No wars in December, please. UK military sent home to save on heating costs.
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Seriously though. The Foreign Aid budget is about £12 billion +/-. The amount that Dave hands over to the EU yearly is about £11 billion +/- (plus an extra £800 millions recently on TOP of the eleven bil')
That's an eye watering £23 billion simply transfered out of the country at a time when the army are sent home to save on heating bills.
Am I living in a Monty Python sketch?
That's an eye watering £23 billion simply transfered out of the country at a time when the army are sent home to save on heating bills.
Am I living in a Monty Python sketch?
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No, Monty Python was credible.
Seriously though. The Foreign Aid budget is about £12 billion +/-. The amount that Dave hands over to the EU yearly is about £11 billion +/- (plus an extra £800 millions recently on TOP of the eleven bil')
That's an eye watering £23 billion simply transferred out of the country at a time when the army are sent home to save on heating bills.
Am I living in a Monty Python sketch?
That's an eye watering £23 billion simply transferred out of the country at a time when the army are sent home to save on heating bills.
Am I living in a Monty Python sketch?
Thread Drift warning.
A Geography lecture at Uni on the subject of foreign aid still sticks in my mind. Foreign Aid is almost exclusively tied to buying goods and services from Britain with strict controls to ensure that the aid reaches the end user and bypasses corrupt officials.
On a personal note I think charity giving should be a personal decision rather than government imposed. All my charitable giving goes abroad (Sightsavers) as I believe it's important to meet basic human needs before improving the lot of poor people in a highly industrialised country like ours....so actually I approve of Foreign Aid.
A Geography lecture at Uni on the subject of foreign aid still sticks in my mind. Foreign Aid is almost exclusively tied to buying goods and services from Britain with strict controls to ensure that the aid reaches the end user and bypasses corrupt officials.
On a personal note I think charity giving should be a personal decision rather than government imposed. All my charitable giving goes abroad (Sightsavers) as I believe it's important to meet basic human needs before improving the lot of poor people in a highly industrialised country like ours....so actually I approve of Foreign Aid.
"Bit sensitive tonight sweetheart; nobody slagged anybody off and the creative measure has been introduced to give the civil servants time off when their rules try to forbid it."
Why should CS get free time off just because the mil have gone on leave?
Speak to a lot of CS and one thing that annoys them is when the Military try to shut a base down on block leave, without realising that plenty of CS have jobs to do, and don't want to be forced to take annual leave at that time. Mil can be forced to take block leave, CS can't (different T&C), and plenty of us don't want to have to take a full 2-3 weeks off over xmas, and instead use leave at a different time.
While there may be goodwill in trying to prevent them gaining access, actually if the work is not done, then all thats being done is preventing stuff happening which could, in a small way, help support the front line.
Bluntly, we're paying these CS to do a job, they have no entitlement to not being in the office unless they take leave, and there is a system in place to ensure that if they can't get into the office, they make arrangements to go to another place of work, rather than go home.
The problem is that in the Mils eye, all thats happening is people are seeing CS turn up and go home again, rather than what should be happening, which is them turning up and doing their job.
Why should CS get free time off just because the mil have gone on leave?
Speak to a lot of CS and one thing that annoys them is when the Military try to shut a base down on block leave, without realising that plenty of CS have jobs to do, and don't want to be forced to take annual leave at that time. Mil can be forced to take block leave, CS can't (different T&C), and plenty of us don't want to have to take a full 2-3 weeks off over xmas, and instead use leave at a different time.
While there may be goodwill in trying to prevent them gaining access, actually if the work is not done, then all thats being done is preventing stuff happening which could, in a small way, help support the front line.
Bluntly, we're paying these CS to do a job, they have no entitlement to not being in the office unless they take leave, and there is a system in place to ensure that if they can't get into the office, they make arrangements to go to another place of work, rather than go home.
The problem is that in the Mils eye, all thats happening is people are seeing CS turn up and go home again, rather than what should be happening, which is them turning up and doing their job.
Mil can be forced to take block leave, CS can't (different T&C), and plenty of us don't want to have to take a full 2-3 weeks off over xmas, and instead use leave at a different time.
Also, in my first staff job in London, my T&Cs stated I was not permitted to take leave for 2 months following publication of the Main Assumptions; that is, roughly mid Feb - mid Apr. Also, for 2 weeks when the Alternative Assumptions were issued in the Autumn. You will appreciate both periods were variable, so you couldn't book holidays in advance. No TOIL or OT, but in return MoD allowed a certain flexibility; for example, you were allowed to wander off during the day to sign on for Family Income Supplement.
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I still think overseas aid should be spent getting the poor buggers sleeping rough off the streets of this supposed "First World Country" and address the issues behind having to have food kitchens in the UK. Once that is solved then by all means use it to help those less unfortunate abroad. But, I believe it should be a statutory right that everyone should have the opportunity of a roof over their heads and access to food and warmth in this Country. After all, without a fixed address, the poor souls are caught in the trap of no address, no job, and until that is rectified they simply cannot get out of that trap.
