Having read many threads in the forums some concerning serious matters and others concerning much, much, less serious matters I though it might well be the ideal place for me to do a little research before a Toad starts a political career and let you guys and girls respond with your thoughts and feelings to mine. Yes I have not forgotten I am an older person maybe wisdom has come with age maybe I have just become a grumpy old Toad…hehehe
So there now follows the Toad’s version of the state of The Pond’s Society speech or a possible party political thread and manifesto from the Toad party…hehehe
In a recent thread concerning defending oneself, I felt it was important to note that those with military service and those trained in or involved in any form of martial art, should realise that they would be treated quite differently both by the police and the justice system regardless as to whether or not the have just left the services or left the services some 20 or 30 years ago or stopped practising martial arts other than a little Tai Chi for fitness reasons.
As I have already said I believe most people would defend their families and themselves as best as they could. The criminals appear to attack in gangs and seem to me at least to mainly attack older people.
Then there was the thread concerning the death penalty, in the Pond we have policing by consent however it appears to have either completely failed in its job or broken down totally and it is for that very reason that I am in favour of much harder punishments and a very much harder prison regime. The alternative scares the pants off me as the only alternative is vigilante groups or people taking the law and punishment into their own hands.
Just look at how many politicians appear to most people to have got away with dodgy expense claims and yet very few have been punished for it. When I went to school we would have called such dodgy expense claims fraud and all those caught would have gone to prison for a very long time but not in recent times they seem to have just covered almost everything up and changed how they do their claims to make it virtually impossible to catch them out.
When those at the top of the country are seen to be breaking or at least bending the law so much how can anyone really expect those at the bottom with tiny incomes and little or no hope for their futures and poor education to do anything other than resort to crime.
Just look how often in the last 5 years we have heard about people getting away with fiddling money from their employers both public and private and what punishment do they get a minimal custodial sentence at worst. Yet at the same time we hear of old age pensioners being sent to prison for not paying the exorbitant council tax they have been charged.
Even with the recent dismissal of one Lily Pad leader from her £219,000.00 salaried position her replacement is still earning more than the Prime Toad. Why?
I personally do not believe any county council leader should earn more than our Prime Toad nor should any local council head/leader earn more than half what our Prime Toad earns. Please do not think for one moment that I am suggesting that our Prime Toads salary should be raised I am saying that is in my opinion all the heads and leaders of Ministries, county councils and local councils should earn less than our Prime Toad and have considerably reduced pensions. I also do not understand why when these people are sacked, or found to be committing some criminal action they receive enormous pay-offs and huge pension pots. If this was the average taxpayer he would be sent to jail yet they are sent of with a few hundred thousand pounds severance pay and more in their pension pot as a payoff than the average worker can hope to save in a lifetime (read the Taxpayers Alliance website, its quite illuminating)
Now let us consider the bail out of the banks yes I have heard and do fully understand the Governments reasons for bailing out the various banks, but hey! What happened about bailing out all the average people who over the years may have mucked up their personal finances? Did the Government or the Banks help them? Of course they did not instead they prosecuted them, they persecuted them and/or increased charges and costs. People who have not been living high on the hog and playing big business or gambling with other peoples money - I never heard of them getting bailed out now that does not sound very fair to me, nor does rewarding dodgy and/or poor working practices with enormous bonuses usually many times the years salary of the average tax payer. Funny its just capitalism when the average person gets charged by their bank yet when the banks fail. Oh dear! The Government and us the taxpayers have to fork out to help them continue to receive their large salaries and over inflated bonuses and bow down to their erroneous ego’s.
Now we have areas in the Pond where one child in every 4 or 25% of all children in some areas are living under the poverty threshold or to be more basic are terribly poor and deprived of what most of us would consider a normal standard of life and living. Yet our Government is still giving our money to countries that often misuse it or do not need it. What is wrong with this picture? We are not helping our own first. Why?
I recently heard accusations that the leader of one country we are giving aid to bought themselves a private/presidential jet, although the leader of that particular country denies it. While another country is said to be building a internet banking network and giving free mobile phone banking to its people. Why are we giving these countries aid?
Some members of Pond’s Government have said it is to help all the mobile phone users in one country have access to a bank as they have phones but do not have bank accounts. Why? If the banks want a mobile phone internet banking network they should invest in it not us. Will we get a share of the profits from a system/network we are paying for? Don’t be silly, yet again we are supporting banks and bankers.
I think its long past time that the Pond stopped giving aid overseas and long past time those in Government started looking after the people of the country they were elected to serve.
