LOL  

The likeness is uncanny isnt it?

Yes.... ours included!

ROFL

Too bliddy right Baz

I always remember my late (auntie) she wasn't related really but my late mums best friend all her life.She lost  a lot of her pension(mirror/printing)  due to that fat (literally) bugger  Maxwell that went overboard years ago.Private pensions are as good/bad as the barstewards in charge.

Fred the shred aged 50 draws a pension of 13 thousand pounds per week.Not a bad pay day for a clown who almost bankrupt the country.

Well I don't think that the pension age should be extended at all....for anyone, it's ridiculous

A mere observation ,I watched Wimbeldon yesterday and heard Osbourne being booed and some shouted for him to go to work.I do think it was foolish for him to be there the day before industrial

Cameron,Osbourne et all,Tory Toffs  from  Eton...they don't have a clue "we're all in this together!"....aye right! I#d bomb them all.

I don't think anyone disputes the fact teachers work hard. My best mate is a primary school teacher, my sister-in-law teaches at a local college. I know they work hard. I also know they relish their holidays - I get constant bloody texts and Facebook updates telling me what a fantastic time they're having in Tenby/Hawaii/Cornwall/Greece when I'm stuck in the office. 

But you know I work bloody hard too. Most of us do. Teachers do not have a monopoly on hard work. 

Perfect observation.  They don't have a CLUE that real life is life for real folk. 

I don't believe I said that, or implied it. 

i reckon if we took a poll to see how many people would  look after and attempt to educate 25 11- 16 year olds, it'd be tumbleweed thru the   poll...

 there's enough fuss  when parents have to look after their own kids  for  the summer break.

they aren't hacking away the pensions  just because of the deficit, it's because we are too  healthy and living too long and public sector pensions have always been a lot better than private sector ones.

lets face it all those billions  that got wiped off the markets,  went some where,  and we all know it  was into the pockets  of the wealthy, and when  the shit hit the fan, they weren't going to pay it back, cos rich people seem to  think they have a right to everyone's money to keep them rich.

it's always the   great unwashed that foots the bill.

be nice if  we had  some politicians  that  could  break the cycle, but they wouldn't stand a chance,however well intentioned they were.

short of a revolution  on a global scale against capitalism,  nothing is going to change.

I think the rules for pension are more or less the same as they were when I took my SIB exams a good few yrs ago now but, even if you could afford to take a separate pension out you couldn't because those in Work Related Pension schemes could not also contribute to a private pension as well unless the income came from a different job source. . they could take out additional AVC's, I think they were called, [it's been a long time since I worked in this area]  to top up their work pension if they were going to fall short of the required yrs needed to get a full pension... 30 or 40 yrs depending upon the Company scheme.

Also Pension contributions were limited to a proportion of your salary with a cap on the maximum contribution allowed per annum. This is or was mainly due to the fact that pension contributions are tax free so tax paid on moneys was refunded into the pension scheme on top of the contribution,  that also means people who may earn a bit more now and then and want to top up, for the future, when they had some disposable income could not do that because of the caps on contributions as a percentage of earnings.. they had to find other means of investment for their later life without the tax free benefits Pension schemes afford people...

some of this info may be out of date now as tis yrs since I worked in this area but I think the principles remain the same

Nowt really to do with the thread just Olly waffle

that's entirely unfair Jackson...when two parents are working school holidays pose an awful problem, particularly when the expenses of creches are involved.

If you can afford to have one person out of work, that's great, but for the rest who work all year round it's not the 'fuss' of 'having to look after their own kids' it's the logistics of having to work out who on earth is going to mind your child(ren).

I have no idea how we're going to work it when Finn gets older, but it's nothing to do with not wanting to look after him, it's a case of having to work.

Its a pity when the (working) parents need their children looked after, they couldn't look after their own children, and still get paid their full day as if they were at work. 

It's a great idea, but in a climate where there is little enough money in the State coffers and they are cutting state pensions and salaries to save money, I can't see anything like this happening in the near future.

I know, unfortunately it won't, but im sure would solve a lot of problems and benefit the family as a whole and also give a positive knock on effect. 

At the risk of starting something up again, that's one of the reasons a lot of women, in particular, are attracted to teaching, or working in schools. 

 lol 

My biology teacher shot himself.  Holidays notwithstanding I don't think he was keen.

I think a lot of parents would agree with you there Ev. It seems to work in mainland Europe.   I just don't think our Government here is forward thinking enough to deal with this.  Parents, for the most part it's the mothers, have to take days off with kiddies when they are sick/snow days/school breaks etc.  It always gets my goat  that the government castigate, particularly mothers, about staying at home whether as a 'house wife' or because they are living on benefits yet don't fund crèches or playgroups to allow them to go out to work or tap into an available place on a temporary basis should the need arise with an availability throughout any holiday periods - obviously this should be open to any parent single or otherwise.   I know when my sister was working there were only a few places at the local nursery and these were available only for single mothers because they needed a break whereas she had a husband that could take some of the strain!!!!  

