Covid 19 Coronavirus

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simonw
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Re: Covid 19 Coronavirus

Post by simonw »

daveuprite wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 6:24 am <snip> Meanwhile Dido Harding spunks 200 billion (yes billion) on what? The least effective CV19 track and trace service imaginable. Round of applause? <snip>
I don't think that figure of 200 billion is what's been spent on T&T. I think the budget was 22bn, but not all has been spent. See https://fullfact.org/health/flawed-comp ... -go-viral/

Notwithstanding the actual amount, there's no disguising the fact that it's not been the raging success it was advertised it was going to be. And whatever the actual amount spent, it still warrants close scrutiny as to whether it was value for money.

The question I always want to ask when people clamour for pay rises is would you be prepared to pay more tax to fund such a rise? (Personally I think NHS frontline staff deserve more, and would be prepared to pay more in tax to fund it.)
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Elmer J Fudd
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Re: Covid 19 Coronavirus

Post by Elmer J Fudd »

Someone calculated (not verified) that the cost of the failed track and trace would pay all UK nurses an extra £6K for 10 years.

It may be less, but the principal is correct.

One of my bugbears with Nurses has always been that they know that they will be poorly paid and have to work like dogs before they even start their training. I know several who went in open eyed, and now constantly complain about wages and conditions. Yet when you say that they were aware, and took the job anyway, they look daggers at you. The Covid outbreak doesn't change that, however I do think they deserve more.

I sometimes have to work through the night to get information out, but its part of the job. No blood and guts or infections to worry about though.
garyboy
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Re: Covid 19 Coronavirus

Post by garyboy »

Vocation..
people like Nurses, Teachers, Doctors, Firemen etc etc
have a genuine
Calling
(at first, at least?)
But the government seem to take advantage of people's good nature by paying them less, as the government is their employer, and the pay bill is huge, with little financial 'profit' . (Defund the Police though lol.. they won't do fuck all except chase trail riders?)

By comparison ..

I am still shocked and appalled about the 200bn
Wtf .. ?? On what??

Some people must have made huge profits on this scam !!

Surely they must know that one day they will be found out???

And brought to account?
Last edited by garyboy on Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
garyboy
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Re: Covid 19 Coronavirus

Post by garyboy »

change . org
got a petition out for 15% pay increase for nurses

There is a £35m nurses strike fund organised too ..

Sign the change org petition with a single click?
daveuprite
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Re: Covid 19 Coronavirus

Post by daveuprite »

simonw wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 9:15 am
I don't think that figure of 200 billion is what's been spent on T&T. I think the budget was 22bn, but not all has been spent. See
Yes, that's right. I was a mere 178 billion out. But it's a trifling amount between friends... :D

The principle remains. When I worked at Surrey County Council on environmental stuff, I had a contract management budget of 32 million (mainly waste management). It was tightly audited and woe betide not being able to account for every penny each quarter. That was public money and everyone involved was constantly reminded of the fact.

The current cronyism, corruption and waste (of far larger sums in the billions) is a national disgrace and every tax-payer in the UK should be up in arms about it. This government takes the people for mugs in the knowledge that there are sufficient of them gullible enough to keep voting for the muggers. What a terrible state of affairs, the like of which I've never seen before. Even in the 1990s the public were furious with MPs for abusing their expense accounts to the tune of a few thousand quid here and there. Nowadays they turn a blind eye to wholesale theft of public funds, under the cover of a pandemic, as mates of mates of ministers get awarded uncontested contracts and non-competitive tenders are handed out to totally unqualified friends.
Jak*
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Re: Covid 19 Coronavirus

Post by Jak* »

If I had voted for that extra 350 million a week for the NHS I would be expecting a significant amount to be going towards nurses pay. I didn't, but I did vote for the Lib Dems when they suggested the penny on tax for the NHS.
Once again the Tories are using a financial crisis to hammer public sector workers, a strategy that most leading economists condemned last time they did it.
Jak*
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Re: Covid 19 Coronavirus

Post by Jak* »

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... s-pay-rise
It will be interesting to see how many of those who joined the clap last year will join this one.
daveuprite
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Re: Covid 19 Coronavirus

Post by daveuprite »

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Tonibe63
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Re: Covid 19 Coronavirus

Post by Tonibe63 »

Elmer J Fudd wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 1:06 pm
One of my bugbears with Nurses has always been that they know that they will be poorly paid and have to work like dogs before they even start their training. I know several who went in open eyed, and now constantly complain about wages and conditions. Yet when you say that they were aware, and took the job anyway, they look daggers at you. The Covid outbreak doesn't change that, however I do think they deserve more.
This is not my view or judgement of the pay rise but more my understanding of why nurses do what they do:-
Having been married to a nurse for the last 36 years I have often been angry at the way Governments treat them regarding pay but on reflection I have to accept that Nurses have incredible compassion for patients which cannot be understood by people who see work as a means to earn money (me), their personal value and reward is in the care they give to patients at the worst times of their lives. Nursing teenagers with cancer, holocaust survivors in the last days of life, Fathers and Daughters both side by side with Covid, nursing our relatives at home as they pass away and also young friends with brain tumours are all a privilege that is way above any reward that is based on money.
The reason Nurses moan is due to lack of feeling valued by the Government/managers/bean counters at a National/Regional level combined with poor 'man' management skills at a local level all of which are driven by a need to keep costs down.
My Wife is actually working 2 years beyond her normal retirement age because she 'loves her patients' but the 1% pay rise won't help the NHS retain her 33 years of experience for much longer.
Open your eyes and you see what is in front of you, open your mind and you see a bigger picture but open your heart and you see a whole new World.
daveuprite
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Re: Covid 19 Coronavirus

Post by daveuprite »

When you are lucky enough to have a huge body of workers who dedicate themselves way above and beyond their job descriptions, because they care and love helping others - the morally right thing to do is to show your appreciation for that dedication, to reward their selflessness and to value their hard work. It is typically Tory that they actually do the opposite: they take advantage of all that goodwill, they expect it and they take it for granted. The only appreciation they ever show are empty words, cost-free hand-clapping and worthless gestures. They're not called the nasty party for nothing.
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