The UK today.

I was thinking about this earlier. We live now in a place where Rylan, who clearly can't sing, is made famous overnight. Our kids think the X Factor is a passport to success and being a WAG is a career choice. We have people on Jezza who don't have a CLUE who their child's father is, are high on drugs/drink and have never worked a day in their lives but we parade them on the telly for our "entertainment" (and I watch it to, so I'm as guilty as the next person) and then you have programmes like 999 What's your emergency? which shows that there really are some people who seem to be beyond help.

And then we have the flipside. We had a fantastic summer showcasing our home grown Olympians. We had a winner at The TdF. We have our first grandslam tennis champ for 80 years. We have so much to be proud of and yet someone is still buying heat magazine.

What state do you think this nation is REALLY in right now? I'm a bit confused.

LIVERBIRD wrote (see)

I was thinking about this earlier. I now live in a place where Rylan, who clearly can't sing, is made famous overnight.

We have people on our street who don't have a CLUE who their child's father is, are high on drugs/drink and have never worked a day in their lives

And then we have the flipside.

We have so much to be proud of and yet they wont let us buy the French version of Closer magazine.

As always I'm a bit confused.

Whilst I agree with your first comments, I think my version above is better

LOL JP!

You don't REALLY think she's packing much in the bra department do you?

LB - I have seen the pics, nothing special, BUT its a freedom of speech issue, why can the rest of the world see them but we cant - wether she should have been photographed is another issue!

You missed off your earlier post that Gangsters, dealers and football stars get celebrity status and that anyone who works hard running a multi national business gets slated if they actually earn a decent salary

DId you watch that programme the other night about the guy who wants to cut exec pay? James Caan was trying to explain that you HAVE to pay good money for good people but this guy had decided they should turn up and be CEO for a hotdog and their bus money home....

Someone did once say that if we wanted decent people running Government they should be paid the types of salaries that they could get in private business. It always seems ludicrous that the CEO of a county counicl can be paid more than the Prime Minister!!!!

£142,500 for DC.

It's a quarter of what Chris Moyles got for his breakfast show isn't it?

£65,738 for an MP. No wonder they're all a bit shit.

and the disparity between their earnings and their perceived social status is what encourages them to fiddle their expenses.

to be fair many MPs hold down other jobs, or are directors of companies, and earn a decent crust outside of politics. Some also turn to politics after earning a fortune in business, and so are attacted by the power and influence rather than the money.

Which is why when I rule the world they will be paid FAR more, can buy their own stuff from John Lewis and they'll all have to sign a "we're exclusively for our constituents" clause in their contracts. I don't think they should work elsewhere. Done properly, it's a full time job.

LIVERBIRD wrote (see)

DId you watch that programme the other night about the guy who wants to cut exec pay? James Caan was trying to explain that you HAVE to pay good money for good people but this guy had decided they should turn up and be CEO for a hotdog and their bus money home....

And if they work for a charity they ought to pay for the priviledge of doing so! 

Quite Wilkie! Imagine wanting a salary? Cheeky gits!

yes.there are doing such a brilliant job that we sghould pay them so much more...........then they can afford better accountants to manage their expenses and their directors ship jobs,.and their backhanders and the freebies etc etc.........

then maybe we could make tye svings on reducing the minimum wage more.............the people that clean our hospitals and look after our kids in nurseries and when they are at playgroups.........they don't deserve £6 an hour..........they could manage on much less

There's good and bad everywhere (profound me today)

If they were paid a decent salary, with no allowance for expenses, there would be no expenses to fiddle.

As LB says, make it an exclusive contact - no outside directorship or consultancies - and pay a decent salary to attract good people.

Well I don't watch the x-factor so don't know who these people are until they get number 1  - I don't know what Jezza is, don't read tabloids or women's magazines but did take my children to the Olympics.

So , as far as our family is concerned it's been a great year (apart from the rain unfortunately).  I think you should stop watchin such rubbish tv and maybe the world might seem a little brighter (even if it is just an illusion).  Unfortunately I do still read the news but war, death and destruction has ever been with us so nothing new there then.  (switch over and watch strictly - much happier tv)

I do confess to wincing a bit when David Cameron met Mitt Romney and I thought about the disparity in their incomes. Whilst a lot of MP's would appear to be pretty uneducated and down right stupid (witness the latest health secretary who doesn't appear to know much about anything never mind basic biology) I did think that our PM sitting there running our country on less than Mitt's horse groomer probably gets was a bit incongrous.

I think MPs should be paid a lot more, £65k compared to other public sector workers theyre on the same as the likes of a police inspector or deputy head?

Trouble is after the expenses scandle theyve ruined any chance of getting a fair payrise.

(Just posting again to unsibscribe from the mail feed)

As you were.