On Oct 18, 7:06*pm, Graham P Davis wrote:
Scott W wrote:
On 18 Oct, 15:33, Tudor Hughes wrote:
On Oct 18, 1:55 pm, "Colin Youngs" wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8312999.stm
Colin Youngs
Brussels
Selling off the Met Office would pay for about one minute of
Trident. *Penny wise pound foolish, as ever.
Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.
I thought it had already been part-privatised - with costs cut to the
bone when they moved to Exeter and changed the sign from the
distinctive weather cock to that daft series of wavy lines.
As Tudor says it is a drop in the ocean in terms of money saved for
the Exchequer - the Tories making political capital out of a story
that sounds a lot bigger than it really is.
From Liam Fox's comments, I think he's ignorant as regards to the Met
Office's status. Whether or not the Office is privatised, the MOD would have
to pay for their products - as they do now - and other government
departments and commercial bodies would pay for theirs - as they do now. I
may be missing something but I don't see the benefit - apart from the
bookkeeping showing fewer civil servants on the MOD books. A bit like both
parties have done for ages in finding ways to call the unemployed by another
name so the numbers look better.
--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks., UK. *E-mail: newsman not newsboy
"I wear the cheese. It does not wear me."- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
That last sentence rings a bell with me. In 1999-2000 I was
offered Disability Benefit for a mild disorder, which I refused,
though it was tempting but I ceased to receive the Dole, or whatever
they called it then. I got a job fairly soon so all was well. If you
get Disability Benefit it does you no good if you are actually fit
because it tends to make you think of yourself as a semi-invalid.
There is the money, of course, not exactly a king's ransom. Thus I
was removed from the unemployment figures whilst being unemployed and
not really ill.
Reading between the lines, or simply the figures, it is not
difficult to discern that this process takes place on a vast scale and
is fundamentally dishonest. Either that or we're a nation of fragile
invalids. Not a party-political point. They both cheat if it suits
them.
Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.