You avoidance again is noted...Troll!
What makes you think your stuff is secure?

david brooks (aka bd, boaterdave) (Devon area) You claim an

association with MI5 so are you out monitoring the strikers??





Up to two million public sector workers in Britain went on strike Wednesday
over changes to their pensions, after the government responded to slashed
growth forecasts with fresh spending cuts.

In what unions said was the biggest walkout in decades, only one school in
10 in England was fully open, hospitals were operating with skeleton staff
and local authorities were paralysed.

Striking workers picketed parliament and public sector buildings in central
London and more than 1,000 demonstrations were planned across Britain during
the 24-hour strike in scenes reminiscent of the 1970s.

However, fears of long delays at London's Heathrow airport , one of the
world's busiest air hubs, failed to materialise as two-thirds of immigration
officials turned up for work.

Cross-channel rail services were also operating largely as normally, as were
the Channel ports.

The strike is the biggest test so far of Prime Minister David Cameron's
Conservative-Liberal Democrat government , which sparked the unions' fury by
making public sector workers pay more into their pensions and work longer.

Anger rose further on Tuesday when finance minister George Osborne targeted
the pay of teachers, nurses and soldiers and revealed plans to cut an extra
300,000 public sector jobs as he sharply reduced Britain's growth forecasts.

Osborne infuriated the unions by announcing a new two-year, one-percent cap
on public sector pay rises.

On Wednesday, Osborne he warned that the strike would only harm the economy,
and called for unions to return to negotiations.

"The strike is not going to achieve anything, it's not going to change
anything," the Chancellor of the Exchequer told BBC TV.

"It is only going to make our economy weaker and potentially cost jobs.

"So let's get back round the negotiating table, let's get a pension deal
that is fair to the public sector, that gives decent pensions for many, many
decades to come but which this county can also afford and our taxpayers can
afford."

Cameron underlined the government's message, telling parliament he was angry
that the strike was called "at a time when negotiations are still under way"
and downplayed the turnout, calling it a "damp squib".

The unions were unrepentant.

Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), said
the government has put the public sector "under attack" and the strike was
fully justified.

"There comes a time when people really have to stand up and make a stand,"
he told ITV.

"With the scale of change the government are trying to force through, making
people work much, much longer and get much, much less, that's the call
people have made."

In Salford, northwest England, around 30 refuse collectors manning a picket
line outside their depot dismissed claims that their pensions were
"gold-plated" compared to those in the private sector.

Neil Clarke, a union organiser with Unite, said: "The government is
attacking our pension schemes -- they are looking for public sector workers
to contribute more, work longer and receive less in pension benefits.

"The average public sector pension comes in at £3,000 ($4,650, 3,500 euros)
a year. Could you live on £3,000 a year?"

Passengers arriving at Heathrow airport reported few problems, despite prior
warnings that delays of up to three hours were likely.

A British Airways spokesman said: "We've had a positive start to the day and
queues are pretty much as normal.

"There are reports that around two-thirds of the Border Agency staff are
working at Heathrow."

Elsewhere in England, the light rail train system was closed down by the
strike in the northeast city of Newcastle, while commuters struggled to get
to work in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland.

A giant union rally was to take place in the industrial central city of
Birmingham and 300,000 workers were expected to walk out in Scotland.

Under the government's proposals, public sector workers will be asked to
work until they are 66 and increase their pension contribution payments.

Staff face a lower pension payout, based on their average salary as opposed
to the final salary schemes to which they are currently tied.


"~BD~" <~BD~@nomail.afraid.org> wrote in message
news:jb5mmt$1n5$1@dont-email.me...
Bullwinkle. wrote:
> What makes you think your stuff is secure?