Yup. Bang on. Even President His Toniness doesn't try and get re-elected on the strength of his 'success' in sorting out problems in Sierra Leone, he has to show his constituents that he has actively helped their lives, or at least has some proposition for doing so.
Any politician displaying ten years of sliding living standards while enhancing the position of his own nose in the trough is usually ejected a lot more quickly than Mr. Darke. Mind you, even His Toniness wouldn't try and slip in a General Election un-noticed, accompanied by an election broadcast from John Prescott telling us all what good guys they are. Nor would he get away with using public funds for his own propaganda, or his legal fees.
I only hope and pray that the sentiment displayed here is, in fact a reflection of what our members think at large. I wholeheartedly agree with the case for BA being the UK benchmark. I can tell you first hand that their remuneration, or lack of, was used by our lot (BRAL) in the days before we were bought over as an excuse for our own paltry payrises. Now we are part of BA, what do we get? Again, comparisons with BA basic rates. Unless you are upwards of pay point 20, you would have to rely on allowances to boost your salary above ours (now BACE), and this too is commonly used by our management to keep us down.
John has my vote.