75ZT Community

Some of you will be aware that I work at the Defence College at Cosford where students are trained before being let loose on some of our more expensive military hardware.

Well, the group I have at the moment have just returned from 2 weeks duty at Royal International Air Tattoo. A long grind of a job they tell me but as well as that, it means they pass out as technicians 2 weeks later than they should, thereby effectively losing 2 weeks of the pay-rise they are due to receive upon successful completion of their course.

Today they were told that they are going to support the money-making racket which is the olympics, for a further SIX WEEKS, meaning that they lose, in total, two months worth if increased pay. In addition, most of them have overseas holidays booked for the first and second week in August which is when we close down for their Summer leave. Being students they have no choice but to take leave when the College dictates, so it now transpires that they will lose the money they've already paid for their holidays, and all thanks to a miserable slime-ball who thought he could get 10000 guards at a pay rate of £6 per hour and who, when questioned by Keith Vaz, insisted that the £57 million "management fee" he just picked up was "justified" because of all his "work" and wouldn't be relinquished.

It now appears that Theresa May told lies in Parliament the other day (there's a surprise) and in fact we now discover that she had known about the projected shortfall quite some time ago.

My students have been told to consider themselves lucky that they haven't just completed a tour in Afghanistan or have been made redundant. How's that for generating morale.

If the exigencies of war demand it, then our service personnel always have, and always will, step up to the plate, but this seems to me to be a case of mis-using them so that those who have made money in this debacle will continue to make money.

Britain is, at the moment, the laughing stock of the world, but do these people care? No, not so long as they are raking in the money.

Who would be a member of the armed forces these days?

Yes, it's a rant, but my students aren't allowed to rant, so I'm letting off steam for them.

Back in May 1982 I was detached to HQ RAF Srike Command, during a certain Operation Corporate.
During this period the RAF was expected to also maintain a number of committments to sporting events.

One such event was the annual Bisley Shoot. I was tasked to ascertain the total number of man hours that RAF personnel would expend in supporting this event.

When I told the Staff Officers that our committment was over 50,000 hours this did not mean too much, but when I told them that it was the equivalent of a single airman spending every hour of his 6 year engagement on support duties at a sporting event......moustaches bristled in indignation.

The powers that be still decided to fulfil the committment. Some things never change.

Welcome to the UK under the LibLabCon in 2012!

Unfortunately the sheeple are too stupid to vote for anything else!

Thats quite appalling,whatever happened to integrity?This whole Olympics debacle is turning into a complete sham.Goodness knows how we must be perceived abroad these days.Its such a shame,the Diamond Jubilee celebrations were looked on with admiration from overseas,I still feel we should not have bid for these wretched games.We do not have the climate let alone the room.I shall not go on,its all on the Internet...just Google "Olympic Problems".Your youngsters must be feeling gutted Paul,what can you say to them?When its all over I think the knives will be out..............as for G4S and that guy,just sums it all up I suppose.P.

The further this 'government's' term progresses, the more I'm convinced they are the most inept I've seen. The bungling of Abu Qatada's export (strange how all that's gone quiet isn't it), the appalling tenets of this year's budget and now the mess of the Olympics is asinine. The 'Opposition' are a frightening alternative as they lack the ability to add up, presenting a series of Economic paradigms where GDP magically expands to pay for everything. Currently their trumpeted 'Bankers Tax' will solve all known ills and get us to Mars by Xmas as well.

The poor lads and lasses of our 'armed' (what a joke) forces, are shot at everywhere, made redundant by email, and then expected a week before kick off, to act as sticking plaster for the logistical failure of this sawny bunch of substandard retards. Oh and also lets pay the idiots at Group4 in full of course at the same time. After all 'Bob the Barclay', gets £20 million for failure, so lets keep the ball rolling what.

In my lifetime I've seen Statesmen like Churchill, Macmillan, Thatcher, Wilson, Bevan etc. Cameron and Co leave me scared stiff as a contrast, - bows and arrows against the lightening!

David Croft couldn't have written a more chaotic and laughable script than that trotting out from Westminster every week at the moment.

I think the Bard foresaw this Government and it's financially inept predecessor when he wrote,'A Comedy of Errors'.

This is at the same time as other people are demanding and getting bonuses for carrying out their normal paid work.

Anyone for a game of darts ?

The concept of ‘fair’ is an underlying attraction of our democratic system and the early temptation is to blame the politicos for their ineptness, for their ham-fistedness, and for their lack of moral fibre. Others point to their blatant dishonesty, to their exclusive closeness to those with whom they went to school and have risen (or sunk) to prominence in business or finance. Unfortunately, due to a lack of honest, unselfish and honourable men, (it’s no good saying ’not all of them‘, they collude under whip duress) those accusations could be levied against politicos of all persuasions.

Someone once said ’democracy is the least worst option’. I’m not so sure of that. I don‘t think I‘ve heard all the options yet, someone is keeping the better ones secret. I believe the greatest attraction of democracy is that it gives us the means of holding the elected to account by having an election every 4 years. But I‘m afraid that‘s just another impostor. Holding them to account is exactly what we don’t do.

Disillusion with government has resulted in a vote rarely exceeding 50 % of the electorate. That means only 26% can ever get what they voted for! So most of us will continue to wring our Uriah Heep hands and have an inconsequential rant. Perhaps the Ranters’ Oak wasn’t such an anachronism after all. With the spread of e-media it’s becoming more likely that the ranters might eventually have some effect. So, keep on keeping on. And if you need any persuasion that peaceful non-striking collective action can produce results, I urge you to go to: www.38degrees.org.uk

One thing is for sure, though. It certainly is not fair.

So sorry, link was wrong, now corrected.

£6 an hour - where do I apply

Further to this, there was yet another harvesting of students today. One of whom has a wife who gave birth on Sunday. He, like the others, had been given one hour to go home, do his packing and return for briefing and transportation.

Anybody still of the opinion that this is anything other than a corporate money grabbing fest? A behemoth of unstoppable proportions.

I really feel sorry for the athletes. In my view they must surely know that their efforts run a very poor second to the main Raison d'être.

It is not fair and these students are expected not to complain, knuckle down and get on with it. I expect if anyone complains they will be marked down as a trouble maker.