you certainly live up to your name as it must be 'Paradise' where you are ! You must be at an age where choices are available and job-hopping is a possibility - I am currently on a two-day week shortly to e reduced to one-day week for a few months tlll orders hopefully pick up - with my 58 th birthday approaching what choices do I have ? who wants a 58 year old ?
You're right,life isn't fair but you just have to get on with it but how can your average young couple get on that first rung when the banks will only lend the money if a big enough lump sum can be found which is just a distant dream for many kids today.The 'credit crunch' has a lot to answer for so why should banks be allowed to just give money away ? that's what contributed to our current problems a few years ago ! Money was too easily available and look at where we are now ? Just getting on to the first rung of the job 'merry go round' is becoming more difficult for the record levels of unemployment in the under 25s - Employers want 'experience' if you can't even get a job how can you get an income to pay off a mortgage ? or ever hope to put down any kind of deposit ? How many banks will give you a 100% mortgage nowadays to those lucky enough to have work ? You can't expect banks to give away money to no-hopers ? the latest scheme to use the parents or grandparents as guarantors sounds a disaster waiting to happen.
I can't see any light at the end of the tunnel and I don't have a problem with directors payoffs or 'fat cat' bosses - that's only jealousy by the masses who wouldn't give a toss about the rest if they received the same amounts,good luck to them...

There is already a scheme in place to underwrite 95% first time buyers mortgages, it follows the successful Homebuyer scheme which the current Government stopped and has now done a rebadge on (absolutely not a u-turn though) [urlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15817982[/url

Problem is that within four weeks of that announcement the FSA announced this [urlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16246210[/url which completely contradicts the message given out by Government that buying not renting is good.

It would be awfully nice if some leadership could be brought to bear and we all started p[iissin[/ig in the same pot.

Yes, but balance sheet valuations do fall - as evidenced by major property companies getting into difficulty by breaching covenants - so companies that are not just massaging their positions by voluntary, timely revaluations, actually do book downward revaluations ('losses' if you like) to revaluation reserve.

The only property that tends to have inherent long-term value is the land a building sits on. Then, the land value depends on realistc usage - and in many areas (eg upland areas) it's on little value and has probably not appreciated in real terms in centuries.

[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16378577It's going to be okay. The Olympics and the jubilee will, err, get us back on track.[/url

Strange innit?

A couple of million public sector workers go on strike and it costs the country a fortune. Yet when the vast majority of the country are enjoying an extra day's holiday, that's seen as a benefit.

Strange indeed, now you mention it.

Will this be the most expensive advertising campaign in history? The PM seems to be suggesting that if these two events go well, something else will follow. A sort of 'if you do it well, they will come'.

Will businesses suddenly look at the UK in a different light and decide to set up here? Will millions more tourists suddenly make this their chosen destination?

At the prices they are likely to be charged in London, from hotel rooms down to a can of fizzy pop from a street vendor, I doubt it somehow.

I'm going to ask my contact in the Thomsons Holiday Shop to keep an eye on the slashed prices for holidays abroad during the Olympic three weeks this summer, if he can find a bargain like he found for us this (last) year then I'll have his arm off again.

Looking at the dates, I suspect we'll be out of the country too. Fortunately, it actually coincides with when we want to be in France this year for a specific festival.

It's going to an absolute nightmare otherwise. We're in the 'Olympic borough'. Traffic is bad enough at the best of times, but with all the bus/taxi lanes to be given over to Games traffic alone, it would be chaos getting to and from work for starters.

.

How very succinct

talking rubbish as usual

should have been a '-' and not a '.'

Instead of starting a new thread ...

[url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-penny-finally-drops-pay-people-properly-and-you-will-get-better-results-6283794.htmlMore from those dastardly unions, campaigning on things that help to raise productivity – who do they think they are?[/url

I couldn't see anything of substance in that article (other than a headline). Have you read her article? What does it conclude?

One snippet:

Mintball, who did KPMG introduce it for? The Secretaries get alot more than the living wage and I suspect the postroom staff would too. The professional staff are way, way above it (even new recruits). Ditto Goldman Sachs!! In other words, those that have signed up are generally those who were paying it anyway. The exception being the public sector - and you know where they got their money from (and they are now paying with their jobs). All in all, a bit of a non-story.

Do those you mention do all their own cleaning, cooking etc?

If YOU had bothered to read the article, you may have come across this little snippet:

[iAlec Stevenson, 48, East London

Works 37.5 hours a week as a kitchen porter for KPMG, earning £8.35 an hour. He has been in catering for more than 15 years and remembers working 17-hour days to make ends meet.

"When I started working, I was paid £5.50 an hour and used to work from 7am until midnight. Having more than £2 extra an hour has motivated me and allowed me to rent a bigger room in a safer area."[/i

Oh for goodness sake, Coddy: you expect Dally to actually read things - never mind show a basic comprehension of what he might have read?

Sorry but I blame you for not linking to a Dally Wail story. You might have had to make it all up but it's not something that's stopped them in the past

Just because a company is rated "blue chip" among those who admire the large corporate headquarters and imagine that all is fine and dandy within their walls, it doesn't mean that they won't have a huge number of employees on minimum wages, or that they employ via a third party huge numbers on minimum wage - not every one who works in a blue chip accountants or lawyers is on six figure salaries, or even salaries at all.

So, about 5 people out of a a workforce of several thousands in the UK! As I said, inconsequential in cost terms to KPMG, Goldman Sachs, et al.

Where do you get "about 5" from?

Sarcasm. But, the reality is that numbers of such staff are very small in relation to overall numbers on the payroll.

The reality – and the point – is that a relatively small increase in pay to the lowest-paid employees makes a positive benefit to the business as well as to the employee/s.

I appreciate that may be the case in some instances, although I doubt whether the well-being of a few kitchen porters will have any discernible impact on the overall results of a major accountancy and consultancy business.

IMO the main reason KMPG, Goldman Sachs and certain banks will have signed up - is that the cost to them will be negligible and its cheap publicity and positive PR.

And possibly mitigating the chance of a disgruntled KP pis[is[/iing in the brown windsor