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Thread: Our new MPS first speech in westminster :

  1. #121
    BetterTogether is offline Banned (Sock Puppet of previously banned user)
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    I do love the way they councils claim they have to pay market rates. Well where in the private sector is the equivalent of a councillor, private companies make profit and pay their directors and senior managers from those profits if they fail they are summarily dismissed. I see no justification for paying these ridiculous sums to people who time and again show they are not up to the job, inefficient and out of touch with what their constituents actually want.

  2. #122

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    Quote Originally Posted by BetterTogether View Post
    I do love the way they councils claim they have to pay market rates. Well where in the private sector is the equivalent of a councillor, private companies make profit and pay their directors and senior managers from those profits if they fail they are summarily dismissed. I see no justification for paying these ridiculous sums to people who time and again show they are not up to the job, inefficient and out of touch with what their constituents actually want.
    Couldnt have put it better, I suppose councilors can be voted out, full time fat cat employees can in theory be made redundant...but we all know that redundancy packages for those type are huge. The law only requires 1 weeks pay per year of service...so heres a clear example of the law being flouted and we pay for it !!!! One guy took a 6 figure redundncay from HIE and started a 6 figure job with HC in the same month...IN business if yu dont make the numbers and your responisble your out, if the busess doesnt do the numbers then the business will shut, you cant hide from economics...unless your a fat cat public sector worker, MP and MSP...ok the latter 2 can be voted out but for public sector fat cats / bankers etc....puuuuke !!!

  3. #123
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    Quote Originally Posted by rob murray View Post
    Greed...matching their inflated egos....hardly any of our politicans have ever worked, they dont know nowt of the stress involved in business, ie paying a 35k monthly salary bill when orders and work are drying up...now thats stress..... speaking from first hand expereince, not pleasurable at all... ages you, makes you more open to illness in my case high blood pressure. Retail you make a good point, hard long work, not valued and treated like sh**e and as you say no clock watching ( my wife worked in retail until I stopped it the minute we could live without her earnins ) ... my experinece with HC and a local councilor was also shocking...really inept 100% : theyer more wrapped up in the game of politics did you know that at least 8 HC senior managers earn over £100k a year ( and have huge pensions ) , when challenged on this the excuse was that they ( HC ) had to pay the market rate....well I know dozens of very expereinced local qualified people who would gladly do the job at half the amount. Normal HC employees, front line workers are not well paid...wonder why....cos the pigs have their snouts well and truly in the pot thats why
    I quite agree with the stress part, I worked in a hotel last year, now I know how a business should be run, but dear me, I never knew stress was physical until I ended up in Caithness General with a suspected heart attack, I got myself that wound up, and all I was getting paid was the minimum wage. I think once you have been a manager (and by no means was I ever on the salary an MP or Highland Council manager is on) it's hard to get out of that mindset, and stupidly I tried to sort everything out, I am not the type of person that when my shift finished, I left it at the door.

    Rogermellie is right, nobody at the Council is accountable for anything, and unfortunately, it's the people on the front line that get it in the neck, and they are on a minute percentage of what the bosses are on, I have to say I really feel for them.

  4. #124
    BetterTogether is offline Banned (Sock Puppet of previously banned user)
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    Back to the original subject, is it only me that doesn't see the problem with an MSP from a working class background who has recently been elected and finished a degree at University bemoaning the lack of lifestyle opportunities in Scotland. I wish I'd of had those opportunities at the age of 20!

  5. #125
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    Quote Originally Posted by BetterTogether View Post
    I do love the way they councils claim they have to pay market rates. Well where in the private sector is the equivalent of a councillor, private companies make profit and pay their directors and senior managers from those profits if they fail they are summarily dismissed. I see no justification for paying these ridiculous sums to people who time and again show they are not up to the job, inefficient and out of touch with what their constituents actually want.
    All I want is for somebody to sort out the NHS ! By that I do'nt mean the people that actually work there, I have always been treated wonderfully if I have had to go to any of the hospitals here. I mean I do'nt want to have to keep going to Raigmore what feels like every 5 minutes, when there is a perfectly good hospital in Wick.

  6. #126

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    Quote Originally Posted by cptdodger View Post
    I quite agree with the stress part, I worked in a hotel last year, now I know how a business should be run, but dear me, I never knew stress was physical until I ended up in Caithness General with a suspected heart attack, I got myself that wound up, and all I was getting paid was the minimum wage. I think once you have been a manager (and by no means was I ever on the salary an MP or Highland Council manager is on) it's hard to get out of that mindset, and stupidly I tried to sort everything out, I am not the type of person that when my shift finished, I left it at the door.

    Rogermellie is right, nobody at the Council is accountable for anything, and unfortunately, it's the people on the front line that get it in the neck, and they are on a minute percentage of what the bosses are on, I have to say I really feel for them.
    Sorry to hear this, stress is a slient killer, Im on permamant medication for high blood pressure and have been for a few years following collapsing in Palma Airport with high blood pressure ( spent 10 days in a Majorcan hospital lol lol ) . Like yersel I cant and still cant just leave things at work, Ive been in business for 16 years and I guess it took its toll on me and still does. I sometimes have to swithc off from the org as well as I get very wound up whihc is why I fair enjoyed the history thread.