We also have teachers, very upset at possible cutbacks in their numbers and possible reductions in their salaries coupled with a possible decrease in their pensions. Yet these are the same teachers who have and are failing to educate our young. Why? Don’t get me wrong – there are some excellent and dedicated teachers out there. There are also some who are a load of total wasters who are more interested in doing least work for least effort and having improper relationships with the children and youths they are supposed to be looking after. In industry and private commercial workplaces if you don’t produce, don’t attend and don’t follow certain work and moral codes you are out so fast your feet don’t touch the floor and it should be the same for all public employees – the same public employees who are paid for us. We pay them, and they should be accountable to us just as we are accountable to the person who pays our wages.
I have had a look at the reality of the situation and this is how I see it. During the time period of the last 15 years the number of people employed by the Pond’s national and local Government has increased by over a third, figures which include the reduction in The Pond’s armed services. Why?
In my opinion it appears to be simple, people empire building, nepotism, unnecessary paperwork dreamed up by those employed who are superfluous to real requirements yet have no real public serving job and nothing else to do and downright laziness.
I then looked at their pensions and had to ask myself a question. These people have been in secure jobs where they are paid on average at least a third more than they would receive in the private sector and with better conditions. With the comfort and security of knowing that if they muck thing up the public will just have to foot the bill and they will never ever be held accountable for their actions. Yet upon retirement, often at a younger age than those in the private sector can consider, these public Pond servants and local and national Pond Government employees will retire of much higher pensions than their counterparts in the private sector. Why?
Teachers have failed to properly educate our children, youth and young adults and the proof of that is the increasing number of school leavers who are lacking or at least severely hampered with both literacy and numeracy.
In my opinion the answer is simple scrap both the salary structure and the pensions of those public and civil servants who have been living on the backs of the Pond’s taxpayers. So instead make their salaries match the private sectors salaries and increase the pensions of everyone to a realistic and liveable level, I am tired of hearing and seeing old age pensioners struggling. Should there be people who are public and civil servants and employed by the local and or national Pond Government who have climbed up the hierarchy of management then they can if they so choose pay money into a pension fund to receive a higher pension upon retirement. None of them have worked for or deserve a higher pension just because they are teachers, public or civil servants or are or have been employed by the local or national Pond Governments, some of whom have done good jobs but some of whom have been little more than parasites on the back of the Pond’s public for years.
The Ponds Government and council employees have, despite their rhetoric, done well in the ratio of pension payments over the last few decades as for the vast majority of people working in industry final pension schemes went out in the 1980’s and they have had to make what contributions they could to a pension scheme whilst their taxes were grabbed from them for payment into final salary schemes for Government Mandarins and Council Jobsworths. I don’t forget what used to be the more lowly council workers such as cleaners and refuse disposal workers – they have long since been contracted out of the Gravy Train, and just earn a lowly wage working as sub-contractors. (Check) For every £5 you pay in council tax, between 20% and 33% goes towards some bureaucrats gold-plated protected pension plan which probably pays more per year in pension than you even earn. Yet what is he/ she producing – waffle, red tape, flummery and often fraudulent activity on one level or another. I wouldn’t mind so much if I thought it was helping out the bloke who clears away my rubbish for minimum wage, or the lollipop lady, or the school cleaner but no such perks for them and they are first in the line for wage or hour cuts.
The Pond has one of the few governments in the world which would sooner give money away overseas to other ponds than help its own people, including those people who as pensioners now gave or risked their very lives for this country and for the wounded and damaged servicemen and women who still offer their all for this country up to this very day and come back damaged in both mind and body to not a “land fit for heroes” but to cardboard boxes on the streets of our towns and cities.
Hearing that the Police are selecting their recruits on a gender bias, rather than a fitness one seems to me to be ludicrous. Now is the time for the police to really get to grips with cost cutting, just looking at the number of police officers who retire early through ill health or injuries and considering the costs of all those early retirements. Anybody with the smallest modicum of intelligence must ask. Why are police officers allowed to ignore their fitness and disrespect their health and bodies in a job that in reality require quite a high level of fitness, which in turn is known for improving mental capabilities?
I would suggest police officers should all and by that I mean every rank, be as fit as Marines in the Pond’s army. In fact all of our emergency service personnel should be as fit as regular servicemen and servicewomen.
After all we are constantly being told we are too fat and out of condition by many of those in authority or positions of assumed respect, then let those who are in authority and positions of respect lead us towards being a fitter nation by example.
To voice any objection to this suggestion would in my opinion declare the objector as being totally indifferent and uncaring for the rest of society and in particular all those pensioners who have already served their country as workers and taxpayers and are now in need of their country treating them with the respect and care they deserve.
