Wednesday: the Strike

Other examples are security firms hiring ex-coppers who take early and very well-cushioned retirement, private nursing and care homes who take particularly the better-qualified nurses for head-of-care and managerial positions, commercial housing associations (as in for profit, not NFP) who hire managerial staff from NHS positions for their sheltered housing schemes, IT workers who seem to cross-work between private and public sectors quite easily, ex-firemen who set up their own risk assessment businesses and do very well servicing private ones...

Clivex - you whipped through 15 companies in 30 years? I don't care how private the businesses were, I wouldn't hire anyone whose stickability and company loyalty didn't extend beyond an average of 2 years per job! Do you have a form of PADD - professional attention deficit disorder?
 
The key thing here is how the lack of support will impact politically. Labour is in a difficult place here

Good example was yesterday on a radio 5 "discussion". A striker was shrieking away about how the proposals will take "one day amonth out of her future pension" Naturally enough being the BBC, this was barely challenged and put into perspective but "one da a month" (if true) equates to about 3% cut

So the anticipated average pension of £25000 becomes £24250 pa

and they want our sympathy?

Krizon...that includes a bit of consulting and contract work too. Im not going to bore with detail but thats not unusual in my line
 
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krizon said:
Clivex - you whipped through 15 companies in 30 years? I don't care how private the businesses were, I wouldn't hire anyone whose stickability and company loyalty didn't extend beyond an average of 2 years per job! Do you have a form of PADD - professional attention deficit disorder?
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Exactly, full of shit, these are the people who have caused our current problems, grab what you can then fuck off for pastures new.
 
Im laughing ....

well to make you even sicker, i am working for four businesses right now, have three joint ventures going, have one on going paid writing gig and am in the midst of brokering 3 finance deals as well as jointly organising/hosting a quarterly networking event for selected professionals in which gets between 100 -150 people
 
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Someone's run off with the middle ground in this discussion.
Given such an important topic it could be worthwhile looking for.
 
I have thought about fur in fact

The seal clubbing line has excellent margins and its apparently its an absolute doddle. They dont have legs and its just bosh and a good few quid.

All you need is a big club and a some sort of van to chuck them into so capital outlay is minimal. Should easily get funding
 
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'Some sort of van'? You do realise how much snow-traction vehicles cost, don't you? Also, the seal harvest is stitched up by aggressive Nordic unions and you will require the correct onboard preserving amenities to keep the furs fresh until they can be properly rendered. You won't have to worry about disposing of baby seal carcasses, of course, as bears and wolves will simply move in and, if you're really canny, you can shoot a few of those for the trophy rug market before animal rightists accidentally ram your sealer. Your outlay on extreme weather clothing for your head-smashers runs out about £300 a, uh, head, and you'll need to figure in a chef, doctor, captain and hide handlers on board. You can hire a sealing vessel for around £5,000 a day less all staffing and peripheral expenses such as laundry, food, drink (and I'm not talking just cups of coffee), and insurances. If you prefer to hire a completely kitted and fitted team, though, it'll be about £25,000 a day all in. (I'm told by someone who thinks they know what they're talking about.) Get onnnn!
 
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... actually, that's already being done by China, busy as ever in the cat-skinning biz to bring you cheerfully-modelled cats' skins for winter hats and mitts. Really, a home industry sadly overlooked in the UK due to cultural squeamishness about taking 101 Uses of a Dead Cat seriously. (My personal favourite from that little book being the use of one as an attractive desktop pencil sharpener.)
 
clivex said:
I have thought about fur in fact

The seal clubbing line has excellent margins and its apparently its an absolute doddle. They dont have legs and its just bosh and a good few quid.

All you need is a big club and a some sort of van to chuck them into so capital outlay is minimal. Should easily get funding
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Of course, you could always market it as an "Anger Management" course and let your "students" pay for everything.
 
Had to laugh at the irony - some of the strikers attempted to prevent people entering the courts in Belfast, one of which was my fiancee.

