NJS

In the past I'd guess it was more open as there were common pay scales/grades in alot of workplaces. It's only since deunionised individual Contracts that secrecy is now the norm. From the job hunting I did last year I can guess what my peers in other places and also my colleagues are on within reason so its not something that bothers me - though I do respect the convention not to talk about it. I suppose I can admit that my result is higher than those stated so far.

Never forgiven him for the chances he missed against the scousers in the 2005 final.

Completely agree about blokes. See Guthrie as another good example. One subtle one on a lass can be sexy. Full on tramp stamps and anything on the wrist/neck/tit then I think slag.

I've never seen what I believe put so succintly. Unfortunately what's wrong is the things in the first list are in no way distributed fairly.

Yep - one vacancy for about every 5 unemployed - and that's before all the sickness "fiddlers" are counted.

Well her sister had a choice and decided to be a freeloading, alcoholic slut so hooray for opportunity.

I think there's also a tendency to have the wrong impression about incomes in this country. The cliched "middle income" earners who everyone seemingly thinks are the bedrock of this country is a misnomer - I think only 11% of "normal" workers pay more than standard rate tax. The media deliberately talk as if theres a nicely spread of incomes up to the top earners - there isn't. This allows BS to talk about "fellow workers" as if they are the ones who'd suffer with a better tax policy. As I said I think most people who are on PAYE who don't have other income streams probably pay an acceptable level of tax imo. This is why I'd have no qualms hitting the real rich - as I said anyone with more than 1m in assets - I think the number of those is something like 200,000.

It's incentivised for the rich to save tax - the green credentials are a con to fool the naive. Why do you thgink they've cut back on the Solar panel incentives? (which could be argued are similarly "green") - because too many plebs were gaining and no rich. I realise my suggestion is "idiotic" in the sense that they would find ways around it but I was trying to make a point - the rich refuse to accept that they should contribute to society and will do anything to avoid it.

The complexity is the invention I'm talking about - why should it be that way? What if everyone had a designated bank acount into which all earned money was paid and at the end of the year (or pro-rata) a flat percentage was taken for tax? No transfer of money to foreign acounts. No non-dom status - just a tax at source nice and simple. No deductions for expenses, no relief for so called charitable donations or bollocks like growing timber - just one payment per month or year. The fuckers would shit themselves - imagine actually having to pay the same percentage as everyone else.

Using "you'd end up with President Blair" in an argument on the monarchy is another facet of Godwin's law - it's the pov of the desperate. Look at countries like Ireland and Germany who have ceremonial presidents - do you think someone like Mary Robinson supports your scare tactics for having a debate about whether we live in a true democracy? The fact is the monarchy is completely intwined in the way this country is run and who wields the power. The royal family and other aristiocrats own most of the land and also are at the heart of government. I'm sick of being told "she has the power but won't wield it" - the point is the power is there and add in the fact "minor" things like the war in Iraq are passed on royal assent which involves a lickspittel mumbling out a question which is granted and you have a fucked up "idea" of democracy. I hope all the "I'm not that bothered" crowd caught some of the shite this morning to see another facet of it - how it's all tied up with the CofE and not forgeting the whole coronation ceremony celebrates "the grace of God". Not only do the brainwashed peasants think its okay that accident of birth determines for the most part the entire lives of the vast majority of this country but they are told they should believe in a God that thinks this is all hunk-dory. It's all about control and keeping the [peasants in their place and the fact that so many see nothing wrong with it makes me accept that the thick twats don't deserve any better. You say we're stuck with it for the forseeable future - probably true but I still hope I can see the damage the jug-eared prick will do when he gets in - the fucker already has far too much power and influence and I see no reason why he'll stop when he's king.

Can I have some official figures on that 1.2 billion. - if its a Tory "fact" then I'll ignore it. Also every legal tax avoidance scheme used by the rich is designed, legislated and paid for by a network of the same people - the treasury/ lackeys enforce the laws demanded by their real masters.

Take out the foreigners (several of whom will be either inheritors or distinctly dubious) and you'll get a clearer picture. That also takes no acount of land ownership which in this country is an aristocratic cartel dating back centuries. Also on your comment about fellow workers, as a rule of thumb most PAYE workers (unless they are at board level) wouldn't be classified by me as rich. Having said that I've worked with a couple of bosses family members who were fuckwitted oxygen thieves, completely undeserving of any job. I'd imagine the higher up you go (see Cameron's "work" history as a good example) the more fuckwits abound.

The royal family and the duke of westminster are my starter for about 7 billion.

I've said before that a bit of a scrap between adults which results in no serious injuries should be no business of the coppers - complete waste of time and money.

It's "fair" because only a tiny percentage of rich people "earn" their money. Most wealth is either inherited directly or comes through priviledged network access which is usually restricted.

Some fuckers set off a load of fireworks a little while ago - this succeeded in making next doors yappy litle shit of a dog bark incessantly for 20 minutes. Only the fucking street party tomorrow to get through now - might be time to test how loud my amp actually goes - I don't own the Pistols but I'm sure I can come up with something to disgust the twats.

So you're going to join in with everyone else to celebrate something you don't care about and I'm the sheep? Yeah, right.

Just ditched T-mobile to go to three - I exceeded the 1gb last month and I didn't like the way they texted me with a message like I was a naughty kid and restricted access for the rest of the month. Plus the reception during my daily train juourney is shit so I've given someone else a chance.

it sickens me to the very depths of my being - can't wait for it all to be over (though it would be funny if she kicked the bucket today) I thought the brainwashed, complete lack of self-respect fucking stupidity of the whole thing was an older generation thing - like racism and homophobia - but the way everybody seems so happy about it is fucking terrible.

Love Balotelli's comments - guarantees he'll get abused.

It will be funny to see what happens to a liberal bastion like Sweden when he ends up in Guantanamo.

Apart from the attack on the Asian lads which was terrible, the rest was just typical bbc hype. Obviously there are a lot of scum there but the reporters naive shock was laughable. I do however think it was wrong to give them the finals as they are dodgy countries on a few levels.

Nothing will ever, ever be worse from a miscasting pov than that stumpy twat playing Lestat.

Francis is a bit old school but I enjoyed them when I did read them years ago. From that reading era for myself if you like "easy going" but decent thrillers have a look at Alistair MacLean and Desmond Bagley - some of the cold war settings will seem old-fashioned but there are a lot of bloody good stories.

Not a genre I frequent but one of my favourite authors (Dan Simmons) who mainly does Sci-Fi type stuff has a series of books about an ex PI (Hard Case, Hard Freeze and Hard as Nails) which I'd thouroughly recommend). I'm also a fan of the Jonathan Kellerman Delaware books.