Scottish Parliamentary Elections May 2021

[Todd_is_God]

19 minutes ago, Salt n Vinegar said:

I think that if PE, football, rugby etc are free for pupils, music should be too.  I never learned much about music at school and it is one of my big regrets. 

Leaving aside the fact that exercise is healthy and absolutely key to reducing the number of overweight pupils, you could apply this logic to anything currently not on the curriculum.

20 minutes ago, Salt n Vinegar said:

Who sets the charges for these? Isn't it the Councils? 

The highest cost is in Clackmannanshire - an SNP run council.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

47 minutes ago, GordonS said:

While she was working at a well-known call centre my sister-in-law had to use annual leave to get chemotherapy. 

Free music lessons are fantastic. If football is free at school then so should music tuition. Apart from all the other benefits, music is a big employer in the UK.

Thats genuinely disgusting. Ive been a manager for a few years now and just cannot fathom why that’s in anyway even remotely acceptable. Staff should be looked after, thats your job as a manager, get that right and everything falls into place. Surely treating someone that disgustingly is constructive dismissal??

[Salt n Vinegar]

1 minute ago, Todd_is_God said:

Leaving aside the fact that exercise is healthy and absolutely key to reducing the number of overweight pupils, you could apply this logic to anything currently not on the curriculum.

The highest cost is in Clackmannanshire - an SNP run council.

All the better then if the charges are to be abolished if the manifesto commitments are implemented!

[Todd_is_God]

1 minute ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

Thats genuinely disgusting. Ive been a manager for a few years now and just cannot fathom why that’s in anyway even remotely acceptable. Staff should be looked after, thats your job as a manager, get that right and everything falls into place. Surely treating someone that disgustingly is constructive dismissal??

Just because something is morally wrong doesn't make it against the law, unfortunately.

There are plenty managers out there who view employees, particularly in (and I hate this term) "unskilled" jobs, as expendable and easily replaced.

[Todd_is_God]

3 minutes ago, Salt n Vinegar said:

All the better then if the charges are to be abolished if the manifesto commitments are implemented!

[madwullie]

1 hour ago, oaksoft said:

BTW, I do like the fact that the forum filters out the word "b*****d" but "fucking" is fine.

Test: c**t, bollocks, ***, fanny, vagina, arsehole, tit, anal, creampie, cum, cock, dick and a final one for the gallery - Tory.

Post test comment: Hmmm. Interesting.

Not as interesting as how high creampie appeared on your list of first to be reached for inappropriate words  

Edited April 15, 2021 by madwullie

[Glen Sannox]

1 hour ago, Stormzy said:

I'm currently an undecided list voter. It's between the Tories and Labour. The more I see of the leaders I'm leaning towards Labour but I'm very apprehensive. 

Likewise, this Greensill debacle has lost the Tories my vote, I despise this Prime Minister. I’ve voted Tory every opportunity since the 83 election. Enough is enough. I’m seriously considering giving Labour my list vote. 

[Ludo*1]

2 minutes ago, Glen Sannox said:

Likewise, this Greensill debacle has lost the Tories my vote, I despise this Prime Minister. I’ve voted Tory every opportunity since the 83 election. Enough is enough. I’m seriously considering giving Labour my list vote. 

Who are you giving your constituency vote?

[John Lambies Doos]

I'm not in the job anymore and it was private sector (call centre) but I got pay docked and multiple disciplinaries after having an unblemished record for handing in an updated sick note a few days late when my dad was terminally ill. It really opened my eyes to how callous some employers could be when before then I was naively unaware of such practices. Left on the spot. 

Thats horrendous, glad you told them to f**k off

[Glen Sannox]

10 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

Who are you giving your constituency vote?

I’m in Edinburgh Western so it’ll need to be the odious Alex Cole-Hamilton. I’ll be holding my nose while doing so. 

[invergowrie arab]

2 hours ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

Not getting this, ive got the ability to authorise compassionate leave for people under ‘special leave’ fully paid, is it the case in other public sector workplaces that this wouldnt happen? Its good to have these things enshrined in law but any manager who would actually expect someone back at their work in those circumstances is an absolute arsehole of the highest order. 

They might not expect them back but would be expected to record the absence which may count against the employee if there have been other absences. 

I can authorise 4 days and then it's sick leave. If you start to hit sickness absence triggers then it all starts to get a bit shitty.

Sad to hear your kid died. Why not come back next week when you are feeling better.

[Detournement]

1 hour ago, Todd_is_God said:

Just because something is morally wrong doesn't make it against the law, unfortunately.

There are plenty managers out there who view employees, particularly in (and I hate this term) "unskilled" jobs, as expendable and easily replaced.

In my experience there are managers who think acting on the harsh side of any decision will reflect well on them even if the company guidance means they can be flexible.

Kapo attitude.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

31 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said:

They might not expect them back but would be expected to record the absence which may count against the employee if there have been other absences. 

I can authorise 4 days and then it's sick leave. If you start to hit sickness absence triggers then it all starts to get a bit shitty.

Sad to hear your kid died. Why not come back next week when you are feeling better.

Ah ok, for once maybe my organisation may be leading the way then. Im basically allowed to put as much special leave through as I can justify (it is scrutinised but my team are a great bunch etc so its never really questioned), when it hits a couple of weeks they might look for a doctors note but even then its full pay.
As for other absences after 4 absence periods in a year you hit an attendance support mentor meeting but if someone’s quite obviously been ill (like sent home) or had a bereavement then its not a concern. 
What ive found this approach does is actually mean people very rarely take time off sick and are always keen to get back and be at work. 
I had someone with a seriously ill child with life limiting disabilities and the effort the guy made to not miss work was astounding, obviously he got all the time he needed and he responded by working his arse off when he was here, managed to get him a move very close to home eventually. 

