Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Perhaps that was written by a biased English man and not being English I can understand their dilemma.

Perhaps this is apt.

“Patriotism is proud of a country's virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country's virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, "the greatest", but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is.”


Also,:

If you give respect to others, then others may give respect to you. At least you will be giving them a chance of doing so.

Talking through ones backside is an art form .

Yours must be suffering a blockage!

Bottoms up .

George had you well twigged Fred.

But what I don't understand is why? Why do you hate yourself??

cynic
"unions pretty much ran the country and there was no incentive to create wealth or to better oneself"

Still beating the drum for the right, I've been in a union for forty years plus, I have a very good wage a very good pension and my health and safety has been taken care of.
All down to the union with the backing of the workers they support, and yes I have been on strike many a time in the last forty years and do not regret a single day of it. It has brought my standard of living way up for me and also to the grades below and above right to the top of the company. without the unions we would still be in the dark ages..

A lot of that was true driver, but the 70/80's saw the unions getting out of their heads on power.

btw, where are they today? protecting the average worker against unfair competition by cheap imported labour eh?

where are they??

The unions of today have moved to middle right (not mine) they need to get back to their roots and militant up, very difficult though when their leaders are or were in the pockets of the New Labour the 2nd Tory party. And the whole of the media against all unions.
The right have it at the moment that's why we have zero hour contracts and a completely useless minimum wage..

The phrase "lions led by donkeys" comes to mind when considering some of the pointless struggles conducted by many unions.

The miners strike led by Scargill who would not let his members have a vote. There was the strike over technology in the print union. The dockers strike against containers. The years of restrictive practice and demarcation that required 6 men to put up a no smoking sign. The list is quite long.

The dockers were offered jobs in the container businesses in London and Tilbury. Their response was to strike and London and Tilbury closed. The work went to the container port at Felixstowe. The print workers were offered involvement in the new technology but tried to stop it, so they were cut out completely. For years they had milked the system in Fleet Street with phantom employees and over staffing. The unions were ruining the car and other industries.

The changes that were brought about by Thatcher were needed. Labour had tried unsuccessfully to introduce the same type of changes. Barbara Castle produced a document called "In place of strife" which she failed to get past the left wing and the unions.

We were called the sick man of Europe while the unions dominated businesses. It is interesting that the Labour Party has never attempted to repeal Thatcher's union laws.

There have always been zero hours contracts. It is called casual Labour and it suits the majority who are on zero hours. I know that it does not suit many people but its flexibility does suit many others such as students and people with childcare problems.

Copied.

Do we still need Unions?
With the lengthening of working hours, the removal of job security, an increase in work related illnesses and injuries, yes we do still need unions. Corporate culture is creating a world where we live to work rather than work to live. Bullying and harassment, health and safety, job security, wages and hours, these are all areas where standards have generally declined for workers in recent years.

The result has been more frustration, more stress, more absenteeism and a decline in the overall quality of life. This can only be changed by a rebirth of the best traditions of the labour movement, based on a strong commitment to self-organisation, solidarity, union democracy and internationalism.

We do need unions, but they have to be responsible. A strike caused by a tube driver being suspended for TWICE failing a breathalyser at work. Strikes where only 10℅ vote. Using strikes as a political tool. They and other activities need to be prevented.

all i can say, i'm damn glad no company i have ever worked for has ever had to deal with the unions, especially the likes of those led by scargill, crowe and a number of others of their leanings .... what a bunch of destructive bastards and the country is well shot of them, though mccluskey is doing his best to revitalise them .... that said, i agree the management of many companies is (still) woefully inadequate and worse

for myself, i KNOW we treat our staff damn well; i don't need to guess ..... how do i know? ..... we almost never lose any except to retirement or similar

Something to cheer you captains of industry up...


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-29/monte-paschi-only-bank-fail-european-stress-test-designed-restore-confidence-europes

jimmy how about some pictures of young ladies showing off their assets for a change .

Vicky,

Here is a girlfriend for you.

The caption SHOULD read "Riddled with disease and deformity, 'DON"T' marry
your first cousin, just because its acceptable in your third world hovels"

And the only thing threatening the British(English) extinction IS mass immigration!!

Someone at the Owen Smith rally shouted Corbyn was the Messiah & Smith replied "he's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy"

If true sounds like it was staged, but would've gone down a storm i should
imagine..

I wonder where Sky gets its news readers. There are those that can't complete a sentence at normal cadence. They have to hang it out there as if they don't know what is coming next. "and - we - have- coming -up -for- you"
Then there is this weekend's duty reader Niall Paterson. While reporting on the 7 o'clock news on Saturday, he informed us that the investigation re the Texas balloon tragedy would probably be finishing until the following day since "it would be getting dark soon". Texas is 6 hrs behind us, making it just after 1pm at the time.
Then he reminded us about the 2013 tragedy at Luxor in Egypt that took 19 lives. "Luxor near the pyramids" Luxor is great for visiting Karnak, the Luxor temple, the valleys of the king and queens, even the Aswan dam, but to visit the pyramids you will need to travel about 400 miles north to Giza, outside Cairo. Doh!