Pagen01

I appreciate what you are saying, but do you not think that if more employees were represented by a decent union then employers would not be able to treat workers as they have done?

It is interesting that in the First World War only one soldier was repatriated and he is in Westminster abbey.
I believe that relatives were becoming uncomfortable with having to display their grief in public during the “parades”.
If the route doesn’t go through Wootton Basset any more then so be it. “Outrage” is fine but get outraged over something else. Treat this matter with the dignity it deserves.

I certainly don’t regard myself as “lucky” to have a well-paid job. I’ve worked damned hard since I left school to get to where I am now. If you want to put that down to “luck” then fair enough. I don’t.
Unscrupulous employers take advantage of the jobs market to pay poor wages and offer poor terms and conditions. Unions exist to protect the workers from these sort of employers.

You haven’t read any of the article have you?

I actually think they are being more respectful, not less. I’ll bet not every family wants to see their loved ones paraded in public anyway. Dignity is the important word here and not allowing the repatriations to succumb to media-driven sensationalism.

Lots of ridiculous “outrage” in the Telegraph comments. The cortege needs to go from Brize Norton instead of Lyneham so it needs to go a different way. I don’t see the issue really. It isn’t being disrepectful at all.
A deliberate avoidance of another media circus would seem like a good idea to me.
Some people would get outraged at anything really…

Then leave if you can’t handle it. The strike action has proved they are not in it for job satisfaction and seem quite happy to disrupt the childrens education for money.

Great attitude. Fortunately most teachers are made of sterner stuff. It is precisely because conditions are increasingly difficult that maybe they feel thay are worth more. We demand higher and higher standards in teaching and education and yet are unwilling to pay for terms and conditions that encourage the best people to take teaching up as a career.

To say that because they are striking for money shows they are only in it for the money is clearly ridiculous. Does that mean that anyone who asks for a pay rise is not interested in job satisfaction? Of course not.

Anyway here is the hypocrite in action a few years ago.

Michael Gove in action

Are you suggesting that the Armed Forces are overpaid or somehow that they don’t earn their pensions?

The overall aim of any government must be to balance the books; if the state pension burden becomes unaffordable (which it is becoming) any government options are strictly limited. The teachers like anybody else will have to work longer, contribute more or start accepting redundancies; just carrying-on as we are now is not an option.

Indeed but why are armed forces pensions sacrosanct?

I didn’t say at all that the armed forces don’t earn their pensions but they are no more entitled to a decent pension than anyone else.

I don’t think one day will harm any child’s education significantly. If there are more days of action then the government will have to sort it out. I can remember many days of strikes when I was at school and I don’t think it did me any harm – honestly;)
There is no doubt that action needed to be taken on pensions but sadly this government have, as usual, barged in with their proposals as policy, realized they weren’t best thought though in the first place and now others are suffering. This isn’t the first time this has happened.
Interesting to see how this goes – will they look at armed forces pensions as well? If one section of the public sector are being asked to pay more and work longer, what about everyone else?
What other professions should be allowed to strike? If the answer is only those that don’t inconvenience anyone then there isn’t really any point.