Chippy Minton

Huguenot - you're quite prepared to accuse others of being poorly informed yet you state BA is losing money. It is not. BA posted a healthy profit last year despite the cost of strikes, the ash cloud, snow, weak economy etc!

The simple and obvious answer is there is absolutely no point in vandalism, trespass and graffitti. These actions were disgusting and were comprehensively condemed by the vast and overwhemingly majority of the hundreds of thousands that were there on Saturday. With regard to UKUncut, they are a civil disobedience group, which seemed to be hijacked by anarchists on Saturday. They had absolutely nothing to do with organising or stewarding the march.

My car finally died last week and it's not worth spending any more more on it. So, with the price of unleaded petrol now, I'm thinking of getting an LPG converted car. Anyone have any experience of these? I've got no real idea - I assume a specialist has to do the servicing etc - are there any local places? Are there many filling stations in the area or am I going to have to go further afield to fill up? What other issues would you consider?

I don't deny we need to close the deficit, just that we need to look at a number of alternatives that don't involve deep, rapid and unfair cuts in spending. This should involve looking at a longer timetable to allow economic growth and introducing a fair tax system. You remarked previously about tax avoidance, which is obviously perfectly legal, but by closing the ?40 billion annual tax gap by more efficient enforcement and closing loopholes we could go a long way to avoiding the wholescale cuts that we all now face.

You have completely missed the point. The March for the Alternative is not a Unite march. Unite are just backing the march and the original post was simply asking if anyone wanted any of the material Unite have produced to promote it! The link to Unite's website is not meant to provide detail about the alternative options - it is meant to provide detail about how people can promote and get to the demostration. If you want detail I suggest you go to the TUC's http://marchforthealternative.org.uk/ website because it is the TUC that is actually organising the march or if you want detail about Unite's Don't Break Britain campaign go to http://www.dontbreakbritain.org Loz - I disagree with your 'cloud-cukoo land' assertion. Spending cuts on the scale proposed by the government won?t help the economy - cutting spending is not the same as cutting the deficit. They are trying to close the deficit in just four years by cutting ?4 in spending for every extra ?1 raised in tax, but they have conveiently ignored the fact that the amount of tax they collect depends on how strong the economy is. If the economy does well, it will help close the deficit. If businesses become more successful and more people are in work then they pay more tax. The scale of cuts will slow down the economy, and therefore reduce the tax taken and putting one million out of work will not increase tax collected either! The cuts are a false economy. It is a myth that there isn't an alternative - the scale of the cuts are damaging, unfair and unnecessary. Everyone in the country will be adversly affected in some way. As for the Robin Hood Tax that you seem so dismissive about, I agree it's unlikely to get worldwide support, however why can't individual countries can act alone? Also, I don't accept cost is only reason that financial institutions are in the UK - there is a half per cent UK stamp duty on shares that raises ?3 billion a year, but when it was implemented these financial institutions didn't leave the the country and it's now wholly accepted with the London Stock Exchange second busiest in the world. If you want to know more about the Robin Hood Tax, this film is pretty good: Anyway, anyone want any posters or leaflets?

This demonstration is not about opposing a particular cut or cuts. There are dozens and dozens of smaller demonstrations held every week throughout the country that allow individuals and communities to focus on issues that particularly matter to them. The March for the Alternative is a massive national demonstration that will see thousands and thousands of people from all around the country come to London to show the government that they reject their ideologically based cuts and that there is an alternative.

hmmmmmm...not sure if this is a deliberate wind up or not, but for clarity, the cuts you seem to have not heard about are the government's programme of fast and deep public spending cuts that will damage public services and put more than a million people out of work. Every person in the country will be affected in some way. They [the cuts] are headline news on TV and radio everyday.

Anyone else going to this? I've got loads of the glossy posters, leaflets etc if anyone wants any to display or to give out to friends/colleagues rather than having to download and print them from here: http://www.unitetheunion.org/marchforalternative

I ended up taking a chance at the CPT, thinking a) it wouldn't be that busy, and b) they've quite a few tellys so at least one would have the match. Obviously I was wrong and having got there a bit late anyway, we decided against the yomp down to Hoopers - not too bad a choice given the final result :( If Sky ever show a Reading game again that doesn't clash with either an international rugger match or an ESPN Premier League game I'll be amazed! Until that happens, I'll have to remember Hoopers for next time.

This is a long shot as I'm sure everywhere will have the rugby on, but is anywhere showing the Reading v QPR match tonight?

All employees, whether part-time or full-time, and regardless of how long they have been in the job, have a right to take ?reasonable? time off work to deal with unexpected problems or illness of dependants (for example, children or elderly parents). Unfortunately this ?dependant care leave? is unpaid, unless your employer agrees otherwise. The amount of this leave you can take is limited to what might be deemed ?reasonable? although what is reasonable is not defined in law. In practice, the Department of Trade and Industry has said that, in most cases, one or two days every time leave is taken should be enough.

Our daughter starts at Heber in a few weeks. Where's the best place to get the uniform? Also, as we are new to having to buy a uniform, what exactly do you think she needs? A mixture of generic skirts/dresses along with a couple of specific sweatshirts branded with the logo from the school?

We've been allocated our place and we're happy with it. We've accepted the place via email, but have heard nothing since. Anyone know what the next steps are? Presumably Southwark will write again, possibly asking for proof of where we live or telling us what we need to do next?

We're thinking of looking for a nanny. We know we'll be paying their tax, NI contributions and providing annual leave, but if they left because they were having a baby would will be required to pay statutory maternity pay? If so, would this we get this as a rebate from the Government? How does it all work?

Hi Sledge We're in a similar situation. Our 4-year old will be starting school in September and whilst we'll be happy for her to go to breakfast/after school clubs some days, we wouldn't really want her to do that 5-days a week (even if we get a place in the clubs, which I'm sure is another issue). Therefore, we'll need someone for school-runs. Then, we also have an 8-week old girl that we'll need to find childcare for from July. We had been hoping to find a childminder that could have the baby and also do a few, pre-determined, school runs in the mornings and afternoons. To be honest, we've no idea if this is realistic or not. If it isn't, we'll be exploring the nanny/nanny-share option. Chippy