Rafa's Peggy's

I accept that some people were happy to see the back of Rafa and I can see why anybody might wanted him to go. However, the level of disrespect and abuse that the man gets is fucking shameful and, in my view, unprecedented. You can hold a view that it was the right decision to get rid without pissing all over his legacy and branding him a 'failure'. The man gave me and other reds my age the greatest moments in our football lives and made us feared again all around the world. He was also the one first responsible for highlighting the ownership situation to the wider masses. His last season wasn't good enough, of that there is no doubt. However, to brand him a 'failure' after he got us to 2 European Cup Finals and closer to winning the league than at any time in the last 15-20 years is wrong and completely undermining some great memories and achievements.

What are your short, medium and long term objectives for the club and how long do you think it will take to have the club competing with the best, both on and off the pitch? After 2 months in charge, much of which you have spent evaluating the club's position, is the club in a better or worst state than you expected it to be when you were buying it?

Thanks la, boss to hear from you mate and sorry it's been a while. The baby is great and the wife is too. Not sure about us plebs keeping the country habitable for you to come back to, they've got to let you come back first!!! Send me an email with what you've been up to mate and I promise I'll respond. See ya soon, stay safe.

Good. We need a good turnout to try to build on the momentum that has built up over the last few weeks over the tuition fees issue.

All, Merseyside Public Sector Alliance is organising a march and demonstration this Saturday (11th December) to protest against the ConDem Government's vicious programme of spending cuts. The aim of the event is to promote the genuine alternative to the spending cuts, much of which will effect Liverpool and similar cities disproportionately due to an already higher than average claimant count and heavy public sector employment. Instead of draconian cuts to public spending we say: Collect the £120bn of uncollected, avoided and evaded tax from big business and rich individuals Introduce a 'Robin Hood' Tax on financial institutions, the people who put us in this mess in the first place Free up billions by not renewing Trident Invest in housing, public transport and green technology to create jobs and provide an infrastructure for the future We will be assembling for the event at the Metropolitan Cathedral (Paddy's Wigwam) at 11am and then marching to Liverpool Town Hall for a rally that will be addressed by leading figures from Unite the Union, the PCS Union, the NUT and RMT. Neither of the parties in Government have a mandate for making the cuts they are proposing and in the case of the Lib Dems, many of the cuts completely contradict pledges they made in the run up to the election. No real debate has ever been held on the neccessity for cuts or the alternatives, only on how deep and vicious the cuts will be. Please come along and support the event and help us fight back against the class war being launched by the millionaires in Government. Thanks and I hope to see you there.

Good read that. I've got to say that I'm really bought into the principal of having one person at executive level overseeing the football ethos of the club. I like the idea of having one way of playing from kids to youth to first team, as I think it's the only effective way of bringing through not just superstars, but players who know their role and fit into the system. Managers should then be recruited on the basis of being able to work to the style we want. Speaking as a fan of Rafa, I had a problem with the amount of control he got in his last contract, as managers come and go too easily and having to change internal structures every time you change a manager is not healthy for the club. We'll see if it works out, but it's good to see that the new owners have identified long term stability as a priority so early into their reign.

So he should as well. Hopefully enough time has passed for people to reflect on his achievements rather than concentrate on the couple of years after his health problems. I for one will be making an effort to welcome him back.

It's a scandal that a man with such a bad track record and such a despicable thing on his copy book is allowed anywhere near public service television. On a personal note, it always amazes me the amount of air time cunts like him get, yet trade union leaders never seem to get invited on, even though much of the debate is dominated by the economy and the effect on people. E-mail campaign is a good idea. We should give this scumbag a reminder that we are not going away.

Can open, worms everywhere. I disagree with the criticism of them from an ownership perspective. To be fair, they have put their professional reputations on the line and deserve credit for, at minimum, getting Hicks and Gillett out of the club. Whether they sold to the right people will be judged later, but job number one was done and done well. I agree they shouldn't have sacked Rafa without having a top class replacement lined up. If they thought he weren't the man anymore, they could have kept him until they sold and allowed the new owners to pick their own man. Alternatively, they should have put Dalglish in on a short term basis as he would have had a galvanising effect on everybody at the club and some of the deadwood would have known that if they chose to lock horns with him, there would be only one winner. Whatever way you look at it, they fucked up getting Hodgson. Doesn't belong here, done nothing to warrant being here and won't be here for much longer.