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Why " no wars in December"?? Just because they aren't gathered in a particular building, all the servicemen are still there, fully trained and available to respond to any national emergency
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All where? In all likelihood they will have dispersed widely, don't think they all come from the same nearby town any more. Public transport over the 'festive' season, sparse, I would say (not everyone on low pay can afford a motor car), so recovery of meaningful numbers of bods could take some time.
In RAFG during the Cool War, we reckoned the best time for Ivan to make a move was after about 1800 on any Friday, or over Easter and Christmas leave periods.
Mister B
All where? In all likelihood they will have dispersed widely, don't think they all come from the same nearby town any more. Public transport over the 'festive' season, sparse, I would say (not everyone on low pay can afford a motor car), so recovery of meaningful numbers of bods could take some time.
In RAFG during the Cool War, we reckoned the best time for Ivan to make a move was after about 1800 on any Friday, or over Easter and Christmas leave periods.
Mister B
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Back in the 90's Kinloss got stood down a week early to save on heating and lighting, and we all thanked them very much for it.
A few years later there was a cold snap of -12 for a week, we were fine but we'd foolishly agreed to keep any eye on the house next but one as they were going home for Christmas. We'd agreed to do it on the condition they switched the water off and drained the pipes.
New Years day I nipped in to check everythnig was alright to find a river of water coming down the stairs, a frantic search for the stop cock followed by a call to the guardroom for a plumber then a stern phone call to the occupants mate to tell the occupant that he had water everywhere.
That was the first winter after they'd rebuilt a stack of MQs on Northside, and at least one of them was serious damaged by water when it would found that someone had skimped on the insulation.....
A few years later there was a cold snap of -12 for a week, we were fine but we'd foolishly agreed to keep any eye on the house next but one as they were going home for Christmas. We'd agreed to do it on the condition they switched the water off and drained the pipes.
New Years day I nipped in to check everythnig was alright to find a river of water coming down the stairs, a frantic search for the stop cock followed by a call to the guardroom for a plumber then a stern phone call to the occupants mate to tell the occupant that he had water everywhere.
That was the first winter after they'd rebuilt a stack of MQs on Northside, and at least one of them was serious damaged by water when it would found that someone had skimped on the insulation.....
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Sorry, HTB I don't buy that. Any serviceman without the initiative and resourcefulness to get themselves somehow; bus/hitchhike/ mates car/ ask Mummy, to where they're needed within an agreed timescale, frankly, isn't likely to be of much use in defending our nation.
Similar argument re. Frost protection. Considering the billions of £'s of highly complex equipment we have, is keeping some plumbing from freezing really such a big ask?
Similar argument re. Frost protection. Considering the billions of £'s of highly complex equipment we have, is keeping some plumbing from freezing really such a big ask?
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Oh that I could join you in your ideal world.
They'll find a way to RTB alright; just wouldn't put money on any degree of urgency in that recovery (especially with a couple of duty clerks valiantly ringing round the prime, secondary and tertiary contact numbers - even with a cascade system this can easily break down). Bus counts as public transport - we get one a week in my rural village, and it doesn't go where I want it to go; hitchhiking - wouldn't count on it in the depths of Winter; mate's car - might be going to Leeming when you want to go to Marham (and he might not want to go anywhere at all if he's a civilian).
I've seen the scenario on a relatively small scale (and listened to some imaginative excuses from late returners).
So, sorry that you don't buy that, but I don't buy that you don't buy my not buying that - and never pooh-pooh another man's pooh-pooh... (sorry, Blackadder)
Mister B
They'll find a way to RTB alright; just wouldn't put money on any degree of urgency in that recovery (especially with a couple of duty clerks valiantly ringing round the prime, secondary and tertiary contact numbers - even with a cascade system this can easily break down). Bus counts as public transport - we get one a week in my rural village, and it doesn't go where I want it to go; hitchhiking - wouldn't count on it in the depths of Winter; mate's car - might be going to Leeming when you want to go to Marham (and he might not want to go anywhere at all if he's a civilian).
I've seen the scenario on a relatively small scale (and listened to some imaginative excuses from late returners).
So, sorry that you don't buy that, but I don't buy that you don't buy my not buying that - and never pooh-pooh another man's pooh-pooh... (sorry, Blackadder)
Mister B
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I remember being told one snowy winter a few years ago, you can go home on a weekend providing you WILL be back Monday 07:30. There's no defence for not being in work, look at the weather forecast before you leave and if theres a risk of you can't make it back due to snow and ice then don't go.
Does anyone still hitchhike today ? Good luck trying to get from South England to Lossiemouth.
bus/hitchhike/ mates car/ ask Mummy
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New Years day I nipped in to check everythnig was alright to find a river of water coming down the stairs, a frantic search for the stop cock followed by a call to the guardroom for a plumber then a stern phone call to the occupants mate to tell the occupant that he had water everywhere.
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I'll ignore the pooh pooh, htb but in 2014 if someone's not contactable it's because they don't want to be contactable -and if you're telling us servicemen will respond to a recall in a national emergency with "imaginative excuses" that's pretty insulting.
