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RBS hands out £800m of bonuses as salaries are frozen

 

ROYAL Bank of Scotland will today impose a pay freeze on 10,000 staff, while it prepares to pay £400 million in bonuses to its highest earners.

The bank is expected to claim that it needs to cap basic pay in order to manage its costs ahead of announcing a bottom-line loss of up to £2 billion.

But it will also be seen as a move to deflect attention from the huge bonuses to be paid to those already among the bank’s top paid staff.

But the bank will still announce today a widely-anticipated bonus round of about £400m for investment bankers, which is likely to extend to almost £800m when extended to other staff. The main beneficiaries will be traders working mainly in London, Hong Kong and New York. Although the handout is lower than last year it has attracted criticism following a “bad year” at the division.

The investment banking arm at RBS, which is 82 per cent owned by the taxpayer, is headed by John Hourican, who is in line for a personal bonus of 21 million shares – worth about £5.7m at today’s prices.

[Business is] “the most powerful force for social progress the world has ever known”.

Divorced from reality, deranged and deluded Capitalist simpleton David Cameron.

Welfare reforms ‘hitting disabled’

 

The UK government’s welfare reforms are having a devastating impact on thousands of sick and disabled Scots – according to evidence published today by Citizens Advice Scotland.

The employment and support allowance scheme (ESA) was introduced in 2008 for those who were “new” claimants and is now being applied to those who are currently on incapacity benefit who have previously been deemed to be too sick to work.

The CAS report, From Pillar to Post, details individual cases of people who have been considered healthy by the ESA assessment, but actually suffer from severe health problems.

The report includes the case of a man who was considered fit to work after an ESA assessment, despite having suffered a stroke that continues to affect his right side and speech and which has left him able to only walk a few yards without pain.

 

[Business is] “the most powerful force for social progress the world has ever known”.

Divorced from reality, deranged and deluded Capitalist simpleton David Cameron.

Universities cut number of degree courses by 27%

 

The number of degree courses on offer at British universities has been slashed by more than a quarter in the past six years, new research suggests.

It reveals that there are almost 20,000 fewer full-time undergraduate courses available now than there were in 2006.

The study, by the University and College Union (UCU) found cuts across a range of subjects, from the sciences, to arts and humanities.

England, where tuition fees will rise to a maximum of £9,000 a year this autumn, has been the hardest hit, with almost a third fewer courses on offer, it claims. UCU said that the findings showed that funding cuts were affecting course availability, which could be damaging to students.

 

 

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NHS news review

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Conservative election poster 2010

A few recent news articles about the UK’s Conservative and Liberal-Democrat(Conservative) coalition government – the ConDem’s – brutal attack on the National Health Service.

Andrew Lansley wins battle to keep NHS risk assessment under wraps

Labour motion demanding publication of document defeated despite growing disquiet among Tory and Lib Dem MPs

Health secretary Andrew Lansley looks more determined than ever not to reveal the findings of a risk assessment done on the government’s NHS shakeup.

Lansley won the support of MPs, who voted on Wednesday by a majority of 53 against a Labour motion that the Department of Health should make its document public. However, growing disquiet among some Conservative MPs and Liberal Democrats was voiced by Lib Dem MP John Pugh, who told the often bad-tempered debate that the bill was “toxifying the Tories” and “sadly detrimental” to his party.

Lansley suggested to MPs that he might refuse to release the risk register even if instructed to do so by a tribunal due to meet in a fortnight to judge on his dispute with the information commissioner, who has instructed him to publish.

Shameless immoral lying scumbag Lansley twice refused the opportunity to tell MPs he would accept the tribunal’s judgment. Answering deputy Lib Dem leader Simon Hughes, the health secretary instead quoted from an article in the Observer by the information commissioner, in which Christopher Graham said he was “not infallible”.

PM accused of NHS ‘deception’

Labour’s Easington MP Grahame Morris said Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron “has broken his promise of no top-down reorganisation by deploying WMD, weapons of mass deception, to conceal the true nature of his reforms.”

He added: “We know the danger to the future of the NHS with up to 49 per cent of work carried out in NHS hospitals done by the private sector and every service provided by the NHS put out to competitive tender, making it vulnerable to private sector takeover.”

 

Critic of NHS reforms demands health secretary apology

Speaking to Channel 4 News John Ashton, one of Cumbria’s top doctors, demands a government apology after being summoned to explain himself to local NHS chiefs for criticising planned health reforms.

Professor John Ashton, who is director of public health for Cumbria, told Channel 4 News that attempts to silence him were authoritarian and very scary, and he wants an apology from the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley after he received an official letter warning that he could be in breach of the NHS code of conduct.

According to the letter, the code made it “inappropriate for individuals to raise personal concerns about the proposed Government reforms”, and Profesor Ashton was asked to attend a meeting with the chief executive of NHS Cumbria to explain himself. The professor said he understood it didn’t come from the local Primary Care Trust – but those “higher up the food chain”.

Angry GPs fear shake-up poses major threat to future of NHS

Middleton’s GPs have joined a chorus of condemnation against the proposed shake-up of the NHS.

The Rochdale and Bury Local Medical Committee (RBLMC), which represents GPs in the area, fear the controversial Health and Social Care Bill could threaten the future of the NHS.

The bill, which has attracted widespread criticism, proposes giving GPs control of much of the NHS budget and opening up the health service to greater competition from the private and voluntary sector. The government believes the bill will make the NHS more accountable to patients, improve public health and cut bureaucracy slashing NHS management costs by 45 per cent.

But RBLMC secretary Dr Mohammed Jiva, from Peterloo Medical Centre on Manchester Old Road, fears the move will jeopardises the future of the NHS.

He said: “The majority of GPs, including the Royal College of General Practitioners supported by many other clinicians, all concur that the proposed Bill will be detrimental to the future of the NHS.

“Already the NHS locally has stopped funding many services that were historically available but which now needs to be privately paid for by the patient if the public requires the procedure.

“This is likely to get worse as the NHS attempts to make more savings by decommissioning more and more services.

 

 

 

 

 

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2105095/Prime-Minister-takes-Tescos-attacks-critics-workfare-scheme.html

The Prime Minister will use an appearance with the Prince of Wales to launch his most outspoken attack to date on critics who argue company executives are ‘out for themselves’.

‘We have got to fight this mood with all we’ve got,’ Mr Cameron will say, describing business as ‘the most powerful force for social progress the world has ever known’.

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