Emily Maitlis not really on the ball:
Massive respect for Charles walker mp honesty – " I'm not going to be holier than thou and say I won't take the pay rise " #newsnight
— emily m (@maitlis) December 9, 2013
"We are hurtling towards having a parliament of the independently wealthy "- charles walker on the refusal of MPs to accept pay rise.
— emily m (@maitlis) December 9, 2013
All very nice…except of course the basic MP’s wage, already high compared to most people’s, is topped up with enormous expenses and privileges as well as subsidies that most workers could only dream of…..so not a job just for ‘the independently wealthy’ at all…..I guess it all depends on your start point…if you work in a factory an MP’s wage is a fortune.
As Conservative MP Mark Field said:
The package was “cost neutral” as MPs would gain pay, but lose some expenses and allowances.
In other words, Charles Walker’s ‘honesty’ is not quite that honest.
And so….what goes up must come down….it all evens out…allegedly.
Of course the Public won’t see it that way…and Miliband is already trying to position himself on the moral high ground claiming to want to refuse the money….but if it’s ‘cost neutral’ why would he do that…except as a political gesture?
Will the BBC (Emily Maitlis beside) see through his charade?
And what is amusing is this reaction….how many times have we heard that the ‘millionaires’ in the cabinet are ‘out of touch’……now they’re criticised for being ‘in touch’ and wanting to hold down their pay……
@maitlis @ChrisMasonBBC Interesting that one of first to criticize the proposed rise was the second wealthiest member of Cabinet, Hammond.
— David Head (@DavidHeadViews) December 9, 2013
D.Head won’t have like the last post either judging by his prejudices:
Jeremy Vine [7:45] tells us what the BBC considers to be comparable salaries:
Newspaper Editor: £54k-£85k
Train Driver: £48k
Underground Train Driver: £61k **
Head Teacher: £42k-£113k
I wonder what the BBC pays its ‘talent’?
(** I thought the Victoria Line was designed to have ‘driverless’ trains back in the 1970’s – not bad if you can get it!).
£61K + full pension mandatory retirement if you run over/ kill a total of three people. I believe this is still the case.
On the present £67k salary, an MP’s pension is worth about £23k, a total package of £90k. On the recommended £74k salary, the new pension would be worth about £16k, a total of £90k. No change.
Will the bBBC be honest enough to point that out? Don’t hold your breath.
That seriously peeves me to be honest. I am not one for jealousy but I am a senior nurse with a masters degree and work completely autonomously and would love to earn what a train driver earns grrrrrrrrrrr
Become a train driver then. But beware having to deal with running over suicidal people.
Could be wrong, but I imagine nurses have to deal with some hairy stuff, and maybe quite often, including those resorting to suicide, sadly. As do those in a few other professions.
Er without giving to much away
Very few train drivers earn 48k, basic.It varies from company to company.
Some drivers have been involved in many more fatalities than 3.
That ‘3 under’ business that’s a total myth made up by luvies for an awful brit comedy film.
Any one can apply to be trained as train driver regardless of formal educational qualifications and with out having any previous rail industry experience ,most in fact are ‘off the street’
If your application is accepted you will attend 2 days of psychometric aptitude testing, about 3% get past that, and then go on to the minimum years training and are then subject to rigorous examination.
Then every two years (at most) you will be re-tested and you be subject to regular medicals increasing in frequency as you age.
The wage is determined entirely by market forces (supply and demand) in fact drivers wages have gone up both in real terms and in comparison to other rail workers since privatisation.
Oh and they work really odd hours
im sure soldiers on a grand a month in Afganistan would love the pressures of being a nurse or train driver rather than the pressure of some religious nutter wanting to blow them up into a million and one little pieces so the wildlife can eat whats left of their body
And the greedy weasels poring over their every move looking to bring prosecutions for even the most minor infraction.
or a job at the beeb covering their backs 24/7
We do MPs compare themselves with Consultants and Executives when most MPs are unemployable?
Also why can’t foreigners such as Poles become MP’s ? I would be happy to vote for someone who would do the MP’s job for minimum wage and share a house with 12 others
What would any other company do if presented with the economic circumstances we’ve recently endured? It would ‘downsize’. So why, in the 21st century, with all the IT available (don’t forget we – the taxpayer – provided these ba$tards with n-number of laptops and iPADS), do we still need 650 of these troughers?
WORK, you ba$tards, WORK! Like the rest of us have to.
(Recently had to ‘deal’ with a MP – what a cretin; no common-sense or intelligence but a highly developed “DYKWIM?” attitude – yes I do. YOU WORK FOR ME AND I PAY YOUR WAGES, GIT!)
That should have been DYKWIA (Do you know who I am?)
Maybe the BBC should start a campaign to have MP salaries means-tested. It would make a refreshing change to see them on the pro side of the concept.
there all greedy selfish i am alright jack bums the lot of them.and the bottem line is they all pretend to be worst of enemys at prime ministers question time shouting and bawling at each other then they all slip into the house of commens bar after getting drunk and having a good laugh about who won the shouting battle betreen cameron and milliband,they make me sick the lot of them.
jingle bells jingle bells jingle all the way.oh what fun it is to see the mps get there raise