Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[invergowrie arab]

Is it just me utterly unconcerned whether or not 10k people with Glasgow postcodes get into Hampden?

Would love nothing more than a full Hampden, full pubs and fan parks across Glasgow but I doubt that's what's on the table.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

1 minute ago, invergowrie arab said:

Is it just me utterly unconcerned whether or not 10k people with Glasgow postcodes get into Hampden?

Would love nothing more than a full Hampden, full pubs and fan parks across Glasgow but I doubt that's what's on the table.

Just wondering, why in the face of the adult population being vaccinated and effective treatments aren’t you bothered by the prospects of restrictions well into july etc?

[invergowrie arab]

1 minute ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

Just wondering, why in the face of the adult population being vaccinated and effective treatments aren’t you bothered by the prospects of restrictions well into july etc?

That's a completely different question.

Whether I agree or not, I don't, I don't see the Scottish Govt making a decision this month to commit fully to going with the latter.

[RH33]

3 hours ago, Tynierose said:

I won't be holding my breath that's for sure.  In my twenty odd years doing the job what have I seen...

Retirement age rise twice,  Increased pension contributions for less actual return,  recurrent attack on terms and conditions,  a public sector pay freeze,  years of below inflation rises,  increased registration costs for a useless governing body, increased union costs for organistations interested in well themelves really.  

The only way to ensure yourself of a decent rise is to work your arse off in your own time, get as many qualifications as you can and get promoted several times.  Otherwise your average health care worker is onto plums, especially the non qualified staff on lowest wages, it's them I really feel for.  I don't include medical staff in this as they have plenty of bargaining power, fair play to them.

In respect of nurses they're their own worst enemy, on one consultation with unions which an issue that attacked pensions and retirement age a proposal was made about strike action.  This was a life changing issue but alas only 18pct of members actually even bothered to apply so no mandate available.  Idiots.

Our two biggest unions were shouting their mouths off about 12-16pct pay rises, having seen at close hand how inept and useless they are it's no surprise to see 1% in England and up here we will see, we will probably get 3% after further consultation.     Governments are fully aware of the lack of militancy in healthcare and the duty of care many feel so they from their perspective quite rightly capatalise on this.   Little pats on the head and thank yous do not reward staff or pay the bills.

Staffing levels continue to drop, the amount of people leaving or planning to change career is rising and its no surprise really.   Long hours, stressful job, increasing workloads, verbal abuse most days, there has to be easier things to do and I can honestly say I wouldn't recommend a career in healthcare to any young person considering it.

 

 

The EiS are good at mouthing off and holding gov to randsom. 
 

I’ll now get piled on by the teachers on here.

[NorthernLights]

One of the Nurses unions are wanting 12.5%.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56288237

[Have some faith in Magic]

1 hour ago, craigkillie said:

This has almost certainly come from the SFA, not the Scottish Government.

 

Not when the organisation who is leaking the story to you doesn't want people to know it has come from them. A soft leak like this is less damaging for them. Chris McLaughlin is a useless journalist who has a fascination with seeking out negative stories about Scottish football, but he does not just pull these things out of thin air. Almost every story he runs involves some organisation playing him like a fiddle to get their particular narrative out to the public. This will be the case here, and I'd be fairly sure the SFA are behind it. The story as a whole has come from UEFA via their set of friendly journalists, and then the SFA have leaked their position to McLaughlin to put pressure on.

It's 100% obvious the quotes are from an SFA gimp like Daryll Broadfoot. 

[PWL]

UK Gov have created a monster of their own making. Praise NHS and make them all out to be heros and saviours to deflect attention from the disaster that was unfolding. But don't follow through with cold hard cash when the magic money tree is open elsewhere. 

For what it's worth. I don't think nurses are horrendously paid compared to national averages - especially with option to bank or overtime. My Mrs is a Band 6 so at a reasonable level and is constantly offered shifts on top of her ordinary role.  But it is a skilled job with huge responsibility at times and now requires a degree etc.

With the T&T debacle and cash getting spunked to Tory chums, the genie is out of the bottle with pay deals across entire public sector. 

[101]

This might be very stupid but I'm going to ask anyway. Part of the Excluded UK people who have received no financial support from the Government this appears to be getting corrected for most, however owners and I think directors who paid themselves in dividends won't get support, but my understanding is they do this to pay 7.5% tax rather than the higher rates of income tax. Is this not a very much live by the sword die by the sword issue? 

Or have I got that completely wrong?

[Salvo Montalbano]

The EiS are good at mouthing off and holding gov to randsom. 
 
I’ll now get piled on by the teachers on here.

Not wanting a pile on, but the EiS are seen as being the teaching Union which are least likely to ask for more from government (they have sided with COSLA in the most recent three or four rounds or negotiations, and since they have more seats than the other Unions combined the more militant Unioms such as the NASUWT have complained about the way they do things; IIRC the NASUWT is still officially on a "Work to Rule" whereas the EiS told members that there were no more outstanding grievances). Anyway, like I say no pile on intended. I think the EiS still being the biggest Teaching Union means they get most coverage which may mean you automatically associate them with being quite militant when they usually fold like a cheap deckchair.

[Caledonian1]

1 hour ago, virginton said:

And UEFA are now demanding those guarantees in March again instead, to present their executives with an organised fait accompli at their meeting in April instead. 

But good luck filing your gormless 'Glasgow says aye/naw' pledge next month, when UEFA have already autofiled anything from Scotland in the bin where it belongs. 

Eh, all the reports still suggest an April deadline for Scottish Governent to come back with a plan - can you issue a link that confirms that "UEFA are now demanding those guarantees in March"

[Thereisalight..]