  7. #127

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    Quote Originally Posted by BetterTogether View Post
    Back to the original subject, is it only me that doesn't see the problem with an MSP from a working class background who has recently been elected and finished a degree at University bemoaning the lack of lifestyle opportunities in Scotland. I wish I'd of had those opportunities at the age of 20!
    Shes been very, very fortunate in terms of the opportunities she has in front of her, thats all I will say.

  8. #128

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    Here's a thought... in Scotland we have one sided classfluidity. The middle classes are allowed to air brush themselves out, continually kidding on they're 'one of us'... but the working class are denied a foot on the ladder due to the education system / college cuts / lack of decent jobs.

    Middle class in Scotland is viewed as an English phenomenon, truth is In scotladn too these people are allowed to reap the benefits of a supposedly equal system without actually opening themselves up to competition from below.
    Last edited by rob murray; 20-Jul-15 at 11:41.

  9. #129
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    Somewhere on this thread we were talking about poor houses in the Highlands, I saw this on the Highland Archive Centre Facebook page and thought it might be of some interest -

    Easter Ross Union Poorhouse Plans, c.1850 (HCA/CRC/8/5/12)
    The Easter Ross Union poorhouse was built in 1849-50 on a site to the south of Tain known as Arthurville. It was the first new poorhouse to be set up in the Highlands after the 1845 Scottish Poor Law Act.
    The Scottish Poor Law Act of 1845 authorised the levy of local rates to pay for relief of the poor, it also authorised the building of poor houses by parishes or combinations of parishes. Implementation of this law was difficult and often led to an increase in the poor rates. The nine parishes of Easter Ross (including Tain) managed to avoid such an increase by creating a Poor Law Union and building the first Combination Poor House in Scotland. The example set by Easter Ross would be followed by the creation of Poor Law Unions in other parts of Scotland in subsequent years.
    The building shown in these plans could accommodate up to 160 inmates and admitted its first pauper on the 11th October 1850. Construction costs, and fees for the architect, Andrew Maitland, were originally estimated at £1,750 but the final bill was £2,524. As well these plans the Highland Archive Centre also holds Admission Registers from the founding of the poor house in 1850.





  10. #130

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    Yep good stuff..Arthurville is now an expensive area in Tain houses there are c£250k minimum.......no longer a poor house eh !

  11. #131
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    Good lord, so the further south, obviously the more expensive the property. You can get rather a lot for your money up here, in my opinion anyway. I have seen in Dundee, that a lot of the older buildings are being turned into flats, the DRI (Dundee Royal Infirmary) for what it was, was a beautiful building, I do'nt think I would buy a basement flat though, knowing my luck it would be the mortuary !! Also the Limb Fitting Centre which, and I thought this was a lovely touch, was renamed Bader House in Broughty Ferry (opposite what was the Post Office and St Mary's Church), there are some beautiful flats in there, but I used to sing in St Mary's Church choir when I was at school and we used to pop over there after Evensong for the patients there to have a service. I do'nt honestly know if I could see myself living there without the memories, we got to know a lot of the long term residents including a twelve year old boy, who bless him had cancer.

    Having said that, I am so pleased regardless of what the buildings are being used for, they are being used !

    This is a very old photo of the DRI, although the building remains the same, the surroundings do not !

    https://c4.staticflickr.com/4/3808/1...2a4496aa_b.jpg
    Last edited by cptdodger; 24-Jul-15 at 12:50.

  12. #132

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    Quote Originally Posted by cptdodger View Post
    Good lord, so the further south, obviously the more expensive the property. You can get rather a lot for your money up here, in my opinion anyway. I have seen in Dundee, that a lot of the older buildings are being turned into flats, the DRI (Dundee Royal Infirmary) for what it was, was a beautiful building, I do'nt think I would buy a basement flat though, knowing my luck it would be the mortuary !! Also the Limb Fitting Centre which, and I thought this was a lovely touch, was renamed Bader House in Broughty Ferry (opposite what was the Post Office and St Mary's Church), there are some beautiful flats in there, but I used to sing in St Mary's Church choir when I was at school and we used to pop over there after Evensong for the patients there to have a service. I do'nt honestly know if I could see myself living there without the memories, we got to know a lot of the long term residents including a twelve year old boy, who bless him had cancer.

    Having said that, I am so pleased regardless of what the buildings are being used for, they are being used !
    Yep, Inverness to Dornoch is really expensive compared to Caithness, houses that I see in WIck for £140k go for over £220k down here in fact you cant get anything reasonably good for less than £200k...and these houses usually need work done to them. I dont know where the poor house was in Wick or if Thurso had one but the rural poor house is still standing just outside Latheron drving south on your left hand side, an old building that someone has tried doing up and stopped !

  13. #133
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    I will have to have a look for that. I might be wrong, but I thought Dunbar Hospital in Thurso originated as a poor house, but I can't remember, it was certainly mentioned on that video at Raigmore. I did find this however - http://www.visitoruk.com/thurso/19th-century-T2056.html

  14. #134

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    The Thurso poorhouse was just north of Halkirk - it's flats now.

    http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Thurso/

  15. #135
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    Quote Originally Posted by cazmanian_minx View Post
    The Thurso poorhouse was just north of Halkirk - it's flats now.http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Thurso/
    Of course, thank you it's the long white house near the horses! I used to live in Halkirk as well !

  16. #136

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    I didnt want them coz theyre a waste of my taxes, theres far more important things to spend money on in the community than signs no one can read or cares about

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