WN, dream on.... I forsee in my crystal ball 0% pay increase (actual, not inflation adjusted) with the increase in 12-20% of X factor recommended being spread out over 3 years as the pay increase that is sold to the press as "the best thing since sliced bread for defence". Of course, we know differently. Oh, the only other thing is, it will be sold as above what the police, NHS and fire service will be getting given, so we will be b*ggered if we want to whine about it to the press. Queue even BIGGER rush for the doors!
Me being Cynical? No, just 10 years serving under a Labour government and know exactly how they shove the knife in and give it a little twist to boot as well... BAFF or the other forces thingy that was set up should get onto this, Noo Labour MUST be shown for the shower of Shoite they are before the above is implemented, or else you can bet your bottom dollar we will be getting sub-inflationary pay rises for at least the next three years.... :-(
PS IMHO, I honestly believe we should be using RPI rather than CPI for pay settlements, the latter mainly consists of wide screen TVs and IPODs, plus a raft of other stuff that chav Brittania seems to thrive off, and very very little of the stuff we actually need to eat (or at least not weighted so highly by the ONS). You get very skeptical of these figures when you study these figures when you find out that things going down in price (consumer electronics mainly) are given a far higher weighting than stuff going up, such as oil, food, power and other household essentials. Do you know that the ONS actually INCREASED the weighting of gas in the CPI only as it started going down in value? Scandellous. Of course, we (the public sector) will all have to pay the price for Gordys ten years of wanton excess and spending to ensure that our deficit doesnt go any higher (it will) as a result of decreasing tax revenues and a potential recession. I would have much preferred IRs to have been increased significantly back in 2003 instead of saving the pain for now, but hey hum we have an independent Bank of England right?
