Not a blinkered view at all!
Nor do I think I am a hero - I have clearly indicated that I owe society a debt, and that I am reasonably well paid...BTW you wrote private sector workers when you meant to write public sector.
I have not claimed that all public sector workers are hard working or dedicated. Nor did I claim that private sector workers don't work hard or are not dedicated - but within the private sector the motivation is often for different reasons.
What level of pensions are you talking about when you say this country can't afford them?
I have already pointed out that not all public sector pensions are the same. The old NHS scheme paid a maximum of 50% of final salary after 40 years service - The Police pension paid 60% of final salary after 30 years service - so let's not lump them together! (The police did pay a higher % of their salary for their pension)
If you look at the NHS pension scheme it did and still does pay a surplus to the treasury every year and has done for years.....so it IS affordable.
Again you suggest that my claim of being headhunted is a bleat...even though I have already acknowledged that I am reasonably well paid and many people would be understandably envious of my terms and conditions!
You also suggest that there would be a difficulty recruiting if pay and conditions were poor.....go and look in your local hospital and see where the nurses come from. Here in Norfolk about a 3rd of the qualified nursing staff were recruited from Portugal, Spain or the Philippines because until recently (when this government started making huge cuts to the NHS budget.....they call this "Cost improvements") hospitals could not recruit enough nurses.
So to summarise....
I do not think public sector staff are all heroes.
I do not think public sector staff are badly paid.
I do not think that all public sector pensions were sustainable without being reviewed.
However I also KNOW that not all public sector staff have Gold Plated pensions....
I do strongly believe that this government is playing divide and conquer and responses such as yours show that they are succeeding.
No good getting all touchy when someone picks you up on what was a crass statement to make imo.
Re pedantic observation of private vs public error. My bad and thanks for letting me know. Horsehair jacket donned and I'll get the Good Lady to administer 50 lashes later tonight.
My local hospital appears to be staffed with UK nationals. Sadly I have to visit regularly so I do know about this from personal experience.
Re cuts: about time too in some areas. The unit I visit has a 1 nurse attending each consultant on duty whose sole function appears to be the sitter-downer and door opener. They also have 1 nurse whose sole job appears to be weighing patients. Additionally they also have a nurse whose function is to take the computerised slip from the auto check-in unit and put it in the little perspex box by each consultants door. Great use of quite expensive staff.
BTW the auto check-in unit was supposed to provide savings in staff numbers in the OP reception. The same staff are still there 1 year on
3 years ago I had to spend 5 days in an eye hospital ward - 4 patients in each night inc' me and 3 nurses on the ward who spent the whole night chatting quietly and reading books.
Don't get me wrong, I think the NHS provides a good service and that some employees have very tough jobs but efficient it isn't.
I don't think that this government is playing divide and conquer at all. I'd say it is dealing with a public sector cost that is not sustainable in the current climate.
