BRFR Cake Stop 'breaking news' miscellany

[BoldonLad]

Which was not actually accurate. Senior doctors on good salaries were not leaving the UK. Newly minted Junior doctors on the other hand were looking at the NHS salary which has been reduced for years and then leaving for Australia where they actually get paid a decent wage for the 7 years of medical training that they have undergone.

An Australian GP earns about £248k for 40 hours per week. In the UK £90k for 38.4 hours. Surgeons and consultants earn between AUS134k to AUS $334k whereas in the UK it's from $104k to $144k. However, if the Consultant also does private practice they can add up to $200AUS onto that NHS salary.

Thusly a Senior Consultant is less likely to want to go to Australia. For a Junior Doctor it's incredibly appealing.

Accurate or not it was trotted out by the media on a regular basis.

 

[Pblakeney]

Bemused by the AA today. I got a 1/2 price Black Friday deal last year so this year the price doubled, as expected.
Got on to them to see if I could get a deal. 30% off was the best they could do. Trouble is they have a 1/2 sale on again so I had cancel my membership and take out a new one. Just nuts but they probably rely on sheep people auto renewing.

 

[Pross]

Bemused by the AA today. I got a 1/2 price Black Friday deal last year so this year the price doubled, as expected.
Got on to them to see if I could get a deal. 30% off was the best they could do. Trouble is they have a 1/2 sale on again so I had cancel my membership and take out a new one. Just nuts but they probably rely on sheep people auto renewing.

Surprised they allowed you to cancel and start again. We normally have to alternate between me and the wife being the primary member. There’s not enough competition in the market unfortunately and not getting cover then trying to use independent breakdown companies is a pain (I had to get someone to tow us off the drive to the local garage a few months back as we didn’t have home start, it was difficult).

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Bemused by the AA today. I got a 1/2 price Black Friday deal last year so this year the price doubled, as expected.
Got on to them to see if I could get a deal. 30% off was the best they could do. Trouble is they have a 1/2 sale on again so I had cancel my membership and take out a new one. Just nuts but they probably rely on sheep people auto renewing.

Not an auto renew but my car insurer offered me a new deal at a 20% increase this year. Went on CTM and the same deal was on offer at £100 under my existing deal. Figure that one out!

 

[icowden]

Something os wrong with those figures. g
GPs in Aus don't earn 4x the salary of a surgeon. And a consultant in the UK doesn't earn £50k.

I confess m'lud, I relied upon a Google AI summary and failed to check the working.
I will do lines.

 

[briantrumpet]

I confess m'lud, I relied upon a Google AI summary and failed to check the working.
I will do lines.

An AI fail... if only there were a thread... 🤣

 

[Pblakeney]

Not an auto renew but my car insurer offered me a new deal at a 20% increase this year. Went on CTM and the same deal was on offer at £100 under my existing deal. Figure that one out!

I must admit that I hoped the insurance would be similar but their renewal price was competitive.

 

[Pblakeney]

Surprised they allowed you to cancel and start again. We normally have to alternate between me and the wife being the primary member. There’s not enough competition in the market unfortunately and not getting cover then trying to use independent breakdown companies is a pain (I had to get someone to tow us off the drive to the local garage a few months back as we didn’t have home start, it was difficult).

It's a weird one. I had the new form on my laptop ready to go so I had the bargaining chip but they didn't bite.
So I cancelled the renewal, waited on the confirmation, and took out the new membership. They are aware that I have two policies but it seems to have escaped them that they don't overlap. I guess I'll find out for sure on the 6th but I do have confirmation of the new policy at the reduced price.

PS - For anyone interested the offer is valid until the 2nd December.

 

[Deleted member 16]

I know of several medics who have left for Australia.

They worked hard, get better pay.

The weather and lifestyle is much nicer with far less crowded towns and cities.

I left the UK for Hong Kong where education is taken a lot more seriously, as is the case in all of East Asia.

I doubled my salary overnight, with much lower tax rates.

Weather is OK, outwith May to September.

However, I didn't leave for lower taxes, I left because of the sh*t that gets thrown at us in education.

 

[CXRAndy]

I left the UK for Hong Kong where education is taken a lot more seriously, as is the case in all of East Asia.

I doubled my salary overnight, with much lower tax rates.

Weather is OK, outwith May to September.