I can see you are an articulate lad, but I find it difficult to take your position seriously when I know that if your party leadership hadn't sold the country a pup you would be likely knocking on doors opposing many of the cuts being announced. This Government are in it for the long game? Name me a single thing that they have announced that shows that? No real investment in Green technology to create jobs, no real investment in manufacturing, university budgets slashed, anticipated cuts in the Sure Start scheme which has been proven to make a real difference to the lives of poorer families, I could go on. You are probably aware that I am no fan or apologist of the last Government, but those 'bogus' public sector jobs that you mentioned were doctors, nurses, teachers and other workers who provide the services that people actually quite like. The last Tory government left the NHS,for example, in an absolute mess and it took investment to fix. My wife has just had a baby in Whiston Hospital, which is a fine example of first class facilities being accessible to people who couldn't otherwise afford it. You can defend this Governments actions and say they are in the national interest if you wish. The proof will be in the pudding,if they are strong enough to resist the inevitable resistance that will mount.

I think calling them 'petulant children' is a bit insulting when in reality you probably know very little about this dispute and the underlying reasons for it. As someone who works on daily basis to make sure my colleagues are treated with respect and dignity, I feel angry for what happened to you. However, the bit in bold is one of the most depressing things I've ever read and probably sums up why it is harder to get people to take a principled stand on anything these days. I'm just glad that people like Nelson Mandela didn't feel that way.

That's a pretty damning assessment of Trade Unions, seeing as workers in workplaces with Trade Union recognition are better paid and better protected than those without. If your definition of being dragged 'kicking and screaming into the present' is not allowing members terms and conditions to be torn up in the name of 'modernisation', then guilty as charged. As far as Scargill goes, I don't disagree that it became a personal dual by the end of the dispute and by God I wish he'd have succeeded in bringing that witch down. However, as a poster said above, much of what he said was entirely accurate regarding the pit closures and what Thatcher and co were up to. Inevitably, Scargill is painted as the villain, despite the fact that the bitch used the whole establishment against ordinary workers and destroyed whole communities in the North with the strategy she pursued.

Blunt assessment, but I find it hard to disagree with any of it. On mobilising 'the resistance', I take heart over what was done to oppose the Iraq war not so long ago. Millions taking to the streets around the world, with over a million in London alone. I said in another thread that you have to give people something to mobilise around and get them interested and engaged, and I stand by that. How you achieve that is something for debate and that is what is currently happening in trade union circles. What annoys me is that no prominent politicians have got the balls to call this what it is - class war. Gordon Brown shit out in the run up to the election when he got criticised by the media after making the 'dreamed up on the playing fields of Eton' comment. Despite the social engineering, I think there is still enough of 'us' to make a difference.

I wouldn't say people will go as far as riots, but once the cuts start really effecting people's lives, I believe people can be mobilised. It will take work from like minded individuals and groups to make it happen, but it's possible.

