in this campaign is 'the dinner ladies', but what about the school teachers, head teachers, police officers... what's their pensions? I've heard figures of ?20-30K on the talk shows.

The government is also an employer... and is just trying to cut costs, in the same way private employers have had to do. I've heard many private sector employees who have to take pay cuts so as to save their jobs. Many private employer occupational pensions have also been terminated or changed to less benefits to make them more affordable for the private employer.

We need to remember that the public sector is afforded by both our countries resources (like oil) and the productivity of the private sector. Given the present economic climate, the UK does not have the money... we're running at a deficite and savings must be made.

I think it's wrong for private employees to be expected to pay income tax that funds pensions that are better in the public sector than what private employers can afford to give their employees as part of their employer's contribution pension package.

It's all so easy to say private employees accept their lot, but the difference is.. if private employees strike in the way the public sector has... they will either be sacked or their employers will go out of business. Private employees are not represented by strong unions, and due to this are very vulnerable indeed.

I would be happy to support public sector workers with their strike if they had taken a lot less selfish attitude and campaigned for legislation to be introduced to legally enforce all private employers to provide the same pension as provided to public sector workers.. Hey, we've got the minimum wage... why not extend minimum pay conditions to include pension rights? That would be fairness, but the country would go down the swanny if introduced...as the private business shuts down...

[super jumbe]

Jeremy Clarkson has described people who throw themselves under trains as selfish



Breakin News another storm this morning

Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has faced a storm of protest from mental health charities after he branded people who throw themselves under trains as "selfish".

The 51-year-old, who was forced to apologise earlier this week after saying all striking workers should be shot, was embroiled in further controversy after he reiterated his view that those who commit suicide on railway lines cause "immense" disruption for commuters.

[smirnoff_rules]

Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has faced a storm of protest from mental health charities after he branded people who throw themselves under trains as "selfish".

his right

[eirrien]

was only a joke

[tshirtman]

I had to appear at the inquest of an 18 year old girl who through herself under a train about 2 years ago, let clarkson say that to the girls parents who sat and watched the cctv footage of there daughter die.

he's a nob, and doesn't realise how his idiotic comments effect others, I'm all for a bit of a laugh but that isn't even funny.

[Nutsandbolts]

Yeah Jeremio Clarkson is not a drug baron or mafia boss. What he said was satire and if people dont know the difference between satire and reality then we are all in trouble. VIVA CLARKSON FOR PM.