In todays news...

[Yambo]

At some point in a lot of women's lives they just want to pop off and have a child or two. They may never come back after that. There's a school of thought that a women who doesn't want to have children is going to be the wrong sort of person for some top jobs and the ones that do are not worth promoting because they'll not stay the distance.

Men and women are different, it's as simple as that.

[Mussels]

Because to get the highest salary, the largest pay rise, the best bonus you've got to be confident, forceful, not afraid of confrontation, lacking in empathy to an extent so that you aren't worried about upsetting others to get what you believe you deserve etc. Predominantly male personality traits. Not by much are they predominant, but enough to make a difference when looking at an average across a large population. So males, on average, earn more because of their male personality traits suiting individual, one-on-one, negotiation NOT because they are any better at their job than a female or because of any gender bias outside of teh ability to push for the best for yourself.

Same as the FTSE 100 CEO trope that gets pushed in the media as a demonstration of sexism and inequality. Less than 10% of the FTSE 100 companies have a female CEO....

But what personality traits do you need to reach the levels of being a FTSE100 company CEO and which sex shows a greater prevalence towards these traits?

I disagree in some ways, women are ruthless, precise and calculating, which is why I always favour a female CFO, they're simply better and less emotional about the numbers and people in relation to those numbers. If I'm sweating about redundancies then you can guarantee the female CFO won't be when she's looking at the P&L and letting people go because the numbers are down.

I've mentored two ladies to become Chartered Engineers, one through RICS and one through the IET. I find that lady Engineers are less gobby and more studious than the male counterparts, so they're better at back office work, although that might be because they're sick of dealing with gobby site Engineers who seem to struggle to give them the proper respect.

I find male CEOs that come from a non-finance background are more compassionate towards people, women CEOs from a finance or business background are ruthless.

I watched a clip from Jordan Peterson who reckoned that to be a CEO (a proper one of a big company, not CEO of a burger stall) you need an IQ in the top 1-2% and the emotional intelligence to apply it. He suggested that all these people that believe they can get there should take IQ tests and perhaps not waste their time if they're not up there.

Isn't that comparing apples with oranges?
What about male CEOs from a finance background and women CEOs from a non-finance background?

[ZRX61]

I've recently been in contact with a UK Member of Parliament. Actually, in contact with his wife, employed as his secretary. Are you suggesting that actually she's a .... ?

.. a bit of goer, know what I mean know, what I mean nudge nudge

[Horse]

Yesterday:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66035897

The chief executive of Thames Water has stepped down after two years in the role,

In a statement, Ms Bentley said
"The foundations of the turnaround that we have laid position the company for future success to improve service for customers and environmental performance. I wish everyone involved in the turnaround the very best."

Today:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66039170

Thames Water is in talks to secure extra funding as the government says it is ready to act in a worst case scenario if the company collapses.

The water firm, which serves a quarter of the UK population, has billions in debt

[Mr Moofo]

Yesterday:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66035897

The chief executive of Thames Water has stepped down after two years in the role,

In a statement, Ms Bentley said
"The foundations of the turnaround that we have laid position the company for future success to improve service for customers and environmental performance. I wish everyone involved in the turnaround the very best."

Today:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66039170

Thames Water is in talks to secure extra funding as the government says it is ready to act in a worst case scenario if the company collapses.

The water firm, which serves a quarter of the UK population, has billions in debt

How much has it paid out in dividends and bonuses in the last 10 years?

[MingtheMerciless]

Yesterday:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66035897

The chief executive of Thames Water has stepped down after two years in the role,

In a statement, Ms Bentley said
"The foundations of the turnaround that we have laid position the company for future success to improve service for customers and environmental performance. I wish everyone involved in the turnaround the very best."

Today:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66039170

Thames Water is in talks to secure extra funding as the government says it is ready to act in a worst case scenario if the company collapses.

The water firm, which serves a quarter of the UK population, has billions in debt

How much has it paid out in dividends and bonuses in the last 10 years?

You can only squeeze the Golden Goose so much........

[Horse]

How much has it paid out in dividends and bonuses in the last 10 years?

No idea. Google might help you.

Apart from the contrasting statements, it amused me that Thames Water is likely to go down the pan.

Ant may be along soon with some more water puns.

[ZRX61]

Tax evasion Vs tax fraud...

Hunter gets $800k from Burisma
Hunter sends the $800k to one of his 17 shell companies that is based in China
Hunter then loans himself the $800k from the shell company so he doesn't have to pay income tax on it...

That's tax fraud.

Not sure about the deal where he had a prostitute *employed* by one of the shell companies as a personal assistant... That may be just a creative job title.

It's a grey area but at the time in the UK at least it wasn't fraud. HMRC are hammering people for it anyway as they aren't too bothered about the law.

In the US it's evasion if you don't pay what you owe & it's fraud if you lie on the paperwork. That whole "It's a loan, not income" line of BS is why the IRS will slap you with income tax demands if you don't pay your credit card bills.
There's a Statute of Limitations on evasion, but fraud is for life.. which will bite my ex in the ass one day to tune of at least $500K in back taxes.. which will please me greatly.

[Horse]

Thames Water's announcement follows reports that the UK's privatised water and sewage companies paid £1.4bn in dividends in 2022, up from £540m the previous year.

Specifically:
Thames Water, which has said it will ban hosepipes in the coming weeks, paid shareholders £37.1 million last year [2021] and £1.6 billion over the past 12 years.