So that just leaves me to say:
I hope that has made many of you smile and perhaps even laugh, things other than pure angling have been getting a little too serious lately...well in my opinion...hehehe
So there now follows the Toad’s version of the state of The Pond’s Society speech or a possible party political thread and manifesto from the Toad party…hehehe
In a recent thread concerning defending oneself, I felt it was important to note that those with military service and those trained in or involved in any form of martial art, should realise that they would be treated quite differently both by the police and the justice system regardless as to whether or not the have just left the services or left the services some 20 or 30 years ago or stopped practising martial arts other than a little Tai Chi for fitness reasons.
As I have already said I believe most people would defend their families and themselves as best as they could. The criminals appear to attack in gangs and seem to me at least to mainly attack older people.
Then there was the thread concerning the death penalty, in the Pond we have policing by consent however it appears to have either completely failed in its job or broken down totally and it is for that very reason that I am in favour of much harder punishments and a very much harder prison regime. The alternative scares the pants off me as the only alternative is vigilante groups or people taking the law and punishment into their own hands.
Just look at how many politicians appear to most people to have got away with dodgy expense claims and yet very few have been punished for it. When I went to school we would have called such dodgy expense claims fraud and all those caught would have gone to prison for a very long time but not in recent times they seem to have just covered almost everything up and changed how they do their claims to make it virtually impossible to catch them out.
When those at the top of the country are seen to be breaking or at least bending the law so much how can anyone really expect those at the bottom with tiny incomes and little or no hope for their futures and poor education to do anything other than resort to crime.
Just look how often in the last 5 years we have heard about people getting away with fiddling money from their employers both public and private and what punishment do they get a minimal custodial sentence at worst. Yet at the same time we hear of old age pensioners being sent to prison for not paying the exorbitant council tax they have been charged.
Even with the recent dismissal of one Lily Pad leader from her £219,000.00 salaried position her replacement is still earning more than the Prime Toad. Why?
I personally do not believe any county council leader should earn more than our Prime Toad nor should any local council head/leader earn more than half what our Prime Toad earns. Please do not think for one moment that I am suggesting that our Prime Toads salary should be raised I am saying that is in my opinion all the heads and leaders of Ministries, county councils and local councils should earn less than our Prime Toad and have considerably reduced pensions. I also do not understand why when these people are sacked, or found to be committing some criminal action they receive enormous pay-offs and huge pension pots. If this was the average taxpayer he would be sent to jail yet they are sent of with a few hundred thousand pounds severance pay and more in their pension pot as a payoff than the average worker can hope to save in a lifetime (read the Taxpayers Alliance website, its quite illuminating)
Now let us consider the bail out of the banks yes I have heard and do fully understand the Governments reasons for bailing out the various banks, but hey! What happened about bailing out all the average people who over the years may have mucked up their personal finances? Did the Government or the Banks help them? Of course they did not instead they prosecuted them, they persecuted them and/or increased charges and costs. People who have not been living high on the hog and playing big business or gambling with other peoples money - I never heard of them getting bailed out now that does not sound very fair to me, nor does rewarding dodgy and/or poor working practices with enormous bonuses usually many times the years salary of the average tax payer. Funny its just capitalism when the average person gets charged by their bank yet when the banks fail. Oh dear! The Government and us the taxpayers have to fork out to help them continue to receive their large salaries and over inflated bonuses and bow down to their erroneous ego’s.
Now we have areas in the Pond where one child in every 4 or 25% of all children in some areas are living under the poverty threshold or to be more basic are terribly poor and deprived of what most of us would consider a normal standard of life and living. Yet our Government is still giving our money to countries that often misuse it or do not need it. What is wrong with this picture? We are not helping our own first. Why?
I recently heard accusations that the leader of one country we are giving aid to bought themselves a private/presidential jet, although the leader of that particular country denies it. While another country is said to be building a internet banking network and giving free mobile phone banking to its people. Why are we giving these countries aid?
Some members of Pond’s Government have said it is to help all the mobile phone users in one country have access to a bank as they have phones but do not have bank accounts. Why? If the banks want a mobile phone internet banking network they should invest in it not us. Will we get a share of the profits from a system/network we are paying for? Don’t be silly, yet again we are supporting banks and bankers.
I think its long past time that the Pond stopped giving aid overseas and long past time those in Government started looking after the people of the country they were elected to serve.
We also have teachers, very upset at possible cutbacks in their numbers and possible reductions in their salaries coupled with a possible decrease in their pensions. Yet these are the same teachers who have and are failing to educate our young. Why? Don’t get me wrong – there are some excellent and dedicated teachers out there. There are also some who are a load of total wasters who are more interested in doing least work for least effort and having improper relationships with the children and youths they are supposed to be looking after. In industry and private commercial workplaces if you don’t produce, don’t attend and don’t follow certain work and moral codes you are out so fast your feet don’t touch the floor and it should be the same for all public employees – the same public employees who are paid for us. We pay them, and they should be accountable to us just as we are accountable to the person who pays our wages.
