If anybody feels strongly that Councils should not be allowed to charge extra, on top of existing Council Tax, for emptying rubbish, they may want to check out the new Taxpayers Alliance 10 Downing Street petition on the subject.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/AxetheBinTax/#detail
I shall sign because we already recycle as much as we can and I think charging extra taxes for rubbish collection will lead to unscrupulous people dumping rubbish in their neighbours' bins or fly tipping old mattresses and bags of rubbish in quiet country lanes.
"Axe the Bin Tax" Downing Street petition
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Cider Boys
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Thank you Primrose for bringing this petition to my attention; and I will be signing it with pleasure.
This government love to tax the law abiding whilst they make excuses for the behaviour of the lowlife.
Regarding rubbish, today I went for a drive and walk in an ‘area of outstanding natural beauty’ only to be appalled by the amount of fly tipping and litter being left dumped in this quiet place. At one point there was a pile of cigarette ends and chewing gum papers just 18’’ from a litter bin. I suppose the lazy lowlifes could not be bothered to get out of their car to put it in the bin.
Barney
This government love to tax the law abiding whilst they make excuses for the behaviour of the lowlife.
Regarding rubbish, today I went for a drive and walk in an ‘area of outstanding natural beauty’ only to be appalled by the amount of fly tipping and litter being left dumped in this quiet place. At one point there was a pile of cigarette ends and chewing gum papers just 18’’ from a litter bin. I suppose the lazy lowlifes could not be bothered to get out of their car to put it in the bin.
Barney
its another example of trying to charge more for worse services. we used to be on weekly collections and if we missed putting the bin out the skips 2 mile down the road would take the bags. now we have these stupid wheelie bins emptied once a fortnight and the skips are now a recycling centre which wont take bags of mixed houshold waste.(or let you take stuff away to reuse 
) if we miss the fortnightly collection the bin aint big enough to hold a months rubbish, not that weed want to keep it a month in the summer .
alot of the houses in town have nowhere to put the wheelie bin, without going over steps which the older folk struggle with. (especially with these narrow top heavy bins)
) if we miss the fortnightly collection the bin aint big enough to hold a months rubbish, not that weed want to keep it a month in the summer .
alot of the houses in town have nowhere to put the wheelie bin, without going over steps which the older folk struggle with. (especially with these narrow top heavy bins)
Hi
In Btitain during the last 25 years we have seemed to find it so difficult to understand the basics - that is that if we want good public services such as waste collection (and education, clean water, child protection, public safety, an effiicient public transport system and decent care for us when we are old and dependent) - we have to pay for it.
This means taxes - which are an absolutely essential for any civilised society. The issue for me is how fair the taxes are - and there is a real question about the community charge when applied to the less rich.
I'm sure that any Council would happily not to charge exrta for services if we voters agreed that paying a bit more into the common good was important.
But I sense that there is a major change happening in our society and that we are once again beginning to grasp the importance of investing in a decent civilisation.
Any reflective thoughts?
In Btitain during the last 25 years we have seemed to find it so difficult to understand the basics - that is that if we want good public services such as waste collection (and education, clean water, child protection, public safety, an effiicient public transport system and decent care for us when we are old and dependent) - we have to pay for it.
This means taxes - which are an absolutely essential for any civilised society. The issue for me is how fair the taxes are - and there is a real question about the community charge when applied to the less rich.
I'm sure that any Council would happily not to charge exrta for services if we voters agreed that paying a bit more into the common good was important.
But I sense that there is a major change happening in our society and that we are once again beginning to grasp the importance of investing in a decent civilisation.
Any reflective thoughts?
Chris
I don't think that the vast majority of law abiding citizens mind paying tax... what we all want to see is value for our money
My personal belief is that the financial resources are badly, and I mean badly, managed. It doesn't take a blind man (or in my case a half blind man)to see the total waste that is going on.