Her reason for going there was to represent some of her clients - one of which happened to be one of the unions that is on strike.
 
krizon said:
Clivex - you whipped through 15 companies in 30 years? I don't care how private the businesses were, I wouldn't hire anyone whose stickability and company loyalty didn't extend beyond an average of 2 years per job! Do you have a form of PADD - professional attention deficit disorder?
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I punched a card for a Finance Sector company for over 20 years, and whilst I was good at my job and had a reasonable career, I was never one of the 'chosen'; senior management positions generally being the reserve of those with the right patronage - something I believe prevails across all companies in all sectors. But because I was reasonably useful at my job, I was rather left to my own devices, and could quite easily have sat on my arse for another 20 years, having a bit of a jape, earning a reasonable wage, and doing just enough to secure a rather paltry bonus at the end of the year, before the pension landed.

Fuck that.

I went freelancing four years ago and have never looked back.

The only difference between what I do now and what I did then, is that I no longer smoke a jigger on the way to work, or drink a bottle of Jack Daniels for my lunch.

I think there is a lesson for us all in there somewhere. :D
 
Grasshopper said:
I punched a card for a Finance Sector company for over 20 years, and whilst I was good at my job and had a reasonable career, I was never one of the 'chosen'; senior management positions generally being the reserve of those with the right patronage - something I believe prevails across all companies in all sectors. But because I was reasonably useful at my job, I was rather left to my own devices, and could quite easily have sat on my arse for another 20 years, having a bit of a jape, earning a reasonable wage, and doing just enough to secure a rather paltry bonus at the end of the year, before the pension landed.

Fuck that.

I went freelancing four years ago and have never looked back.

The only difference between what I do now and what I did then, is that I no longer smoke a jigger on the way to work, or drink a bottle of Jack Daniels for my lunch.

I think there is a lesson for us all in there somewhere. :D
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Christ, how old are YOU?

What do you now then?
 
I'm 11 times too old to run in a Triumph Hurdle.....or near as makes no difference anyway.

I do broadly the same as I used to when I was a staffer, but for more coin and without the artificial stimulants. :lol:

Clivex (assuming his brain hasn't exploded trying to figure out the paradox this represents) would probably have me labeled - accurately, it has to be said - as a 'champagne socialist'.

Or a 'lefty tosser'.

Or possibly both.

Probably both, actually.

Definitely both.

:ninja:
 
clivex said:
Im laughing ....

well to make you even sicker, i am working for four businesses right now, have three joint ventures going, have one on going paid writing gig and am in the midst of brokering 3 finance deals as well as jointly organising/hosting a quarterly networking event for selected professionals in which gets between 100 -150 people
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For more details, visit

www.walt-r-mitty.co.uk


Just kidding, mate - sock it to 'em. :D
 
krizon said:
'Some sort of van'? You do realise how much snow-traction vehicles cost, don't you? Also, the seal harvest is stitched up by aggressive Nordic unions and you will require the correct onboard preserving amenities to keep the furs fresh until they can be properly rendered. You won't have to worry about disposing of baby seal carcasses, of course, as bears and wolves will simply move in and, if you're really canny, you can shoot a few of those for the trophy rug market before animal rightists accidentally ram your sealer. Your outlay on extreme weather clothing for your head-smashers runs out about £300 a, uh, head, and you'll need to figure in a chef, doctor, captain and hide handlers on board. You can hire a sealing vessel for around £5,000 a day less all staffing and peripheral expenses such as laundry, food, drink (and I'm not talking just cups of coffee), and insurances. If you prefer to hire a completely kitted and fitted team, though, it'll be about £25,000 a day all in. (I'm told by someone who thinks they know what they're talking about.) Get onnnn!
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Yes, all very good, but it's only half the equation, isn't it?

If a seal-fur will get you £100, and you can slaughter five-hundred of the buggers in an afternoon shift, you're trousering something in the neighborhood of fifteen-grand a day profit - and that's just on the seals and ignoring any 'collateral revenue' generated by flogging wolf and polar-bear trophy-skins. That might bump it up to £20K profit a day?

Clivex's idea has to be worthy of more investigation, surely??
 
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Surely it's not just about the fur. The meat might be a bit fatty, but it is organic, is it not?
 
Exactly.

Also, one could reasonably expect the crew to get a little 'lonesome' at times, so the ready supply of "seals pockets" gives you the recycling angle too. It might qualify for DoE funding.

This is an idea with legs.

* Note to self; consider angles to exploit seal's legs in some way.
 
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