bobbie

There is only one downside to this idea. 1) presumably it would be the less educated/wasters "send em awl bak gavner" members of our society that would do the cashing in...... 2) the imigrants go back home 3) The chavs - now have to do the work that the migrants did. Its a non starter

Probably SIV (ponds forge, hillsborough and concord). i just created another thread to make sure the classes were not to be cancelled.

Agreed outright with what you say. I just object to the term apprenticeship when it clearly isn't one. Take a plumber, a trainee may earn the minimum wage - an apprentice traineed one will earn 3 times that. A supermarket shelf stacker, a trainee will earn the minimum wage, a fully trained one will also earn the minimum wage

Has the time come to cut the overseas aid budget outright? In my mind if countrys from the 3rd world wish to spend money on weapons to create civil wars and kill one another, then they should pay for it and not expect the UK to contribute another penny towards their own orgy of death and destruction. The money should not go on corrupt dictators who make themselves rich, who in turn let their countrymen starve. Lets be right if the UK was hit by a massive earthquake or devastating floods, could we rely on countries like India to help us out - no, it will be an I'm alright Jack attitude With that money, we could develop an industry in this country, create jobs for all. Sell our goods to the world, create proper wealth creating industries that pay proper wages for our workforce, and get ourself out of the up and coming economic nightmare.

looking at changing gyms, anyone know if the venues at SIV will be retaining their fitness classes? Don't want to get tied up to a contract and they pull the classes. Seen on another thread the creche is shutting

I remember the 1980s, going into the castle market and was a haven of activity, I remember going to one of the fishmongers and nippling on a king prawn, or some cockles. Shame the place has gone downhill

The other danger that I would add by doing this, is the following. Shelf Stacking is a low skilled job, thats a fact - hence the reason the pay is not great. Our economy is mainly low skilled work (fast food, retail etc...) Whats to say that more apprenticeships won't be rolled out to other areas of work, rather than paying people the minmum wage to do the job?

Fact is - these are not apprenticeships, no way in this world or the next. They are a cheaper way of filling jobs - that is true. I do agree that its better to do something, than wait for your dole pay cheque at the end of the week and be kept by the taxpayer. But lets at least be honest and call these jobs what they actually are, and not pretend that they are an apprenticesip in any way shape of form

The conservatives are back in and job losses are rampant. Yet again, like before the conservatives get in and people lose their jobs. Its like the 1980s/1990s all over again, people are out on the streets, people are protesting. In the 1980s the miners rioted while drinking a cup of bovril to keep warm and in 2010, protesters keep warm with gingerbread latte from Starbucks. Is it the same old nasty torys, or are the torys simply dealing with the mess left by new labour?

Its like this, if you have a pet dog and the dog has two food bowls. You fill the 1st food bowl with dog food, and the 2nd bowl with budgie seed, I can guarantee that most dogs will choose the 1st bowl. Why does the dog choose the 1st bowl ? The dog in this case has a choice. You compare this to what youngsters face today, there are no apprenticeships and as such we have to give fancy names to jobs that are clearly unskilled - the young today have no choice 40 or 50 years ago, if you said to a youngster I will give you a choice "an apprenticeship to learn a trade such as plumbing, or an apprenticeship to learn a trade such as shelf stacking" - most youngsters would choose the skilled trade to do a 4 year apprenticeship in. 40 years ago we were more honest, I accept its not easy shelf stacking however its definatly not a skilled trade like plumbing? why ? because a skilled shelf stacker will be lucky to earn £7 an hour tops, whereas a skilled plumber could probably name his price. I guess if the youngsters of today had a choice - many would opt for a skilled trade

Well theres no wonder many businesses are fiddling their books to avoid paying the correct amount of tax

Temp work Part time work - zero hours contracts All introduced by new labour

That was introduced by New Labour. Come on, place the blame where its due.

Its pretty wrong though danny11, people who don't work who are better off than those who work their fingers to the bone

Don't know who brought it in, but many people enjoyed certain perks of their jobs thanks to flexible workers who didn't enjoy job security