News0 min ago
What is left that is British ?
18 Answers
Now we see a Dutch Company up for a third of the Royal Mail. Unions reckon 50 000 out of 170 000 workers will be axed. I have no doubt they are right.
And surprise surprise who is behind this - Oh our good 'friend' Mandy. Yet another piece of this country to Europe. This man is scum and should be made to pay for it so should Bottler for bringing him back, although no doubt bottler will be punished by the Polls.
So is there anything left, should we privatise the Royal Mail?, Should the Queens head remain on the stamps, and should it remain the 'Royal' mail ?
And surprise surprise who is behind this - Oh our good 'friend' Mandy. Yet another piece of this country to Europe. This man is scum and should be made to pay for it so should Bottler for bringing him back, although no doubt bottler will be punished by the Polls.
So is there anything left, should we privatise the Royal Mail?, Should the Queens head remain on the stamps, and should it remain the 'Royal' mail ?
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And apparently, the workers have been adopting
'Spanish Practices'.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1565633 /Royal-Mail-boss-attacks-'Spanish-practices'.h tml
The Royal Mail is inefficient, badly managed and losing lots of letters. Thatcher never had the guts to reform it, hopefully the new brave measures will knock it into shape and we can again have a postal service we can be proud of.
'Spanish Practices'.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1565633 /Royal-Mail-boss-attacks-'Spanish-practices'.h tml
The Royal Mail is inefficient, badly managed and losing lots of letters. Thatcher never had the guts to reform it, hopefully the new brave measures will knock it into shape and we can again have a postal service we can be proud of.
I have to agree, Gromit.
Whilst many postal workers are hard working, a large proportion of them are not and they (and their �Spanish Practices�) are eagerly supported by their union, the CWU. (A former General Secretary of the CWU is one time Marxist sympathiser, Tesco shelf-stacker and postman, now Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson).
The CWU has been probably the most intransigent of all trade unions in recent years. Attempts to make the mail service more efficient have been continually blocked by them and yes, even Mrs Thatcher did not manage to persuade them to change their ways.
The chickens seem finally to have begun their long journey home to roost. Whilst they have been away the victims of the CWU�s intransigence have mainly been the mail service�s customers. Many of them have found cheaper, more reliable alternatives, but many � mainly householders � have no such luxury and now suffer probably one of the worst postal services in Western Europe.
But the biggest victims will be the very people the CWU says it wants to protect � the postal workers themselves. Instead of a gradual decline in staff numbers, properly managed to minimise the impact, they may now find that large numbers of them are thrown out of work at short notice with little recompense.
Much as I dislike �Lord� Madelson, it is no use shooting the messenger. This reform has been long overdue; the report to which My Good Lord has responded was in the making long before he returned to the fold of the Great and the Good, and if he had not reached today�s conclusions, then somebody else would have.
Meanwhile the Communication Workers Union said its members in Liverpool, Coventry, Stockport, Oldham, Oxford, Crewe and Bolton would walk out on 19 December - the day before the last Christmas posting day for first-class letters.
Whilst many postal workers are hard working, a large proportion of them are not and they (and their �Spanish Practices�) are eagerly supported by their union, the CWU. (A former General Secretary of the CWU is one time Marxist sympathiser, Tesco shelf-stacker and postman, now Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson).
The CWU has been probably the most intransigent of all trade unions in recent years. Attempts to make the mail service more efficient have been continually blocked by them and yes, even Mrs Thatcher did not manage to persuade them to change their ways.
The chickens seem finally to have begun their long journey home to roost. Whilst they have been away the victims of the CWU�s intransigence have mainly been the mail service�s customers. Many of them have found cheaper, more reliable alternatives, but many � mainly householders � have no such luxury and now suffer probably one of the worst postal services in Western Europe.
But the biggest victims will be the very people the CWU says it wants to protect � the postal workers themselves. Instead of a gradual decline in staff numbers, properly managed to minimise the impact, they may now find that large numbers of them are thrown out of work at short notice with little recompense.
Much as I dislike �Lord� Madelson, it is no use shooting the messenger. This reform has been long overdue; the report to which My Good Lord has responded was in the making long before he returned to the fold of the Great and the Good, and if he had not reached today�s conclusions, then somebody else would have.
Meanwhile the Communication Workers Union said its members in Liverpool, Coventry, Stockport, Oldham, Oxford, Crewe and Bolton would walk out on 19 December - the day before the last Christmas posting day for first-class letters.
Am I dreaming?
A right-winger like your good self bemoaning the selling off of bits of unprofitable public enterprises?
Or is it that it's a European organisation?
Has your Europhobia won out over your political instincts? Would you have postsed it had it been an american company?
Or is it purely the Royalist in you holding onto some emotional attachment to an organisation that happens to sport Royal in the title?
Perhaps had BR been "Her Majesties Railways" we'd not be lumbered with our fragmented train system.
(Exits whistling ode to joy)
A right-winger like your good self bemoaning the selling off of bits of unprofitable public enterprises?
Or is it that it's a European organisation?
Has your Europhobia won out over your political instincts? Would you have postsed it had it been an american company?
Or is it purely the Royalist in you holding onto some emotional attachment to an organisation that happens to sport Royal in the title?
Perhaps had BR been "Her Majesties Railways" we'd not be lumbered with our fragmented train system.
(Exits whistling ode to joy)
I certainly am not bemoaning the reform of the mail service, jake.
What I am bemoaning is the fact that it has taken so long and will now have a much more profound effect on customers and staff than if it had been done twenty years ago.
