Burnham

[BoldonLad]

Salary does tend to go up with experience. I started as a medical secretary temp on just above living wage. I increased my salary by getting some peripatetic music work. I increased my salary again as I moved into a full time job as a medical PA. I increased my salary again when I moved from that to Service Transformation. I increased my salary again when I moved into contracting as a Service Transformation Consultant. I increased my salary again when I moved into Data Warehouse Management and Data Migration. 52 year old me now has a very good salary. 22 year old me didn't. I had enough to pay rent and eat.


https://luminate.prospects.ac.uk/what-do-graduates-do
View attachment 16498

I agree with you re the current system. I don't like it at all and it needs fixing.

Sounds similar to my salary progression, except, I wasn’t a graduate, started at 17 on £3-9s-2d per week (£3.47) as a trainee metallurgist. Quit that line of work at 20, when I realised there was more money in IT. A disasterous period with a spendthrift wife, saw me working three jobs (including selling/fitting window blinds) to keep the lights on. Then, joined the Consultancy game, (and a financially able woman), then working for myself as a Contractor. I did pick up an OU degree, in my 40s.

I would say I am “comfortably off”, but, I won’t because you lot will want to increase my taxes 😂

 

[briantrumpet]

Haha, my reference to the slithy Gove wasn't quite so random: he pops up in The Times to say that his legacy of turning all education into a mirror of his own might be undermined, so not everyone will be capable of being as clever as he is.

 

[Ian H]

That’s a problem with constantly increasing the minimum wage, it just compacts all the roles above, as these don’t increase to match the minimum wage increases.

There's a huge assumption in that statement.

 

[Beebo]

There's a huge assumption in that statement.

Well most people seem to have had that experience

Take my pay as an example, which has gone up around 10% since lockdown.

It has been nowhere near the increase seen in minimum wage which has increased from £8.72 in 2020 to £12.71 in 2026. That’s a 46% increase in 6 years.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Sounds similar to my salary progression, except, I wasn’t a graduate, started at 17 on £3-9s-2d per week (£3.47) as a trainee metallurgist. Quit that line of work at 20, when I realised there was more money in IT. A disasterous period with a spendthrift wife, saw me working three jobs (including selling/fitting window blinds) to keep the lights on. Then, joined the Consultancy game, (and a financially able woman), then working for myself as a Contractor. I did pick up an OU degree, in my 40s.

I would say I am “comfortably off”, but, I won’t because you lot will want to increase my taxes 😂

In my 50s I turned down the offer of a "free" MBA from the head of a course at a local college. Very little work involved, he promised me, as he was grateful for some support and mentoring I had been doing for him to help him move into business consultancy to add to his academic role. I must admit to temptation but it just didn't sit right.

 

[Bromptonaut]

Haha, my reference to the slithy Gove wasn't quite so random: he pops up in The Times to say that his legacy of turning all education into a mirror of his own might be undermined, so not everyone will be capable of being as clever as he is.

View attachment 16503

The 'Gove curriculum' is one of the major factors in the mental health crisis affecting the under 25s.

 

[BoldonLad]

In my 50s I turned down the offer of a "free" MBA from the head of a course at a local college. Very little work involved, he promised me, as he was grateful for some support and mentoring I had been doing for him to help him move into business consultancy to add to his academic role. I must admit to temptation but it just didn't sit right.

Yeah, I don't think I would be comfortable with a "free" qualification, I did actually pay for, study and pass the OU degree course. I am not sure to what extent that it enhanced my earnings, but, I dont regret doing it.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Yeah, I don't think I would be comfortable with a "free" qualification, I did actually pay for, study and pass the OU degree course. I am not sure to what extent that it enhanced my earnings, but, I dont regret doing it.

I'd already done the OU Diploma in Business Management so had exemption from some parts of the Masters syllabus, but at that stage in my life TBH CBA about an MBA.

 

[Ian H]

Keith Flett on Diane Abbott's readmittance -
Its possible that regaining the Whip means that the door to Labour’s Broad Church (where as Ralph Miliband noted, the left were allowed to sit in the pews at the back provided they didn’t make too much noise) is slightly ajar...
See his blog here: https://kmflett.blog/2026/07/30/dia...s-the-door-to-the-broad-church-slightly-ajar/

 

[Ian H]

Keith Flett on Diane Abbott's readmittance -
Its possible that regaining the Whip means that the door to Labour’s Broad Church (where as Ralph Miliband noted, the left were allowed to sit in the pews at the back provided they didn’t make too much noise) is slightly ajar...
See his blog here: https://kmflett.blog/2026/07/30/dia...s-the-door-to-the-broad-church-slightly-ajar/

 

[Rusty Nails]

Keith Flett on Diane Abbott's readmittance -
Its possible that regaining the Whip means that the door to Labour’s Broad Church (where as Ralph Miliband noted, the left were allowed to sit in the pews at the back provided they didn’t make too much noise) is slightly ajar...
See his blog here: https://kmflett.blog/2026/07/30/dia...s-the-door-to-the-broad-church-slightly-ajar/

Depends how you define "the left" in a party that is, or was, ostensibly left wing.

Corbyn was probably a more effective politician for Labour when he was sitting in the pews acting as the left wing conscience of the party than when he was suddenly moved up to the pulpit.

 

[briantrumpet]

An interesting thought. One of the problems is that since Johnson onwards there's been no moderate right-wing alternative to the lunacy of Farage and those who attempt to emulate him (yes, that includes Badenoch, and Mahmood, and thus by proxy, Starmer on immigration and the EU).

 

[monkers]

I notice people celebrating the 'Burnham Bounce' with Labour's increase in popularity in the polls.

I also notice that people are saying that people left Labour and headed for the Greens due to the stance on Gaza, PA, and the manifold arrests of the innocent on terrorism charges.

Suffice to say, the arrests continue. Not only that people are being arrested under terrorism charges without placards and without even speaking.

One woman was informed that she was being arrested under investigation of terrorism for 'clapping'.

My question is this; is Andy about to lose his bounce?


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjmlOZo1fto



View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7pR_xC8qLWQ

 

[briantrumpet]

I notice people celebrating the 'Burnham Bounce' with Labour's increase in popularity in the polls.

I also notice that people are saying that people left Labour and headed for the Greens due to the stance on Gaza, PA, and the manifold arrests of the innocent on terrorism charges.

Suffice to say, the arrest continue. Not only that people are being arrested under terrorism charges without placards and without even speaking.

One woman was informed that she was being arrested under investigation of terrorism for 'clapping'.

My question is this; is Andy about to lose his bounce?


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjmlOZo1fto



View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7pR_xC8qLWQ

I suspect this won't be something he will ignore for too long - the politics are too bad (not least as it's a crazy policy). AFAIK he's not said anything one way or another.

 

[briantrumpet]