Chesterfield

Was the classic car show in at the same time when you went? We went round several halls of classics when we were there, some very nice looking motors indeed. Apart from the front splitter that oakley design 458 looks gorgeous. However I did take quite a shine to some of the classics - the Dino, Tetarossa or E-type roadsters were fantastic.

Its one thing to say that the large salaries by public sector bosses have skewed the average public sector salary, but its still higher than the private sector average, which you could argue is eaually skewed by several hundred, if not thousand private sector bosses on £1m+ salaries. So the salaries of bosses alone in the public sector is not skewing the average above that of the private sector. Im not for one minue suggesting that a Nurse is not worth a bankers salary. They certainly are in some cases. But what of a footballer? do they deserve more than a Nurse? Does a teacher? A policeman? Do you or I? Its the way the world is. Even removing the financial crisis, the public sector pensions are unsustainable. They would have been unsustainable had the collapse not happened just as they are now. The bottom line is that there is more coming out than going in, regardless of financial matters outside the scheme. What the financial crisis has done is bring it to a head much sooner, as the treasury finds itself having to tighten its belt. Without wanting to sound too harsh about it and follow an overly capitalist line, if our banks didn't pay the million pound salaries that they do, then those individuals would simply work in Asia or America where they will pay the salary. Although they may not deal with life and death issues every day, they can be damned good at what they do - and without them we wouldnt be raising the tax revenue from our banks and those individuals that we are. Lets not forget, with the new 50% tax rate, should a banker get paid a £1m bonus, they will be paying £500k, or the entire pension pot of possibly several public sector workers in one month. Drive these people and their businesses away and we will have an even harder job filling the gap required. If public sector is not reformed and we just levy more taxes on the private sector, especially those that contribute billions in tax revenue, then those businesses/individuals will up sticks and move. Who's going to pay the public sector then? Some of us may be doing well, but not for a minute would we fill the funding gap left behind if some financial institutions removed themselves from the UK.

Indeed - and this is what unions should be for. They have an important role to play in ensuring that people are free to do their job to the best of their ability and they are not walked over by employees. However, what they should NOT be doing in my opinion is presenting a one sided view of pension reforms which are absolutely vital to our economies stability. There is not one single article or scrap of a publication by any of the unions which sets out to discuss the pension reforms fairly. They all, without fail, present a single minded view that under no circumstances should they be changed. They present NO alternative, and they do not set out any figures other than "look how much less you will get". What they should do is say - you will pay in £2,285 a year - and in return you will get £64,000 tax free (which is what they would have got if it had been taxed at 20% as income), and also pay you a pension of £21,000 a year until the day you die. Does this sound like a good deal? Anyone voting No, can then opt out of the scheme and go get a private one that does better. Thought not.

Even after reforms the pensions of public sector workers will be massively superior to almost any private sector pension. The contributions made by the employer will dwarf the contributions made by employers in the private sector. I would advocate public sector workers earning the same as those in the private sector only if their pensions were matched too. Therefore no final salary schemes and employer contributions vastly reduced too. So while the private sector in some areas may earn more than the equivalent public sector worker, combining the working life earnings and retirement earnings, the public sector are still way ahead. Has anyone also noticed that the unions themselves have also now stopped spouting the line that public sector workers earn far less than their private sector counterparts? The reason is that average public sector pay now exceeds average private sector pay. So not only are the average earnings higher, the pensions are massively higher than the equivalent private sector and yet they still call for strikes. It may be a regular argument that as public sector workers they could earn more in the private sector. Maybe they could, but then why not work out how much they would have to pay into a private pension scheme to get the same benefits when they retire. Even if the reforms go through, to retire with the same equivalent pension of a Nurse or Teacher, a person in the private sector would still have to save £600,000+ into a private pension pot. So thats £17,000 per year that would need to be invested in a private pension for 35 years, just to have the same pension. Also, from a private sector point of view - whats to stop them changing how much you can pay into a private sector pension before they tax you on the money on the way IN, as well as on the way out later on in life..... Oh - hang on.... They have.

