Private Eye – Number Crunching

[Hymie]

1% - Pay rise for NHS staff demanded in January, which David Cameron said was impossible because ‘we need to keep the pay bill under control’

10% - Pay rise for MPs announced last week, of which David Cameron says ‘you’re paid a rate for the job and you should take the rate for the job’

[fiction-factory]

It's worth adding though that the overall pay bill for MPs is due to be unchanged though as there are corresponding reductions in allowances and changes to pensions

[DTCwordfan]

And David Cameron has been indicating that he and other Ministers will not take a rise and that he isn't impressed with it. Don't know what ragmag of a paper you have been reading, Hymie, but it sounds like as if it's left-wing claptrap.

[fiction-factory]

I agree though that there is an inconsistency. In the case of MPs an independent group has said how much the role is worth compared to comparable jobs (and taking account of freezes to pay over recent years) but, unlike the NHS pay bill decision, doesn't seem to have taken account of what the economy can afford. Having said that, paying a bit more (if it is costing more) to 600 or so MPs will costs a lot less than paying an extra 1% to hundreds of thousands of NHS staff

[fiction-factory]

I assume it was in Private Eye, DTC

[DTCwordfan]

Now if you believe that - and yes I am a PE subscriber.

Even the Guardian got the story right, for once.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jul/16/mps-to-get-pay-rise-despite-david-camerons-objections

[fiction-factory]

I wonder whether the anti-austerity SNP MPs will refuse the increase?

[DaisyNonna]

Private Eye
Memories of a unique evening

[Gromit]

It really annoys me when MPs say how badly paid they are for comparable jobs, then you see the comparable jobs they compare themselves too are nothing such. You do not have to spend years going to university to become an MP, you do not need ANY qualifications.
Most of the people who manage to get themselves elected are nothing more than voting fodder for the whips.

So they are not under paid or under aporeciated.

[Peter Pedant]

and Sir Ian Kennedy to stuffed the moths of the MPs
gets £ 182k himself so no wonder he thought they needed a bloody great pay rise !

[Davemano]

MP for our area says he doesn't agree with the rise, but he will take it in order that he can increase his donations to charity. What a farce..

[mikey4444]

Hymie...it stinks ! MPs feathering their own nests, while expecting the rest of us to struggle.

"We are all in this together ?"......B O L L O X !

[fiction-factory]

What exactly stinks though, mikey4444 - the package is cost neutral isn't it?

[mikey4444]

FF...it stinks because they won't allow nurses to have a measly 1% pay rise, but have no problem in awarding themselves a huge 10% rise, and I couldn't give a fig about "cost neutral"

If the plans for MPs pay goes ahead, their pay will leap from £67,060 to £74,000 a year.

Perhaps MPs should show restraint as well as the rest of us ? After all, on £67,060 a year, they should find that restraint a lot easier than most of us.

[fiction-factory]

Well if you ignore the whole picture you'll always get a distorted view. They are getting more pay but losing out in other ways so they aren't really better off. Would you rather leave things as they are for MPs?

[mikey4444]

YES !

[Togo]

The sooner we all recognise that the majority of MPs and local councillors are only in it for themselves, the better. The days when an upright and honourable citizen stood for election, purely from a desire to serve the country or local community, are long gone. They are only in it to line their own pockets. Sure they dance daily, to the tune chosen by the press, and keep changing the dance to stay in office for as long as possible. Anybody who WANTS to be elected should automatically be considered unsuitable.

[Svejk]

Stop shouting, mikey. It's too early. ;-/

[fiction-factory]

Fair enough, mikey44- you'd prefer that MPs keep the over generous expense allowances, pension terms and severance payments that IPSO say will be cut back

[fiction-factory]

>Anybody who WANTS to be elected should automatically be considered unsuitable.

So should we introduce conscription/ a system equivalent to Jury Service (but lasting 5 years), Togo?

[Svejk]

Quite right, togo. Heard Mrs Balls on the radio this morning. No ideology, indeed, no ideas about anything. Just a collection of sound bites, often contradictory, that wouldn't stand up to the mildest scrutiny.
Corbyn might be a half-wit but at least he has some conviction in his half-wittery.