I have had a look at the reality of the situation and this is how I see it. During the time period of the last 15 years the number of people employed by the Pond’s national and local Government has increased by over a third, figures which include the reduction in The Pond’s armed services. Why?
In my opinion it appears to be simple, people empire building, nepotism, unnecessary paperwork dreamed up by those employed who are superfluous to real requirements yet have no real public serving job and nothing else to do and downright laziness.
I then looked at their pensions and had to ask myself a question. These people have been in secure jobs where they are paid on average at least a third more than they would receive in the private sector and with better conditions. With the comfort and security of knowing that if they muck thing up the public will just have to foot the bill and they will never ever be held accountable for their actions. Yet upon retirement, often at a younger age than those in the private sector can consider, these public Pond servants and local and national Pond Government employees will retire of much higher pensions than their counterparts in the private sector. Why?
Teachers have failed to properly educate our children, youth and young adults and the proof of that is the increasing number of school leavers who are lacking or at least severely hampered with both literacy and numeracy.
In my opinion the answer is simple scrap both the salary structure and the pensions of those public and civil servants who have been living on the backs of the Pond’s taxpayers. So instead make their salaries match the private sectors salaries and increase the pensions of everyone to a realistic and liveable level, I am tired of hearing and seeing old age pensioners struggling. Should there be people who are public and civil servants and employed by the local and or national Pond Government who have climbed up the hierarchy of management then they can if they so choose pay money into a pension fund to receive a higher pension upon retirement. None of them have worked for or deserve a higher pension just because they are teachers, public or civil servants or are or have been employed by the local or national Pond Governments, some of whom have done good jobs but some of whom have been little more than parasites on the back of the Pond’s public for years.
The Ponds Government and council employees have, despite their rhetoric, done well in the ratio of pension payments over the last few decades as for the vast majority of people working in industry final pension schemes went out in the 1980’s and they have had to make what contributions they could to a pension scheme whilst their taxes were grabbed from them for payment into final salary schemes for Government Mandarins and Council Jobsworths. I don’t forget what used to be the more lowly council workers such as cleaners and refuse disposal workers – they have long since been contracted out of the Gravy Train, and just earn a lowly wage working as sub-contractors. (Check) For every £5 you pay in council tax, between 20% and 33% goes towards some bureaucrats gold-plated protected pension plan which probably pays more per year in pension than you even earn. Yet what is he/ she producing – waffle, red tape, flummery and often fraudulent activity on one level or another. I wouldn’t mind so much if I thought it was helping out the bloke who clears away my rubbish for minimum wage, or the lollipop lady, or the school cleaner but no such perks for them and they are first in the line for wage or hour cuts.
The Pond has one of the few governments in the world which would sooner give money away overseas to other ponds than help its own people, including those people who as pensioners now gave or risked their very lives for this country and for the wounded and damaged servicemen and women who still offer their all for this country up to this very day and come back damaged in both mind and body to not a “land fit for heroes” but to cardboard boxes on the streets of our towns and cities.
Hearing that the Police are selecting their recruits on a gender bias, rather than a fitness one seems to me to be ludicrous. Now is the time for the police to really get to grips with cost cutting, just looking at the number of police officers who retire early through ill health or injuries and considering the costs of all those early retirements. Anybody with the smallest modicum of intelligence must ask. Why are police officers allowed to ignore their fitness and disrespect their health and bodies in a job that in reality require quite a high level of fitness, which in turn is known for improving mental capabilities?
I would suggest police officers should all and by that I mean every rank, be as fit as Marines in the Pond’s army. In fact all of our emergency service personnel should be as fit as regular servicemen and servicewomen.
After all we are constantly being told we are too fat and out of condition by many of those in authority or positions of assumed respect, then let those who are in authority and positions of respect lead us towards being a fitter nation by example.
To voice any objection to this suggestion would in my opinion declare the objector as being totally indifferent and uncaring for the rest of society and in particular all those pensioners who have already served their country as workers and taxpayers and are now in need of their country treating them with the respect and care they deserve.
So that just leaves me to say:
YOUR TOADY NEEDS YOU!
VOTE FOR TOADY
ONE TOAD – ONE VOTE –
I’M THE TOAD GIVE ME THE VOTE!
VOTE FOR TOADY
ONE TOAD – ONE VOTE –
I’M THE TOAD GIVE ME THE VOTE!
WATATOAD
FOR
EL PRESIDENTE
GRANDE SUPREMO
FATHER
OF HIS
COUNTRYSHIP
FOR
EL PRESIDENTE
GRANDE SUPREMO
FATHER
OF HIS
COUNTRYSHIP
I hope that has made many of you smile and perhaps even laugh, things other than pure angling have been getting a little too serious lately...well in my opinion...hehehe
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