Bring it on!

I suspect it's most commonly because they want to be home at a
reasonable hour and have a given amount of work that needs to be done.

 

What would be a reasonable hour to leave?

If I routinely started at 0700, I would expect to be leaving by 1500.

Anyone that does differently is mad and their employer is a pisstaking
****.

Of course, in the UK, this sort of thing is quite common, as it has become
part of the work culture. A diseased work culture.

 

My employer was the NHS - the head of which was a politician with a
weather-eye on the media's annual calls for us overpaid and
underworked managers to be sacked. So a bunch of pisstaking cunts
really.

I quite agree. The TUs seem to have lost their teeth, which is a pity.

 

Well the former I agree with completely. So that would be (say) 1 week
per month. It's a tough job so give them 60 days holiday.
The latter, I don't understand? if you are going to be an MP you should
be doing NOTHING ELSE workwise for your tenure.

Chatting about this over the weekend I wonder if a much lower salary
with reasonable expenses isn't the right tack. Peg MP's at the national
average wage. So currently about £24k. And a restriction on terms to 4
back bench terms plus any additional Cabinet or PM terms achieved. I
think we would get a far more interesting crop of applicants. Real
issue and political activist types.

 

I don't usually leave before 6 and often 21:45

 

Indeed. Provided there's enough time to do each of the jobs properly.

Oh, wait - MPs are so damn busy that they have to work until midnight...

No need to worry about very long breaks, then.

 

@news.zen.co.uk:

Why should MPs operate differently to the rest of the population? They are
supposed to be representative, after all.

Also, where do you draw the line?

People earn money from hobbies. Should an MP be excluded from selling their
photographs or water colours?

What about unearned income? We want successful people to become MPs. If
they have a private income from property or equity should they forego that
for their tenure? Sell their mansion and move into a 3 bed semi? Withdraw
their kids from Harrow and send them to the local Academy?

What about getting their point of view across in the media? Should Rupert
Murdoch get their services for free if they write an article in the Times?

We want MPs with areas of expertise so that committees can understand the
complexities of science etc. If medics and academics, for example, fail to
keep up to speed with developments in their areas of expertise then that
could weaken the effectiveness of some committees. This would be a bad
thing IMV. We need to move towards a Parliament that is better controlled
by committees of MPs, rather than letting the executive dictate.

 

Close. 10:30pm, twice a week. Much earlier the rest of the time

http://www.parliament.uk/faq/business_faq_page.cfm

 

Should their employer be expected to adjust their working hours to allow
time for them to paint?

Can't they do that in their own time? After all, they surely wouldn't
expect the NHS or the university to vary their hours of work
significantly to accommodate their political extra-curricular activities.

 

Mine still is the NHS - and things are truly national in that respect - I
am always at my desk by 7:30 - it's a chance to catch up with what's
happened since I left at about 6 to 7 the night before.

Yes - it's pisstaking by the employers, but I wouldn't do it unless I
thought it was worth it.

 

Colin Irvine posted:

AIUI, when they had teeth, a few of them didn't know when to stop
biting, and ruined the job for the rest.

 

No. That's when they do the painting.

It's quite common for an employer to give their staff time off for
political, sporting or military extra-curricular activities. Our councils,
unions, territorial army and Olympic squads would not exist otherwise.

 

Are you being obtuse? There are quite a few jobs out there where you
may not take other paid employment. It is no different. Clearly many
other things that people do in their own time, which may be revenue
generating, are perfectly acceptable. I don't see how what I said could
be taken otherwise.

 

snip>

£24k? What kind of person do you want to attract?

 

So you expect them to work a 14 hour day then travel back to their
home because you think they shouldn't be allowed to have a second
residence closer to where they work?

Interesting concept.

 

One who wants to make a difference to the country, not just have a nice
lucrative power-trip career.

 

I said it in the text you snipped. People who don't care what the
income is but do care about the role and their issues and policies. you
and I wouldn't but most people, many Grads included, aspire to that sort
of income.

 

On Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:15:54 +0100, Colin Irvine

snip>

Have they? We walked out again today and I think tomorrow may be more
of the same.

 

They should have a nice residential block nearby where non local MP's
get a flat.

 

Oh you fucking Trot ;o)