Council staff told: 'Accept cuts to mileage costs or face sack'

“Oh well, look on the bright side, the AA have reported that the cost of petrol has dropped by 4p a litre over the last 2 months so if these employees drop their speed they won't even notice the difference.”

“@hatty, yes i agree so much. get rid of suubsidised housing and other benefits (except for them that do really need it, pay full price for the pods as it will save my money.
pay for an ambulance? gladly. if i could opt out of the nhs i would, i know if i paid my NI too a private firm like bupa (other health care is available) i would get a much better service.
scrap the park n ride as no one uses the town center anyway”

“by TimothyIngbitTuesday, June 19 2012, 10:37AM

"..... So in short, these mileage allowances and many other things must be cut."

Care to make a list of the 'many other things' ?

I know, lets start with subsidised housing and council tax, followed by paying for an ambulance if you have an accident. Then there's the long list of consessions available for entrance to things like the Museum, Pods, Swimming pools, etc. How about charging £2 per car down at the local tip (sorry, recycling center) and scrapping that park n ride bus that's always empty. In fact we could just hand everything over to the private sector, they have no qualms about closing anything that doesn't make a profit, never mind break even.

I'll see you in the dole queue in a month ;)”

“Mr. PF, you may well be correct to say that greed and bloat are not confined to the public sector. However, when a private company loses money it goes bankrupt, when a government department loses money it simply goes back to the taxpayer pot to get more. This can no longer be sustained. Regarding health and education, it must be accepted that whatever payback there may be later it is still at a cost that must be borne now by the taxpayer. The private sector provides both the resources now and the means for said educated people to produce further resources in the future. Simply put, taxpayers are providing for government not the other way around. It is also true that superior examples of both can be found in the private sector and we need to adjust our mindset that only government can provide quality health and education. The financial crisis was caused by the credit boom that preceded it. That boom was caused by government and central bank mismanagement of monetary policy. The banks simply reacted to governments efforts to boost credit in the economy because Keynesian economic orthodoxy dictates this as a primary means of achieving economic growth. All it really created was a mass insolvency that colossal government overspend definitely played its part in. So in short, these mileage allowances and many other things must be cut.”

“@ hatty todd,
maybe you should bring this up at your next council meeting?”

“by Phred_Fillips
It wasn't the public sector that caused the economic crisis; it was the private sector bankers; their wayward ways being initionally sponsored by Maggie Thatcher's 'free economy', - a system that was beyond the control of the mush depleted public sector's bank regulator.
….......................................
Yawn! The Left Wingers will never accept that Gordon Brown spent 13 long years milking the city of London and the Banking sector for the massive amounts of taxes that it paid. The highest single tax contributor in the entire country. Hang on, 13 years in power! Doesn't that mean that they also had 13 years to put safeguards in place? Don't be silly, Tony and Gordon also spent 13 years inflating the Public Sector to the tune of some extra 800,000 workers, mostly unnecessary, but hey, nothing like buying votes eh!!

So, with a gargantuan Public Sector, mostly with tax payer funded final salary pensions schemes, who, or should I say from where. do you think the money comes from to fund those pensions? You guessed it, those nasty Banks that have to take risks to earn you things like interest!!!”

“Great idea nick_nick_

Do you happen to have a timetable of buses/trains that STILL visit every village in a 15 mile radius on the hour, every hour, 7 days a week ?

oh yeah, weekend working applies ... and usually with no premium attached.”

“simple answer to this.
use public transport!”

“@TimothyIngbit....perhaps you would like to extend your debate re the 'productive private sector' and the 'unproductive public sector'.
As major sectors of te public sector are education and health, these are essential components of promoting, maintaining and increasing the efficieny and potential of the private sector their contribution to the economy is vital.
Without education, the private sector would be impotent; without a public health service one could kiss goodbye to a healthy private sector workforce.
It wasn't the public sector that caused the economic crisis; it was the private sector bankers; their wayward ways being initionally sponsored by Maggie Thatcher's 'free economy', - a system that was beyond the control of the mush depleted public sector's bank regulator.
It is not necessarily the public sector that suffers greed and becomes bloated.”

“Might just come in useful; says he reaching up & blowing dust from old copy of Oxford concise!”