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You couldnt escape from the main News today being the mass walk out of Public Sector Workers.

Their grip? Well as usual its about pay & pensions. Many are unhappy that they haven't had a pay rise for 3 or 4 years - unless they have been comatosed for the last few years, many of us in the Private Sector havent had a pay rise either due to a little thing called the RECESSION.

We all work hard, yet we ALL face bigger shopping bills, higher taxes, higher fuel costs etc.

If i didnt turn up for work from striking i wouldn't get paid and i'd probably lose my job!

I'm very fortunate that i love my job, as im sure a large percentage of those that are striking today, but you cannot just insist on a payrise when there is no money in the kitty - where is that going to come from? Yes we all have to work longer in our old age, why should it be different for them? 

Ive said it time & time again, if you dont like your job, go and do something else.

Im fortunate that my youngest sons school isn't striking, (the oldest is off after taking exams) so it actually doesnt affect me but i bet many of you are stuck at home or face problems battling through crowded City Centres whilst trying to go about your normal daily routines.

Good luck on what is to be a hectic emotional day for all 

Was reading on the news this morning that a US plane got diverted and was stranded at the airport for 2 hours whilst waiting for the weather to clear, so the pilot ordered pizza for his 160 passengers!

The pilot reportedly paid for the 50 pizzas out of his own pocket, but news spread to his boss who will reimburse him.

Thats what you call customer service!

Im off in August to Corfu, wonder if i will get the same service if i get delayed-answers below please 

I think the science behind it is - the slower the speed the greater the MPG, ergo less pollution.

My car, now run in, gives me around 50mpg most mornings on my 7 mile run to the office, assuming i dont get held up and i get a clear run. If i do get held up in the village of Studley then it drops to mid 40's

On the motorway, (depending on how close i stick to the speed limit and more like Barneys figure above  ) i get around 40-45mpg, which i would get more from if i dropped to around 60mph. 2 problems for me - 1) i like speed & 2) takes longer to get there!

Was reading on the news earlier, reportedly managers are working an extra day a week in unpaid overtime, compared to the standard worker (whatever that is!)

It went on to state 13% of managers did around 2 days extra work

Interestingly the report i read didnt state what hours the owners/directors work, although we covered that bit already on a separate thread - How many hours a week do you work

I admit to working through lunch, occasionally taking the 10/15 minute walk to the local shops for milk so guess im in the 1-2 days extra bracket.

Well i suppose something good has to come out of the World Cup....Social media and sport merge!

Just reading on the BBC website that a record 35.6million tweets were sent during the game last night.

At one point in the match 580,601 tweets were sent in just one minute, a further record! There was also a flurry of goals in the match, meaning goals were scored faster than they could type.

For those that follow football will already know the result, those that dont wont really care but apparently Germany won 7-1, taking them into the finals ... yawn

Heard on the news this morning they are extending this to other "unspecified" destinations, not just USA as previously reported

Barney - you say you turn down business and i do understand that, but what happens if you turn the business down and then you are challenged by the PC brigade?

If you are a business owner surely you can decide not to do a piece of work due to a number of reasons, i know you cant be racist, sexist or similar, but if your religious beliefs don't allow or you feel you can't "service" the customer why should the commission be looking in to it?

I dont have any strong opinions for/against Gay Rights, but clearly this company do under religious reasons - why should that be challenged?

Just been reading that plans to being in an enforced speed limit of 60mph on 2 sections of motorways have been shelved for 18 months to allow the Highways Agency to come up with alternate ways of reducing pollution on a section of the M1 in Derbyshire and some of the M3 near Surrey.

Seems all sorts of suggestions have been proffered with even the possibility of banning high polluting vehicles at certain times. Not sure how that would work from a hauliers point of view though.

It was hoped that the more fuel efficient, therefore less polluting vehicles would have had a greater impact on the pollution however its reported that these are taking longer to become the higher percentage of road users.

Looks like they are trying to copy what happens around me locally with the hard shoulder on the M42 used at peak times to ease traffic flow. Be interesting to see how this goes as it does seem to work.

Wasnt aware of this until a friend had a recent problem.....

She got divorced, changed her name via Deed Poll and then recently booked a holiday. All ok so far except she hasn't changed her name on her Passport!

Looking in to it, she has 4 years left until her current Passport expires - to change her name on the Passport is relatively simple BUT you lose any credit years on your Passport, with the exception of a 9 month credit AND you still have to pay for a full 10 year replacement

What a con!!! Surely you should be entitled to either a straight swap of Passport, ie get your Passport name changed and it expires in 4 years (in this case) or a credit voucher to be taken off the cost of a full 10 years as i'm guessing you cant have a 14 year document.

If it wasnt bad enough having to pay £72.50 for 10 years to get in & out of your own Country but then they swindle you out of more money if you get married or divorced !

Good luck with that