3 hours ago, Paco said:

The Scottish Government should really be able to commit to whatever UEFA want the crowd to be, and it concerns me that they won’t. We’ll be the joint-most vaccinated country in Europe at the time, personally I don’t see a full-house being a problem but for ‘safety’ we can categorically say 10-20k would be no hassle. We can impose any sort of criteria for attendance - fully-vaccinated, partially vaccinated, lateral flow tests, whatever we fancy.

They can also of course coat a commitment in all sorts of caveats, as every other host nation will be doing. It surely won’t be much of a surprise if some games end up behind closed doors at a late stage. But a vague commitment to 10,000 fans who live in Scotland shouldn’t be a problem at all at this stage. We could hand-pick 10,000 fully vaccinated people out the population right now for the qualifier against Austria this month, if we had the desire to.

I’m pretty sure it’ll all work out fine, but if there’s any truth to it, it does concern me a bit. Johnson’s public bullshit about the end coming was always undermined by extensions of furlough, and the public bullishness of ministers right now is undermined a touch by seemingly refusing to commit to small crowds in June.

This sort of talk for event months away needs binned. The most vulnerable and elderly will be double vaccinated by then. If there is 10k there they will have 5 seats around them to themselves, they’ll probably be wearing a face covering and outside! The sanitised (no pun intended) experience we saw at the rugby test event and Aberdeen /Ross County is not my idea of a pleasant day out. Throw in the fact they’ll probably be banned from singing or shouting as well. If the SG allows games at Hampden they should be a normal match day experience  (albeit with less fans) 

[Elixir]

Quote

Posted at 11:51

UK through the worst, says expert

BBCCopyright: BBC

The UK will need to live with a "substantial" degree of Covid deaths - but the worst seems to be over, a government scientific adviser has said.

Prof Andrew Hayward, from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, said death rates could come to resemble those for winter flu.

Speaking on Times Radio, he said deaths "will get less over time as more people get vaccinated, and as more people get immune, and I do believe that we've been through the worst of this".

"We will get back to normal," he added.

Asked about new variants of Covid-19, Prof Hayward said vaccines will be able to "take the sting out" of them.

"We have the technology to update the vaccines and I think that's where we're going really, a situation that will be much more like flu," he said.

@NicolaSturgeon @JeaneFreeman @JasonLeitch @DeviSridhar @LindaBauld

    

[latapythelegend]

5 minutes ago, PWL said:

UK Gov have created a monster of their own making. Praise NHS and make them all out to be heros and saviours to deflect attention from the disaster that was unfolding. But don't follow through with cold hard cash when the magic money tree is open elsewhere. 

For what it's worth. I don't think nurses are horrendously paid compared to national averages - especially with option to bank or overtime. My Mrs is a Band 6 so at a reasonable level and is constantly offered shifts on top of her ordinary role.  But it is a skilled job with huge responsibility at times and now requires a degree etc.

With the T&T debacle and cash getting spunked to Tory chums, the genie is out of the bottle with pay deals across entire public sector. 

A friend of mine is comfortably making 25k in her role (can't remember which band but she isn't in any supervisory role) and as you say the offer for overtime is always there. It's hardly as if they are on minimum wage. It's a comfortable position with good job security.

Not for a second saying it is an easy profession however and I can only imagine the strain of the last year has had on them. 

[NotThePars]

39 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said:

Is it just me utterly unconcerned whether or not 10k people with Glasgow postcodes get into Hampden?

Would love nothing more than a full Hampden, full pubs and fan parks across Glasgow but I doubt that's what's on the table.

My cousin and his GF both have a pair of tickets that I might be able to snaffle so shove it up your ass!

Edited March 5, 2021 by NotThePars

[Left Back]

13 minutes ago, NorthernLights said:

One of the Nurses unions are wanting 12.5%.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56288237

So in principle there will be very few people that disagree nurses should get paid more.  It's basic supply and demand stuff.  We have a shortage of nurses and therefore they have to be paid more to retain/recruit more.  Of course if we weren't wasting another £15bn on track and trace then a decent payrise could be put in for the NHS.

That being said wild asks like this don't help.  Every other public sector organisation would then think we'll have some of that as well and the whole thing spirals out of control. 

 

[latapythelegend]

42 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said:

Is it just me utterly unconcerned whether or not 10k people with Glasgow postcodes get into Hampden?

Would love nothing more than a full Hampden, full pubs and fan parks across Glasgow but I doubt that's what's on the table.

 Regardless of how they do it, priority should still go to fans in the SSC - even if that means people who have got tickets through UEFA are refunded. 

I don't think they could limit to local fans - it will be UK based fans only. 

[Left Back]

12 minutes ago, 101 said:

This might be very stupid but I'm going to ask anyway. Part of the Excluded UK people who have received no financial support from the Government this appears to be getting corrected for most, however owners and I think directors who paid themselves in dividends won't get support, but my understanding is they do this to pay 7.5% tax rather than the higher rates of income tax. Is this not a very much live by the sword die by the sword issue? 

Or have I got that completely wrong?

You're correct.  They pay themselves in dividends to pay substantially less tax.  It's a pretty widespread tactic among contractors.

[The Moonster]

4 minutes ago, latapythelegend said:

A friend of mine is comfortably making 25k in her role (can't remember which band but she isn't in any supervisory role) and as you say the offer for overtime is always there. It's hardly as if they are on minimum wage. It's a comfortable position with good job security.

Not for a second saying it is an easy profession however and I can only imagine the strain of the last year has had on them. 

They deserve more than that regardless of job security. They could get a ferry across to Ireland and earn about £10K more than that. 

[Steven W]

Sturgeon still fixated with case numbers.

Followed by Leitch doing the same at length.

I despair

Edited March 5, 2021 by Steven W

[D.V.T.]

666 people in hospital now - Covid being sent to hell.