Clarkson and Overreacting

[Swagger187]

Clarkson is a hero. His comments were brilliant and clearly weren't too be taken seriously.

 

[pingwing]

 

[Macky]

Who cares? If you do care, don't.

 

[Abraham]

and he's best mates with the idiot running the country, coincidence?

no, two completely unrelated things both being true aren't coincidence, they're just things...

That's like me saying "it's my birthday in april, the sky is blue, coincidence? "

Firstly Clarkson is an asset to the BBC, financially if not by reputation, secondly he made a joke actually at the BBC's expense, not at the expense of the strikers, who he hasn't actually passed any judgement on, just saying that he didn't know anyone in a position to strike.

If you don't like him, fair enough, nobody is forcing you to, but in this instance he's not done anything wrong, and I'm not sure what you're trying to imply is a result of him being friends with Cameron.

 

[Trifid]

It's not a money pit. What winds people up is them getting things like 23% of salary pensions. And when these are, unsurprisingly I might add, cut to a slightly more realistic value of around 12%... they kick off and start striking. It's ridiculous. 12% is still a ******* awesome rate of employer contribution. Private sectors folks generally have either no pension contribution at all from their employer, or if they do it is likely to be something between 2 to 6%.

PS: The 23% and 12% figures come from a friend of mind that works in public sector, and are directly relating to his own.

The NHS pension is 14% employer contributions, which is very high. However the employee contributions are quite high too, currently 6.5 and looking at being increased to 9.7.

What I don't get is how some peoples pensions are so low in comparison?

A pension based upon the average of the best 3 years remuneration out of the last
10 of service, divided by 60 and multiplied by the total years and days of
pensionable service. The maximum pension is based on 45 years of pensionable

I make that, as if you max out the years of contribution, which is possible for a nurse starting at the age of 21 and working up to the retirement age without carer breaks, they would retire on nearly 3/4 of their salary.

 

[Vonhelmet]

Being essential to the country doesn't stop public services being a cost centre. They, by and large, do not generate income. You're being a little over-sensitive if that statement offends.

I'd be genuinely curious to know whether any of them generate income. I don't really see how they could.

Well, short of something like HMRC, but that's a bit of a cheat.

 

[FishFluff]

I suspect most people aren't genuinely offended, they just want the **** to not be on the telly anymore.

 

[Vonhelmet]

I suspect most people aren't genuinely offended, they just want the **** to not be on the telly anymore.

You know what those people should do?

TURN THE BLOODY TELLY OFF.

 

[Skillmister]

I suspect most people aren't genuinely offended, they just want the **** to not be on the telly anymore.

Oh no i didn't realise he was on every channel 24 hours a day.

 

[Glaucus]

Brilliant just spotted this in the other thread

But Clarkson told the Times that he had informed the One Show's production team of the details of his joke. A BBC spokeswoman said last night: "Jeremy had a meeting with a One Show producer before appearing, as is standard for all guests. The meeting is to cover the topics that will be discussed and the expectations the show has around issues such as tone and balance, and it was made clear where those boundaries lay."


http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/dec/01/jeremy-clarkson-david-cameron-strikes

 

[buchtis]

Really is embarrassing how easily people get offended these days. Seems that the slightest joke is taken as an insult these days, no doubt the people crying have high blood pressure and rosy cheeks.

 

[Vonhelmet]

Brilliant just spotted this in the other thread

Indeed. As far as I'm concerned it's pretty much entirely the fault of the producers for not saying "Hmmm, maybe not the best plan, some simpleton might misunderstand your satire and complain".

 

[Skillmister]

Complaints up to 21,000. Miserable illegitimate offspring.

 

[semi-pro waster]

I'd be genuinely curious to know whether any of them generate income. I don't really see how they could.

Well, short of something like HMRC, but that's a bit of a cheat.

I guess it depends how you're defining it but something like IPS is essentially self-funding (or aims to be except for a few select functions such as the General Registry Office) based on passport fees so although it shouldn't be making a "profit" (departments or agencies "have a surplus" but it's effectively much the same thing) it isn't actually costing the taxpayer anything except to those who actually utilise the service for a passport - that would be the case for anyone purchasing a service from a business though generally. Ordance Survey is one where it's entirely self-funding and does turn a profit as far as I'm aware but it's a slightly different category of organisation.

 

[GJM]

I can't really understand people.

It was blatantly a joke, even if he did cross the line a teeny weeny bit, he did not mean any of it literaly.

You would have thought that this was all self evident, but the rest of my office this morning can't seem to see that, one had complaned and they were all saying he should go / spend a day in the shoes of a nurse etc

 

[Gilly]

why do people always assume the public sector is just a money pit

Because it is

why because you sir are an idiot!

Did you just call an Admin an idiot?

without the public sector this country wouldn't work!

Wrong, it'd just be done cheaper by private sector companies

without the public sector the services would be run by the private sector. The country would continue to work, the public sector have a hugely inflated opinion of themselves and how important they are to the country

It'd be done much cheaper and with much leaner processes too.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Agree with Gilly.


Absolutely. If one company done-goofs it another will step in its place. Naturally, over time, the best company or entity for a certain need will be found.

 

[spudbynight]

Same here. While I agree this should just have been ignored (don't feed the troll), the fact remains he is an idiot on a ridiculous salary paid by the tax payer, so who is he to talk?

In fairness Clarkson came up with the new format of Top Gear which brings in far more cash to the BBC than it costs to make.

 

[Dave M]

Absolutely. If one company done-goofs it another will step in its place. Naturally, over time, the best company or entity for a certain need will be found.

Only if the consumer has a direct contract with the provider. If the company is being paid by the treasury I'd have no more faith in them caring what I thought of them than any public sector worker. Quite possibly less.

You could for instance give every rates payer a discount for not having their bin collected but could you then go and find a company who would do it for less? Frankly the most efficient way of collecting bins is doing every house in the street - a monopoly. I'd be amazed if a private company in competition with others could do it cheaper.

 

[Optimus Prime]

What is it... 300 Million odd viewers of Top Gear worldwide? (verify?)

"Sorry everyone, Jeremy told a joke which made the unions cry, so we had to let him go..."

It just would not happen. It's all just the unions finding another excuse to bang on about public sector woes. Everyone is in the brown stuff at the moment- just the private sector is more... private? about it!