It is very interesting to cross refference their "pensions: busting the myths" page with their calculators. In one of the Myths they dispel a myth that public sector pensions are "huge" by stating that the average pension is £3500. In order to receive a pension of that ammount then they must be at or below the level of salary that is affected anyway by their own calculators. They also attempt to bust another myth: "It's not fair, why should the public sector get good pensions when the private sector doesn't? " They do this by comparing the average public sector pension to the average pension of a FTSE 100 director. As for public sector workers just having to grin and put up with it. Hows about private sector businesses that have had business rates increased, corporation tax increases, NI increases and the impending introduction of NEST. The private sector pension schemes have been hit massively by the financial crisis too, its not just a pop at the public sector. Final salary schemes in the private sector became almost exticnt many years ago, and its about time the public sector realised exactly why they are unsustainable. The figures as mentioned earlier in relation to the number of people voting are a complete joke too. From unisons own page - Local Government (including Scotland) voted: Yes 171,428 No 54,500. Turnout was 30%. So thats actually 171,428 of a pottential 753,093. So the strike action is on after less than 23% of workers voted for it. For the NHS including Scotland it was less than 21% of employees voting yes.

Heres the typical stuff they publish: http://www.unison.org.uk/pensions/fairerfuture.asp What I find quite annoying is that they decide to run with headline grabbing items such as "Sandra - £413 a year worse off at work, £1069 worse off a year in retirement". or "Tina - £597 worse off today, £1275 worse off tomorrow". Without giving any specific detail what so ever.

Asking public sector workers reardless of position to make alterations to pension contributions and schemes so that they are financially viable is not flinging @*!# at them. NHS staff pay between 5% and 8.5% of salary into pension. They are suggesting an increase of 3.2%, and those earning less than £15,000 have no increase. Employers (NHS) pays 14%. They are nurses, and by god they do a great job that we are all thankful for - but they (or the ones in the union paid to interpret this for them) need to understand that unless they make changes, they wont have a pension at all. The NHS pension fund stands at around £1.6 Billion. If no changes are made, at the rate its being depleted compared to the input - it will stand at only £150 Million by 2016. I guess the private sector can just be taxed a "bit more" to cover the extra £1.45 Billion? In all seriousness, the public sector needs to wake up and realise the very real and very large disaster looming for the entire country if they do not accept pension reforms as part of fixing our economic problems. People are already complaining about the class divides becoming larger. Wait and see what happens when the public sector completely wreck the economy by being so blinkered.

Employees can opt out. Employers can't. So its added about £20k a year to our costs as a small ish business per year by 2017, regardless. Guess Ill be called a capitalist pig if I try and make more money to cover those costs and dont just suck it up along with all the others. Im also guessing insurance companies will just suck up these extra costs too and they wont stick it onto the premiums right...

As per coldels post, if it takes this long to make payrol adjustments, it demonstrates how totally inefficient the public sector is. I see its possible to get overtime payments into the next pay run, but strike deductions take an extra month. Exactly how difficult can it be to adjust a payrol and mae deductions. Although our company only has 14 people to pay, if an adjustment needs to be made for an employee, it takes seconds. A payrol team or even just two people could make the necessary adjustments to payrol in a day for thousands of employees. Trying to sugest it takes extra time and doing it later to save money is also laughable. Why shouldn't the changes be made across all pay scales? Surely you dont expect those on higher pay scales to sacrifice a larger amount of their pension to support those on lower salaries? If the transition is made to average salary schemes then it makes no difference that everyone has the same percentages applied. The problem with the public sector is that exact point of view. Someone else should contribute more, in order to provide greater benefits to those lower down. I guess they are the same people bemoaning the "rich" who clearly should be paying more, because clearly 26% corporation tax, followed by 50% income tax, 12.8% employers NI, 11% employees NI, and removal of personal allowance between 100 and 113k resulting in effective income tax rate of 60% clearly isn't enough. Then in order to contribute to a private pension scheme that pays the same results as even a basic public sector scheme they would have to cough up another 25%. Surely they can cough up a bit more in order to prop up public sector pensions for another decade in the hope that the next round of public sector workers can actually be bothered to research the nuts and bolts of why the schemes are totally unsustainable.

