Gnat the Beggar wrote:Thats crazy prices for a 450 mile train trip.

Thats the UKs rail network for you... I guess its almost the length of the country as opposed to a small state in the US!!  

It may be that I'm in Basingstoke and the location is around 30ish miles NW of Aberdeen.. I guess it could work booking in advance, although tbh, £50 train fare, taxi fares, hotel for a night (at least) and fuel, probably wouldn't work out that much less than 180 sheets to get it collected and delivered and probably less hassle...

But you're right, leave it til the day and the train service shafts you,  thanks for looking Malc

Just a bunch of lazy ass locals whinging about a factory closure. If they got of their arse and got on with their lives, maybe they'd end up with better educated and more successful children. This is the type of poor mentality that drags a country down.

at the risk of stereotyping    isn't it more a fact that they are losing their local supply of whisky....  

Yeah. The problem in the UK is that most poorly educated lazy AHs do not understand either basic economics or the nature of running a business. Hense they remain both lazy and poorly educated and teach that way of life to their children. "If it's good enough for my dad, it's good enough for me." The general expectation in society's lower classes in the UK is that they are entitled to a living regardless of how willing they are to work for it. They do not believe in freedom or equality the way they do in the US. They believe that UK born and bread means they're entitled, and in my experience employing large numbers of workers, British working classes are amongst the laziest and most outspoken libertarians on the planet. If you close factories and lay off thousands of staff, inevitably the scum rises to the top and you can identify it. The good staff will work diligently and hard behind the scenes, and be back in work in no time. This is a damn good way of shedding dead wood, and if some end up living in poverty for a long time, maybe, just maybe, one or two children will think, "I don't want to be like my dad."

We need to educate people better in the UK. We need to stop dumbing down education and teaching kids to the standard of the slowest and densest in the class. I meet some really smart kids who have a real passion for learning, but neither their parents nor their schools do anything to help or encourage them.

You can't do anything to help the parents. They choose to live the way they do. But you can help their children.

SoulCatcher78 wrote:Sounds like the company just wants some additional tax benefits (and to get rid of a tenured work force) to fix their sagging bottom line.

New definition of "sagging"? http://www.talkingretail.com/news/indus ... enges.html
Not as though the government sees much of that, either; http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009 ... nie-walker

Running roughshod over history and (long,) long-term employee loyalty is pretty good business nowadays, anyhow.

ashmire13 wrote:Do they do that for every company that fails or for everyone that is made redundant? No, thats just the banks...

Only for the upper echelons thereof, perhaps? The lower ranks still get a miserly salary or outsourced abroad. (Heck, like they should complain. Back in my day....   )

The governmemnt's responsibility should not extend to helping out the lazy and the feckless. Whether that's sone AH banker who finds himself without a job, or some lazy ass factory worker who could never be arsed in life. No-one should be entitled to handouts or propping up by the state. Success is a natural developement of education, timing and hard work. If someone cannot be arsed learning the basics of how to live a life, they should be left to rot with the rest of the garbage. We certainly should not be asking the successful hard working population to feed and care for the lazy and the stupid. What ever happened to evolution? Society cannot evolve unless you allow the useless to perish in leau of more talented individuals.

No amount of liberal or socialist politics or ideology has ever managed to get any society to operate successfully. You will notice that it is the 'down troden' (read useless, worthless and stupid) that gravitate towards socialism, with the possible exception of a few who believe they can exploit the idiots for personal gain.

It's about time these people grew up and started taking responsibility for their lives and the numerous offspring they spawn. Funny how they can all afford cigarettes, alcohol, cellphones and Sky TV, but they can't get off their arse and don't know what a good day's work is. Maybe if they weren't paid to sit on their arse they'd grow a spine and a pair of balls.

I know for sure my wife wouldn't put up with that sort of laziness from me, but then she has morals and wants a good life for her kids. I just cannot seem to relate to people who don't want either.

. wrote: and if some end up living in poverty for a long time, maybe, just maybe, one or two children will think, "I don't want to be like my dad."

We need to educate people better in the UK. We need to stop dumbing down education and teaching kids to the standard of the slowest and densest in the class. I meet some really smart kids who have a real passion for learning, but neither their parents nor their schools do anything to help or encourage them.

You can't do anything to help the parents. They choose to live the way they do. But you can help their children.

I see what you're saying and unfortunately it's all too true. I would however place the lions share of the blame on the shoulders of the parents. The two schools I have involvement in (the ones my kids are at - strange that!) are doing their level best  by all the kids who attend but are pretty much banging their heads against a brick wall as far as a certain section of the student-base is concerned. I have recently had long conversations with my sons head of year (year 8, he's 13) and I frankly find it amazing that teachers even bother getting up in the morning - the hoops he needs to go through as regards to disciplining kids who are frankly lost causes simply beggars belief - how is it that the crap kids enjoy (wrong word) a huge ammount of the teachers time and effort when they don't want to be there in the first place - sickening. You have to look at the parents - the discipline and work ethic is often non-existent - lets face it society owes the parents a living, so why shouldn't it owe their scumbag offspring a living as well - some people just shouldn't be allowed to breed.

The sad thing is, most of my dealings in school are with the lower end - reception/year1/year2 (about 4-6 year olds to you Americans). I help out in classes, hearing reading, doing trips and activities etc, and it makes my heart bleed to see kids from crap families absolutely crying out for attention, putting their heart and soul into everything and hanging on every bit of praise and encouragement. But you know that when you read with the kid the next week the book won't even have been looked at at home, there will have been no support and encouragement, and sooner or later the child will just give up - to be,sadly, one of those kids at senior school that the teachers are spending so much time on.

I know 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree' and those working with children know this - they can only do so much and just hope the occasional one breaks the cycle - it happens, not often, but it does - Perhaps there is a reason for teachers to get up after all!!

Sorry for the formless rant - feel free to ignore it