However, I didn't leave for lower taxes, I left because of the sh*t that gets thrown at us in education.

I agree, we have two former teachers in our extended family. One stuck it out for 10 years the other 2 years.

Ironically the longer serving teacher now works on the disciplinary union side. The stories he tells from what the teachers get upto and what the kids accuse them of too. Im surprised anyone teaches, bordering on total chaos.

The stats dont lie, Asia has probably the highest achievement in education in the whole world.

 

[First Aspect]

I left the UK for Hong Kong where education is taken a lot more seriously, as is the case in all of East Asia.

I doubled my salary overnight, with much lower tax rates.

Weather is OK, outwith May to September.

However, I didn't leave for lower taxes, I left because of the sh*t that gets thrown at us in education.

I have always assumed that the price you may is more crowded living arrangements and an astronomical cost of living.

This is certainly the case in Singapore from what I've heard from other legal.folks out there. And I have a client in Dubai who was faced with moving from a very lucky favourable long term lease to the open market for a family home. His issue was finding one less than 90 minutes e/w commute, for less than about £50k a year rent. He'd have got about 4000 sq ft and a lot of polished granite for that rent, but I think he'd have preferred 1500 sq ft and £20k,.but if doesn't seem to exist there

 

[Deleted member 16]

I have always assumed that the price you may is more crowded living arrangements and an astronomical cost of living.

This is certainly the case in Singapore from what I've heard from other legal.folks out there. And I have a client in Dubai who was faced with moving from a very lucky favourable long term lease to the open market for a family home. His issue was finding one less than 90 minutes e/w commute, for less than about £50k a year rent. He'd have got about 4000 sq ft and a lot of polished granite for that rent, but I think he'd have preferred 1500 sq ft and £20k,.but if doesn't seem to exist there

I'm actually quite lucky as I live in Tin Shui Wai, a stone's throw from the Chinese border (I can see Shenzhen from my front window) and I pay about half what I would normally pay in rent if I was in a more 'desirable' location.

Where I live is ideal for cycling too.

In Singapore, you don't get to choose where you stay. The Singaporean Gov tells you where to stay if you're going to be a public servant (teacher, nurse etc). That's why I turned down the job offer in Singapore and opted for HK instead. I love Singapore, such a cool city, but I choose where I live, not a faceless civil servant.

 

[briantrumpet]

A very interesting (and excoriating) long read on institutional failures during covid, in light of the recent enquiry, this one not focusing on Johnson's culpability.

https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/230000-deaths-and-the-calculated

When official minutes were released finally in May 2020, I simply couldn’t believe that they didn’t invite a single independent, public health scientist with expertise in infection control to advise the Government. It’s like organising a meeting of the military Strategic Command made up of civil servants, mathematicians, and politicians, without a soldier present. Worse, this state of affairs continued for the rest of 2020 despite much public criticism. A public health challenge of this size requires public health expertise and international voices from experts in the frontline of emergency infection control.

A pandemic advisory group needs experts in a broad range of disciplines: yes, virology, molecular genetics, immunology, primary and intensive health care professionals, epidemiology, and modelling, but also social science, communications, field experience in infection control and community mobilisation. It’s vital that advisers maintain close links with those implementing the logistics of policies. The SAGE group included no critical care specialist, no emergency department consultant, nor any nursing leader. There was no coronavirus expert. And no social scientists to work on the harnessing of community engagement, nor a logistician, who would have expertise in planning for the delivery of supplies and resources during a pandemic.

 

[BoldonLad]

Not an auto renew but my car insurer offered me a new deal at a 20% increase this year. Went on CTM and the same deal was on offer at £100 under my existing deal. Figure that one out!

I do not understand the business model of Insurance Companies (and a few others, like Broadband) who piss off existing customers, then have to have promotions to win customers back. Isn't the perceived wisdom that it is better to(ie cheaper) to keep an existing customer, than to attract a new one.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

I do not understand the business model of Insurance Companies (and a few others, like Broadband) who piss off existing customers, then have to have promotions to win customers back. Isn't the perceived wisdom that it is better to(ie cheaper) to keep an existing customer, than to attract a new one.

I know and to compound matters, I actually called them ahead of seeing the Compare the market deal and they offered nothing and said they could not improve on the renewal deal. I didn't really want to renew with them but it was £200 cheaper than the nearest competitor so I had no choice.