Our company has helped the local council for a period of time. It took us two years of constant badgering for them to finally give us the opportunity to help them. We saved them over £100k in our first year of assisting. They have since decided to jon forces with another council and purchase in a different manner using a different public scheme. They may as well take that £100k and burn it in the strike fires now, but theres no telling them. The council they have joined forces with has apparently been red flagged for the 3rd time for failing to balance their balance sheet, and spent another £25k in audit fees. Here we are actually working in the private sector helping a local authority actually save money, and they are just pi**ing it up the wall. The worst bit is that we have two offices within a council run complex that has the electricity and gas recharged to us, and I know full well that Ill be able to get cheaper rates than they will sign up to, yet they will expect me to pay them! Ill be posing some very tricky questions to the procurement managers of the councils when that day arrives I can tell you. Probably via the local paper.

The numbers probably dont show that, which is why they wont be published in black and white for all to read. The insurance companies can state that because you were involved in an accident, you must therefore drive in an area where accidents are more likely to happen, therefore by default you are more likely to have another accident. Its just complete and utter tosh. They make crap up on the hoof just to try and justify ridiculous prices. Its the only item you are legally forced to have, that can only be bought from private companies that have to make a profit for shareholders. Exactly what did people think would happen when private companies needing to generate a profit for shareholders after a large financial crisis hit are selling a product that all drivers legally have to buy? Its a license to print money. Looking at the financial records for some of the insurance companies, its blatantly obvious where these high premiums are going, and if they say its going on "higher cost of claims", then they must thinkI fell off a Christmas tree. Its a perfect line for Karl Pilkingtons "bullshit" man.

We already know what the Union leaders suggest as a credible alternative. Tax the banks and tax the "rich". They are the ones who got us into this mess, so they can get us out. Have you read the items of "literature" put out by the unions when discussing the pension reforms - they will either make you laugh or cry. They are so far removed from actual real life its not even remotely funny. What is funny is the ammount of people following what these union leaders suggest by striking, while all the time they have sizeable private pensions themselves as they know full well the public ones are unsustainable - but if they roll over and acknowledge the changes are needed, then they aren't going to be a union leader for much longer and have the salary to fund those private pension schemes. The whole thing could be a sketch from the Beano.

These strange little quirks just demonstrate how laughable the insurance industry now is. I'm sure the underwriters have saved a fortune by getting rid of all risk assesors and premium calculators etc and just replaced the lot with a random number generator with a minimum value. How difficult could it be to set up an insurance company now, with the size of premiums and daft restrictions you can put on people, it must be nigh on impossible to not turn a massive profit.

Im sorry but thats a useless excuse for a local authority to use. I suppose anyone doing overtime for a local authority in November won't get it paid until February either then eh? The other one's got bells on it. I've worked for organisation with hundreds of thousands of employees, they could work out individual wages and extra overtime, sick days, maternity, paternity, bonuses, redundancies, starters and leavers every month without fail. Personally I think it laughable about the strikes - the changes suggested are needed to support the sustainability of the pension scheme full stop. If they dont make the changes then there wont be a pot for anyone retiring from the public sector in 30 years time (if that). Ive got a private pension which other than the recent financial troubles has been doing fairly well, so I suppose I could be one of those who say Im alright Jack. We've seen taxes on banks, new higher rate taxes introduced, increases in business taxes, and they are all being introduced to cover the debts of the country, including the defecit in the public sector pension fund. How many more taxes should be introduced to pay for unsustainable pension schemes? How many more can be introduced before lots of larger businesses say enough is enough and offshore? Then what for the public sector pension fund? I think its about time the public sector realised that the ONLY thing generating money for the country is the private sector. Squeeze it too much and the public sector will find itself in a much larger mess.