[invergowrie arab]

Just now, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

Ah ok, for once maybe my organisation may be leading the way then. Im basically allowed to put as much special leave through as I can justify (it is scrutinised but my team are a great bunch etc so its never really questioned), when it hits a couple of weeks they might look for a doctors note but even then its full pay.
As for other absences after 4 absence periods in a year you hit an attendance support mentor meeting but if someone’s quite obviously been ill (like sent home) or had a bereavement then its not a concern. 
What ive found this approach does is actually mean people very rarely take time off sick and are always keen to get back and be at work. 
I had someone with a seriously ill child with life limiting disabilities and the effort the guy made to not miss work was astounding, obviously he got all the time he needed and he responded by working his arse off when he was here, managed to get him a move very close to home eventually. 

Now I come to think of it I had this happen once and whilst it was recorded as sickness absence it didn't count towards triggers as it was classified as being pregnancy related.

However, in principle I can give folk 4 days before it's sick leave, including one woman who's son hanged himself over Xmas.

You would have to be off for over a year and have no plan in place to come back before they actually sacked you. However you would go down to half pay after 6 months.

 

[GordonS]

2 hours ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

Thats genuinely disgusting. Ive been a manager for a few years now and just cannot fathom why that’s in anyway even remotely acceptable. Staff should be looked after, thats your job as a manager, get that right and everything falls into place. Surely treating someone that disgustingly is constructive dismissal??

I don't think so, and in any case winning a constructive dismissal case at tribunal is a grinding, expensive 2-3 of years of your life that you'll never see again, while in the meantime you have to find a new job and explain what happened at your previous one.

We think things are much fairer now, and mostly they are, but then you see British Gas trying to fire and rehire nearly 1,000 engineers. Hundreds of them refused to sign new contracts with three extra unpaid hours a week and shifts on weekends and bank holidays without overtime, so they've been fired. 

[Todd_is_God]

2 minutes ago, oaksoft said:

What would you consider a higher priority than investing in kids and dealing with ingrained inequality?

We've just seen how unable to cope our health service is. It needs heavy investment.

The exams fiasco last year highlighted how big the education gap is. We need more schools and teachers to reduce classroom sizes.

There's 2 for starters.

Kids cycling to school to learn to play the trumpet is all well and good, but it's not the priority.

[John Lambies Doos]

We've just seen how unable to cope our health service is. It needs heavy investment.
The exams fiasco last year highlighted how big the education gap is. We need more schools and teachers to reduce classroom sizes.
There's 2 for starters.
Kids cycling to school to learn to play the trumpet is all well and good, but it's not the priority.

Well considering that health conditions relating to obesity are going through the roof then I'd say cycling to school might not be a bad idea.

[GordonS]

2 hours ago, Todd_is_God said:

I mean it used to be. It only became non-free under the SNP.

However that wasn't really the point. Are these the best uses of public funds right now?

IMO yes, it's not all that expensive and the rewards are significant. For some kids it's the difference between enjoying school and not. It's fantastic for kids with special needs, West Lothian has a brilliant percussion programme. It's one of those silver bullet things. I would look to do it cheaper than it's been done before however, they could set up arms-length charities to deliver it.

My son did violin and then cello through school, it was free at first but the fees they introduced were hefty. I'll not get the benefit of this but others will.

You can blame the SNP if you want. I blame 13 years of austerity and 10 years of Conservative governments. Game's about opinions.

Huge variation at local authority level, from Dundee (SNP council) offering it free to West Lothian (Labour council) charging £354 a year, which is taught in groups yet is almost the same price as private individual tuition.

https://www.improvementservice.org.uk/news/december-2020/instrumental-music-services-results-of-the-ims-survey-2020 

[Todd_is_God]

9 minutes ago, GordonS said:

IMO yes, it's not all that expensive and the rewards are significant. For some kids it's the difference between enjoying school and not. It's fantastic for kids with special needs, West Lothian has a brilliant percussion programme. It's one of those silver bullet things. I would look to do it cheaper than it's been done before however, they could set up arms-length charities to deliver it.

My son did violin and then cello through school, it was free at first but the fees they introduced were hefty. I'll not get the benefit of this but others will.

You can blame the SNP if you want. I blame 13 years of austerity and 10 years of Conservative governments. Game's about opinions.

Huge variation at local authority level, from Dundee (SNP council) offering it free to West Lothian (Labour council) charging £354 a year, which is taught in groups yet is almost the same price as private individual tuition.

https://www.improvementservice.org.uk/news/december-2020/instrumental-music-services-results-of-the-ims-survey-2020 

If it "isn't that expensive" then why can some councils not afford it now? It's clearly been cut back for a reason. The current price is per instrument too. With no additional tax income, how will the SG make up the difference in council budgets whilst also covering their breakfast and lunches scheme, bikes scheme, tablet scheme, free dental care, and 4% pay rise for nhs staff?

I don't deny these things would be nice to do, but coming out of a pandemic, with a healthcare and education system needing serious investment, I don't see how they can deliver all of it without some severe cutbacks elsewhere.

Edited April 15, 2021 by Todd_is_God

[Salt n Vinegar]

The arts, obviously including music, are and can be a huge earner for individuals and the country.  Festivals like Celtic Connections, Edinburgh International and Fringe, Film, Theatre, Opera, countless mucic events and, favourites of mine, the National Mod and Provincial Mods - and more - are hugely important.  Spending on the arts is an investment. Normalisation of the arts among the young is part of that.