The whole crap about the huge hike in AM's pay seems to miss an important point. AM's have not had an 8% pay rise, they have had a 1.9% rise.
National Assembly Members are paid a percentage of MP's salaries. MP's salaries have gone up by 1.9%, so AM's salaries have gone up by 1.9% too.
The rest of the so called increase is a grade change. Like if you are a staff nurse and become a sister or a PC who becomes a sergeant , or a teacher who becomes a head, you get more pay because of your promotion.
AM's, because of the Government of Wales Act 2006, have been promoted from 75% MPs to 82% MP's. They haven't had a huge pay rise, they have gone up a pay grade!!!
Westminster parliamentarians seem to be the most vociferousness complainants about our AM's pay rise. Which is understandable, because if AM's are doing 82% of what use to be an MP's job, shouldn't Welsh MP's be paid just 18% of their current salaries?
Indeed, as Westminster MP's are doing so little, wouldn't it be best to get rid of the bloody lot of them and save 40 x 100% MP saleries?
PS: Nice to see Plaid's usual suspects make a stand on their percived socialist issue of AM's pay. Shame they didn't make a stand on the nationalist issue of money for a Welsh language newspaper - after all Plaid AM's are paid for being, at least 82% nationalists!
Showing posts with label MP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MP. Show all posts
11/03/2008
07/03/2008
Whats the point of Parliament?
I don't often have the opportunity to follow full parliamentary debates, so like most I depend on the news and political programs' sound bites to inform me about what has happened in Westminster.
On Wednesday and Thursday of this week circumstances enabled me to watch two full debates from start to finish.
Yesterday I listened to the International Womans' Day debate. Many contributers from all parties noted that one of the difficulties in attracting females to become MP's was the image rather than the reality of parliament. It was a good debate, excellent points made by 99% of the contributers. But yet, the reports on the debate showed a rather catty exchange between Harriett Harman and Theresa May, adding to the bad image of the House – showing the House at its “Macho” worst rather than the reasonable best that was evident in most of the debate.
On Wednesday I listened to the European Referendum debate. As I have mentioned in other posts I am not keen on the way that referendums are used in the UK, but, on the other hand parties made promises and promises should be kept, so I was undecided in listening to the debate. Good points were made by both sides and I found myself being swayed too and thro' during the whole six hour exchange, which is what a good exchange of views should do.
But I listened to the whole debate - most MP's didn't.
I came to the conclusion, based on what was said on both sides, that I would have voted for the referendum, if I had a vote. Again most MP's didn't vote on the argument; they voted according to the way that they had been instructed to vote before the debate had even taken place, which makes one wonder what on earth the point of holding a six hour debate was? The end result would have been the same after a six second debate!
When people laud British parliamentary democracy, and claim that it is the best in the World; that an independent Wales would suffer without it, I have to ask Why? Surely Wales can do better than this!
On Wednesday and Thursday of this week circumstances enabled me to watch two full debates from start to finish.
Yesterday I listened to the International Womans' Day debate. Many contributers from all parties noted that one of the difficulties in attracting females to become MP's was the image rather than the reality of parliament. It was a good debate, excellent points made by 99% of the contributers. But yet, the reports on the debate showed a rather catty exchange between Harriett Harman and Theresa May, adding to the bad image of the House – showing the House at its “Macho” worst rather than the reasonable best that was evident in most of the debate.
On Wednesday I listened to the European Referendum debate. As I have mentioned in other posts I am not keen on the way that referendums are used in the UK, but, on the other hand parties made promises and promises should be kept, so I was undecided in listening to the debate. Good points were made by both sides and I found myself being swayed too and thro' during the whole six hour exchange, which is what a good exchange of views should do.
But I listened to the whole debate - most MP's didn't.
I came to the conclusion, based on what was said on both sides, that I would have voted for the referendum, if I had a vote. Again most MP's didn't vote on the argument; they voted according to the way that they had been instructed to vote before the debate had even taken place, which makes one wonder what on earth the point of holding a six hour debate was? The end result would have been the same after a six second debate!
When people laud British parliamentary democracy, and claim that it is the best in the World; that an independent Wales would suffer without it, I have to ask Why? Surely Wales can do better than this!
20/07/2007
Why the royals don't buy toilet roll
David Jones MP is almost onanastic about the fact that some minor royal visited his constituency today. By his own admission it's the first time that any royal has been arsed to do so in almost 200 years
But despite being ignored by the royals for almost two hundred years Colwyn still has a Royal Hotel, a Princess Drive and a statue of the Princess of Whores in its shopping centre. Why?
If no so called Royal has been bothered to grace the town with a visit for 184 years, and the best that they can do after such a long disinterest is to send the 569th in line to the throne, shouldn't the local representative of the people be telling them where to stuff their Royal Disinterest, rather than kissing their backsides and fawning loyalty to those who, clearly, couldn't give a fiddler's f*** about his constituency or his constituents?
But despite being ignored by the royals for almost two hundred years Colwyn still has a Royal Hotel, a Princess Drive and a statue of the Princess of Whores in its shopping centre. Why?
If no so called Royal has been bothered to grace the town with a visit for 184 years, and the best that they can do after such a long disinterest is to send the 569th in line to the throne, shouldn't the local representative of the people be telling them where to stuff their Royal Disinterest, rather than kissing their backsides and fawning loyalty to those who, clearly, couldn't give a fiddler's f*** about his constituency or his constituents?
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