I don�t care who invests in it, either, or where they come from. If they can make it work properly (which it does not at the moment) then good luck to them � especially if they can earn their shareholders a few bob into the bargain. I have no real attachment to the �Royal� title the mail service holds. It has long since ceased to have any meaning. I don�t care what it is called as long as it works reasonably well and is reasonably priced.
I don�t know where you live gromit (it�s a shame we could not agree for too long!) but where I am our library, which was opened in 1952, has just closed with no replacement planned. The three hospitals we had within striking distance have all been closed and replaced with one providing 25% less beds. There are now plans to close its A&E department (less than three years old) meaning people in this area face a forty minute ambulance ride (on a good day) after they�ve suffered a heart attack. Still, they could get themselves there by train (only two changes) as those services are, apparently, wonderful.
Still, none of this has anything to do with the mail service, or with Mrs Thatcher, who has now been out of office for more than eighteen years.
What I am bemoaning is the fact that it has taken so long and will now have a much more profound effect on customers and staff than if it had been done twenty years ago.
I don�t care who invests in it, either, or where they come from. If they can make it work properly (which it does not at the moment) then good luck to them � especially if they can earn their shareholders a few bob into the bargain. I have no real attachment to the �Royal� title the mail service holds. It has long since ceased to have any meaning. I don�t care what it is called as long as it works reasonably well and is reasonably priced.
I don�t know where you live gromit (it�s a shame we could not agree for too long!) but where I am our library, which was opened in 1952, has just closed with no replacement planned. The three hospitals we had within striking distance have all been closed and replaced with one providing 25% less beds. There are now plans to close its A&E department (less than three years old) meaning people in this area face a forty minute ambulance ride (on a good day) after they�ve suffered a heart attack. Still, they could get themselves there by train (only two changes) as those services are, apparently, wonderful.
Still, none of this has anything to do with the mail service, or with Mrs Thatcher, who has now been out of office for more than eighteen years.
Successive governments over the years were quite content to take the profits made by Royal Mail , without making any return investment in the business , in terms of modernisation etc .
At the same time recently, the regulator has deemed it appropriate to open up the UK postal business to competition from foreign companies , without any reciprocal arrangements made in these other countries .
Thus , these companies have been able to come in and
' cherry pick ' the profitable areas .
And Royal Mail is still expected to provide a universal postal service at the same price to everyone , whether you are in a city or in the outer Hebrides .
You may soon have reason to really complain
At the same time recently, the regulator has deemed it appropriate to open up the UK postal business to competition from foreign companies , without any reciprocal arrangements made in these other countries .
Thus , these companies have been able to come in and
' cherry pick ' the profitable areas .
And Royal Mail is still expected to provide a universal postal service at the same price to everyone , whether you are in a city or in the outer Hebrides .
You may soon have reason to really complain
tigerlily, as I recall, the 'Royal' in the name was deemed an obstacle; her majesty was expected to object to anything with her name on it being handed to the private sector. It was and is a universal service, as Berti says, delivering at the same price to inner London and Outer Hebrides, and therefore of equal value to all Britons.
It's true postal workers have always seemed stroppier than others; but it seems unlikely they were born that way. If workers in other sectors can be left satisfied with their work, why can't postmen? The real difference I suspect lies with management and their staff relations. It didn't make a lot of difference in the days before emails (or before faxes, come to that); now it does.
It's true postal workers have always seemed stroppier than others; but it seems unlikely they were born that way. If workers in other sectors can be left satisfied with their work, why can't postmen? The real difference I suspect lies with management and their staff relations. It didn't make a lot of difference in the days before emails (or before faxes, come to that); now it does.
tigerlily11
Most other industries could be easily scrapped or beaten into submission. They closed the mines, but there were plenty of countries we could import it from. It was easy to shut the ship yards and buy our ferries cheaper from Korea.
This could not be done with the postal system. If their was a long strike, and If the mail failed to get delivered, business would be seriously disrupted, and the whole country would grind to a halt.
In those days before emails and fax, we were a lot more reliant on the post. Un-emptied bins and the dead not getting buried was inconvenient, but an interruption to the post would be very damaging.
Most other industries could be easily scrapped or beaten into submission. They closed the mines, but there were plenty of countries we could import it from. It was easy to shut the ship yards and buy our ferries cheaper from Korea.
This could not be done with the postal system. If their was a long strike, and If the mail failed to get delivered, business would be seriously disrupted, and the whole country would grind to a halt.
In those days before emails and fax, we were a lot more reliant on the post. Un-emptied bins and the dead not getting buried was inconvenient, but an interruption to the post would be very damaging.
Gromit
Un-emptied bins and the dead not getting buried was inconvenient,
Can't blame Thatcher or the Consevatives for that, but once in power she soon sorted the Unions out.
Public sector employee strike actions included an unofficial strike by gravediggers working in Liverpool and Tameside, and strikes by refuse collectors. Additionally, NHS ancillary workers formed picket lines to blockade hospital entrances with the result that many hospitals were reduced to taking emergency patients only
Whilst the strikes were largely over by February 1979, the government's inability to contain the strikes earlier helped lead to Margaret Thatcher's Conservative victory in the 1979 general election and legislation to restrict unions.
Un-emptied bins and the dead not getting buried was inconvenient,
Can't blame Thatcher or the Consevatives for that, but once in power she soon sorted the Unions out.
Public sector employee strike actions included an unofficial strike by gravediggers working in Liverpool and Tameside, and strikes by refuse collectors. Additionally, NHS ancillary workers formed picket lines to blockade hospital entrances with the result that many hospitals were reduced to taking emergency patients only
Whilst the strikes were largely over by February 1979, the government's inability to contain the strikes earlier helped lead to Margaret Thatcher's Conservative victory in the 1979 general election and legislation to restrict unions.
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