My union, PCS, did a study using IDS' own example of somebody in Merthyr Tydfil going to find a job in Cardiff. Below are the results: The city where Iain Duncan Smith claims people from Merthyr Tydfil should go to find work currently has almost nine times more jobseekers than jobs, research by PCS shows. Figures obtained by the union for the day following the work and pensions secretary’s statement about unemployed workers ‘getting on the bus’, show there are 15,000 people in Cardiff chasing just 1,700 jobs. On Friday 22 October there were 1,670 unemployed people in Merthyr, south Wales, and 39 job vacancies, all temporary and part-time. The number of people out of work in Merthyr and Blaenau Gwent combined was more than the total number of job vacancies for the whole of Wales. Of the Cardiff vacancies, the vast majority were temporary and part-time. Of the temporary jobs, most were unskilled labouring for just one or three weeks’ duration. The most popular vacancy on the day the union carried out its research was a Christmas job in a well known store working four-hour shifts on Saturdays and Sundays for the national minimum wage. Among the permanent jobs was work in a casino or bars. Neither offered help with journeys home afterwards and the last bus out of Cardiff leaves at 11.06pm. Workers from outside the city might be able to get the bus to work, but they would not be able to get home. Nationally, there are 2.5 million people out of work and fewer than 500,000 job vacancies. As part of this week’s spending review, the government admitted 490,000 public sector workers could lose their jobs and economists predict this could lead to another half a million private sector job cuts. These figures prove it is not a question of people not being willing to work, there simply are not enough jobs for them to do – and there are unlikely to be any time soon because of the government’s plans to cut public spending, including cutting 15,000 more jobs in the Department for Work and Pensions. Far from being about ‘fairness’, the union says Duncan Smith’s comments were part of an orchestrated campaign by coalition government ministers to recast some of the most vulnerable members of our society as the new ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor to help clear the ground for the biggest assault on the welfare state in living memory. Also, the fact is that when people sign on, they already sign a jobseekers agreement that says they are prepared to travel up to an hour by bus to find work. After six months this goes up to an hour and a half. If their travel is within an hour, the cost is not refunded so the jobseeker is required to find the money themselves out of their jobseekers allowance. Instead of vilifying the unemployed PCS says the government should be creating jobs and opportunities to help people get back to work and to help our economy to grow. It should also put proper resources into jobcentres to help jobseekers find suitable employment. I also watched Danny Alexander on the telly yesterday talking about what a good idea it was to have unemployed people do community service as it will give them something to put on their CV. This makes out as if the unemployed are all lazy bastards with no prospects, when the vast majority are people that are unemployed as a result of the recesssion and because there are no fucking jobs. These lot are dangerous. They have no empathy or real life experience with the issues they are making decisions on. Treating the unemployed like some kind of fucking chain gang will be the last straw.

Slowly, slowly catch the monkey. The anger is building.

This is David Cameron, the millionaire who so gallantly refused to accept his ministerial wage, using public funds to hire vanity staff for an amount equal to that which he has claimed it is so digraceful to pay housing benefit to the poor. Well I know were I'd rather my money went.

If the builder consulted them on their original work, then I don't understand why you bothered touching it. Fuck them the hard faced bastards. N.B. This might not actually be a solution, but I hate people picking on vulnerable people.

Thats probably true of some, but not all. Believe me, some are rubbing their hands at the mandate they are being given.

Striking alone won't save the jobs and services that will be lost and thats not what I'm saying. If public sector workers participate in an effective opposition to the cuts by proposing genuine alternatives, such as closing the tax loopholes, and look to engage the public and politicians in the campaign, we can all build pressure on the Government similar to the Poll Tax era. I realise that people might not be willing to build such a resistance right now, but when the cuts start biting I'm positive that the situation will change. However,I realise that it's up to the likes of me to communicate the message in a way which engages people and gives them a part to play. I'd rather do that than see millions suffer unnecessarily whilst the rich get richer and the people who put us into this situation remain unscathed.

Excellent post. The Coalition plans will actually increase the national debt over the next 5 years, due the extra welfare bills that will need to be paid. There is absolutely no growth strategy in what they are doing, just crossed fingers that the private sector will magic jobs that they are failing to create now.

'Cushy Number' or working conditions that are favourable, you have worked to for a while and you have based your family life around? The issue here is that workers don't feel as if a coherent case for the introduction of the new shifts has been presented. Therefore, why should they stay silent and let the employer impose them? Regardless of all that, the reason for the strike was because the employer callously threatened the firefighters with the sack, not because of the proposals themselves.

The French who have got working conditions and social policies which are the envy of many other countries and why? People have been prepared to defend themselves, thats why. I wish we were a bit more like the French to be honest. Maybe then millions wouldn't be staring a retirment at 70 with shitty pensions in the face.

I can almost guarantee that they won't, because if they announce another date the propaganda machine will go into action again and they will be criticised. It's common place with industrial disputes these days due to the extent that the mainstream media,including the BBC, has moved to the right. As I said earlier in the thread, public support during industrial disputes is good to get and all unions worth their salt work to get it. However, it's difficult to achieve when large parts of the media aren't really interested in your side of the story.