Maybe they would rather see an older and former very expensive car be written down as a total loss rather than have to repair it? Perhaps they think the can get away writing it off at a lower value than they would be forced to repair at if it were found and proven to be a viable repair?

Just read this after being told about it by Tracy: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-15916384 Now, whilst I think this is a nice gesture, it makes my blood boil that they have decided to deduct the money from striking workers in February in order to "ease financial pressure over the Christmas period", and taking it in a month when there is no council tax payment due. What an absolute utter joke. Those striking should take the cosequences of their actions on the chin. If that means being a days wages short for Christmas, then, tough. Hows about all the people having to take a day off themselves from private industries to care for kids, or pay for a days childcare that they weren't expecting? Can they defer payment until February when times are easier? Businesses that find themselves short on staff due to those taking a day off to look after children etc - Can they defer their rates payments for that day, or maybe defer a days corporation tax until times are bit easier? Im all for the donation to charity of money that would otherwise have been paid to those striking, but if people choose to strike, the should not be given a cotton wool blanket protecting them from the harsh reality of their actions. What of those that leave before February - will they see any penalty at all?

I dont know whether reporting them as a missing person would help The home office are unlikely to divulge such information unless there is an ongoing investigation. Does he have a UK bank account - can the bank help at all? Where are the statements being sent? As above, facebook is a good start. Find a friend of theirs and go through their friends list if public, and then their friend list etc etc. Good luck

Thanks for the suggestion, and while the code does allow for a neat insertion of an ebay add, unfortunately however we wont be implementing the ebay code for a couple of reasons. The first ad primary reason being that ebay appears to have withdrawn the ebay to go beta service. While it is still working for now, ebay has advised that all widgets be removed, so it could be withdrawn fully at any time. If this happened, it would result in broken threads/links that could detract from a thread, or indeed ruin peoples genuine posts lining to ebay items etc. Secondly, many workplaces will block access to ebay. If this is the case, then if there are any threads with links/posts in this format, those who have ebay bloced at work would be presented with a blank white box. This could result in queries asking whats been posted etc and disjointed threads. With the ebay link posted as they are now, at least those who have ebay blocked would still be able to see what the link was/is and revisit the thread at home if they wish. If ebay do release an official and permenant version of this "to go" code, then we can perhaps revisit this. Regards, Chris.

Boxster, no. Cayman yes. While I wouldnt swap a 350 for either, as I think the 350 just has bags of character, the Cayman is quite nice. The interior of the early Boxsters look quite dated imho - and while te 350 doesnt have the most dramatic of interiors, they dont look as "old man" as the boxster interiors imho.

That is absolutely brilliant! What a fantastic gesture. Cant wait to see this at the next run out.

Youll ned a 370z, but here you go for £610 - a tiny bit of tipex/white screw and Bobs your uncle.... CLICKY

Havent seen the program yet, but can say that there was moisture in the rear lights of the one I visited in teh Manchester showroom. Perhaps more attention to detail on the seals needed? Mind you, thats no different to the likes of Lamborghini or Ferrari, whose lights do exactly the same.

True Ken, I almost forgot about the wifi. I can upload video/music etc to the machine while the car is sat in the garage

Are you confusing GPS and data? The GPS allows it to find its location, then you either need a data connection (GPRS/3G) or the maps loaded onto a local SD card to place that position on a map.

Eh? The GPS is built into the system, just like a phone. If you have the maps loaded onto your SD card, then it works just like a normal sat nav. If you want to use google maps, email, internet tv, or any other form of streaming then yes, data will be used - but thats the same with anything. For Sat Nav, I have both MobileMaps and Copilot, both with maps installed on the SD card - No data connection needed.