I could tell you stories that would make you want to tear your hair out but I would be here all day
My personal belief is that the financial resources are badly, and I mean badly, managed. It doesn't take a blind man (or in my case a half blind man)to see the total waste that is going on.
I could tell you stories that would make you want to tear your hair out but I would be here all day
I am in my own little world, ...it's OK, ...they know me there!
Hi Weed
I'm not convinced that public services are badly managed compared to the private sector. A colleague od mine took enforced early retirement from the public sector some years ago. He is an able person with a degree in management and quickly found work in the private sector. His conclusion was that regardless of the shorcomings of public sector management (and they are huge) management skills are much worse and much less efficient in the private sector.
I would be interested in just one story that might make me tear out hair - I have a lot of it to lose!
In anticipation...
I'm not convinced that public services are badly managed compared to the private sector. A colleague od mine took enforced early retirement from the public sector some years ago. He is an able person with a degree in management and quickly found work in the private sector. His conclusion was that regardless of the shorcomings of public sector management (and they are huge) management skills are much worse and much less efficient in the private sector.
I would be interested in just one story that might make me tear out hair - I have a lot of it to lose!
In anticipation...
Chris
Thanks for your reply Chris
I wouldn't like to comment on an open forum for the obvious legal reasons...
Many years ago I was asked if my company would like to tender for some hospital work and I declined... when asked why I informed the person that anyone taking on such work would run straight up against the Unions...in any case, I told him, their staff were OK and well trained but what they really needed was an outside contractor style boss to manage it better...he agreed
Hang on to your hair young man
I wouldn't like to comment on an open forum for the obvious legal reasons...
Many years ago I was asked if my company would like to tender for some hospital work and I declined... when asked why I informed the person that anyone taking on such work would run straight up against the Unions...in any case, I told him, their staff were OK and well trained but what they really needed was an outside contractor style boss to manage it better...he agreed
Hang on to your hair young man
I am in my own little world, ...it's OK, ...they know me there!
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Mr Potato Head
Frighteningly enough, I've worked in enough places to know that public or private, bad management is common. Perhaps we should be more surprised when there are stories of good management (of which I have seen in both sectors - though rare!)
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submariner
- KG Regular
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I agree that there is bad management everywhwere. The difference is though;No one in public service seems to be accountable enough to be disciplined (usually promoted to get them out of the way!);whereas if you cock it up in the private sector you get sacked!
Love veg!
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Mr Potato Head
True, but sometimes bad management is done in the name of cost efficiency, and the results are not seen by the company / organisation as bad, only by the consumer.
My experience is that bad management in public sector is down to trying to meet impossible targets (and cope with the tide of 'monitoring' paperwork), and in private sector tends to come from cost-cutting exercises that achieve lower costs at the expense of quality of service / product.
A perfect example of both is hospital cleaning. Hospital requires private cleaners, to save money to reach impossible targets. Then spends so much time doing the subsequent paperwork that they fail to notice that whilst the private company has successfully met the price criteria, the hospital isn't actually very clean! No-one in the private company is going to get sacked, because they're making money. No-one at the hospital is going either, as they have successfully stayed within budget! Who loses? The punter, as usual.
My experience is that bad management in public sector is down to trying to meet impossible targets (and cope with the tide of 'monitoring' paperwork), and in private sector tends to come from cost-cutting exercises that achieve lower costs at the expense of quality of service / product.
A perfect example of both is hospital cleaning. Hospital requires private cleaners, to save money to reach impossible targets. Then spends so much time doing the subsequent paperwork that they fail to notice that whilst the private company has successfully met the price criteria, the hospital isn't actually very clean! No-one in the private company is going to get sacked, because they're making money. No-one at the hospital is going either, as they have successfully stayed within budget! Who loses? The punter, as usual.
at the end of the day the public sector is there to provide services to the public, the man in the street judges its success on how it delivers those services using as little as possible of our money. at the current time taxes are increasing and sevices are getting worse.