If it's one day off I think employers should be flexible enough to either allow parent to take a days annual leave or agree to work a day in lieu to make up the hours.  Some employers, particularly in the private sector, can make life difficult should a parent need to take time off on short notice   and not everyone has close family members or friends that would be willing to look after someone else's child either. 

Playing devils advocate though    I can also see it from the side of single people with no children or peeps whose children have already been reared as they are the ones who usually end up taking up the slack when an employee with children has to take a day off.  I've also seen resentment when childless people are unable to take their annual leave during weeks for example Easter breaks because those weeks have been 'reserved' for people with children. They might see giving parents a day off on full pay to look after children as prejudicial because they themselves can't claim extra days with pay??? Childless people might also think that parents needing to arrange childcare is the price you pay for having children?    I'm not saying I agree with this, I'm putting it out there as possible complications.  

Whatever the solution, it seems it will prejudice one group or another 

*places tin hat firmly on head* 

I agree with most and enjoyed reading this Pengs. We should take more leafs out of Other European countries and follow their lead a bit quicker. 

*makes Pengy Councillor* ..

after the trial ..and oh i love the goat.

I think it was more to do with the pupils in his class 

Regrettably I think you're almost certainly correct.

Trial comes first   should the goat be added to the mood board for the film??? 

I did think of that  

Not talking about people who trained to be teachers before they had kids, but I know quite a few women who, for various reasons, wanted/needed to go back to work, after having kids, and saw working in schools as fitting in easier with childcare.

Obviously, there are still times when they have to use childminders etc.

the bonus to also doing a job in teaching is that isn't lowly paid and as you say, holidays can be fitted in with school breaks and there's room to progress and develop your career should you so desire  and stating the obvious, there are other jobs that allow this but teaching and having kids fit together so well (unless you can't stand the little blighters)    I lubs kids btw 

yes , i agree it's  unfair, because it's a sweeping statement, and not  attributal to all.

but i've witnessed  it, myself, with my very own ears.... so  and i  take the point that many mothers have to work  or the family  budget  and everything else goes down the  pan, but i also know that mothers i have heard  weren't out working, they just ddin't want their kids 'hangin  around' and gettin on their nerves  for the summer break.

Struggle to know where to begin with with this one.  Perhaps no comment is required.  Beyond bemused wonder at having the misfortune to share oxygen with the author and publisher.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...h-school-closed.html

can't believe any paper would publish that .with a headline like that.

opportunistic twonks.

OMFG! 

Headline - Girl, 13, crushed to death by a falling branch as she sat on park bench because her teachers were out on strike

For those who don't want to click on the link.

If we don't appreciate good teachers and value the profession, we could get more of this -

One angry parent wrote on Twitter afterwards: 'she should have been safe at school, she was just sat on a bench talking with friends....it could have been my daughter.'

Scandalous .If it had happened at school would they be saying if only the teachers had gone on strike.

A tragedy that could never be foreseen. It could have happened at any time anywhere. 

Exactly.I feel sorry for the family being used in this way.

Oh wow, blaming the teachers for the girl dying!  That is dreadful.    A very upsetting thing to happen though..

That article ^^^^ is more than sick imo....I'm right behind the teachers, I know lots of them and don't know one who doesn't work v long hours/evenings/weekends and much of their so called 'holidays.' As for me, I've got one of those apparently 'cushty' public sector jobs, just totted up and I worked about 130 'extra' hours this month...ooooo but lucky me, I can carry over 15 of those in 'flexi' time, until I lose it next month 'cos I won't be able to find the time to take it! My pension: when I started paying contributions, and for many years beyond the terms and conditions were that we had the '85 yr rule' which meant, when your age and the no. of years you worked added up to that figure, you could access an unreduced 'final salary' pension. That would have meant I could access it in 2 and a half years time, at 53. Now it seems that I will have to increase my contributions to access a lesser amount, when I'm 66 

Where to start!

Public sector pensions are better funded than the crap that's foisted on the private sector, but they aren't 'gold plated'.

That's the problem, it can hardly be begrudged that someone with decades of service picks up a pension in their old age that allows them to live reasonably, but on the whole quite frugally.

The problem in this country is the rich have creamed off nearly all the wealth and they've been doing it since Thatcher was elected.  Corp tax was recently cut by the Tories and if things run true to form (and there's no reason to think they won't) most of that tax cut will end up as fatcat executive remunerations.  Business will still plead poverty while hiking fatcat pay.

I'm getting a bit tired of hearing what business can and can't afford, when business is forever hiking the salaries of chosen few.  Where's it got us?  The country's in a mess despite all these so-called 'dynamic wealth creators' being given all those wonderful tax breaks and incentives that were supposed to produce trickle-down wealth for all but in practice has made wealth trickle up rather than down. 

The truth is in this country that the richest are creaming off too much of the spoils of business - and under the Tories, that's more likely to escalate than be reversed.  I don't buy this clap trap about there not being the money.