[Mr Moofo]

Thames Water's announcement follows reports that the UK's privatised water and sewage companies paid £1.4bn in dividends in 2022, up from £540m the previous year.

Specifically:
Thames Water, which has said it will ban hosepipes in the coming weeks, paid shareholders £37.1 million last year [2021] and £1.6 billion over the past 12 years.

Impressive - with such losses.
And someone else can pick up the bill

[Horse]

Thames Water's announcement follows reports that the UK's privatised water and sewage companies paid £1.4bn in dividends in 2022, up from £540m the previous year.

Specifically:
Thames Water, which has said it will ban hosepipes in the coming weeks, paid shareholders £37.1 million last year [2021] and £1.6 billion over the past 12 years.

Impressive - with such losses.
And someone else can pick up the bill

It's better than that. Because they're investing, they don't pay corporation tax.

[JackyJoll]

I've recently been in contact with a UK Member of Parliament. Actually, in contact with his wife, employed as his secretary. Are you suggesting that actually she's a .... ?

.. a bit of goer, know what I mean know, what I mean nudge nudge

[westers151]

Thames Water's announcement follows reports that the UK's privatised water and sewage companies paid £1.4bn in dividends in 2022, up from £540m the previous year.

Specifically:
Thames Water, which has said it will ban hosepipes in the coming weeks, paid shareholders £37.1 million last year [2021] and £1.6 billion over the past 12 years.

I wonder how many olympic sized swimming pools £1.6 billion would get you? That's what Thames water pipes leak a day (an Olympic sized swimming pool's worth).

However, I'm not convinced bringing utilities (or anything), back into public control would be any better.

[Count Steer]

Thames Water's announcement follows reports that the UK's privatised water and sewage companies paid £1.4bn in dividends in 2022, up from £540m the previous year.

Specifically:
Thames Water, which has said it will ban hosepipes in the coming weeks, paid shareholders £37.1 million last year [2021] and £1.6 billion over the past 12 years.

I wonder how many olympic sized swimming pools £1.6 billion would get you? That's what Thames water pipes leak a day (an Olympic sized swimming pool's worth).

However, I'm not convinced bringing utilities (or anything), back into public control would be any better.

I don't have a rosy tinted view of how brilliant the water industry was before privatisation (after all they used to/were allowed to dump sewage in the sea as routine rather than just frequently) but it's hard to imagine Thames Water being allowed to be asset stripped, milked and hollowed out like Macquarie did to it if it was public. To me the problem isn't simply ownership it's the whole governmental framework and regulatory regime that stands back and watches it happen. (It's no surprise that one of the new bosses following the exit of the Chief Exec is ex Ofwat )

[ZRX61]

This is spectacular, it's now been declared that carbon capture is racist because it will lead to slowing the end of the oil industry & thus negatively impact communities of color...

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/white- ... reen-goals

[Yorick]

I thought Elton smashed it, great performance as always, this man is 76!

I have seen him 2 times before at Bestival and Reading, both times he was amazing.

The Rocketman film is worth a watch too if you haven't seen it before.

Just watched him doing Rocket Man.
Properly awesome

[Count Steer]

I don't have a rosy tinted view of how brilliant the water industry was before privatisation (after all they used to/were allowed to dump sewage in the sea as routine rather than just frequently) but it's hard to imagine Thames Water being allowed to be asset stripped, milked and hollowed out like Macquarie did to it if it was public. To me the problem isn't simply ownership it's the whole governmental framework and regulatory regime that stands back and watches it happen. (It's no surprise that one of the new bosses following the exit of the Chief Exec is ex Ofwat )

It's because they don't understand what is happening, it's like how they sat back whilst the Bank of England crashed the interest/inflation/money supply balance.

If governments and their regulators haven't understood what's happening in water (and energy*) they've been incompetent. If they have understood and let it happen they've been criminally incompetent.

(* and probably banking, railways, post etc but I'll stick with the sectors I know reasonably well).

[Ant]

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-66047270

It looks like the NHS sick rota is still in full swing.
When I joined a large hospital I was told by a supervisor that there is a sick rota, each member of staff pre-books their sick leave and in general it's seen as acceptable to use this to add a couple of weeks or so onto your annual leave.
I was aghast and said it was basically stealing money from your employer via deception, he said "Look son, it's been this way forever, we all take a few extra weeks off and my advice to you is don't rock the boat".

And in other news, councillors are quitting because they're being asked to actually go to work rather than sit at home.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-65996576
"Forcing councillors in England to attend meetings in person is leading to some quitting, councils have warned."

And NHS consultants are going on strike because they want a 35% pay rise. The staring salary of a consultant is 88,364, so they're asking for a pay rise of £30,927.40. Given everything else what is going on, cost of living etc, as the NHS is funded by the tax payer, they're treating the tax payer with contempt.

[Greenman]

How much has it paid out in dividends and bonuses in the last 10 years?

I was reading about it the other day, their CEO has been paid millions, whilst millions has been lost.
Staggering.

Staggering but not suprising, this has been going on for decades, some bloke on here called Greenman has been pointing it out a lot...

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-66047270

It looks like the NHS sick rota is still in full swing.
When I joined a large hospital I was told by a supervisor that there is a sick rota, each member of staff pre-books their sick leave and in general it's seen as acceptable to use this to add a couple of weeks or so onto your annual leave.
I was aghast and said it was basically stealing money from your employer via deception, he said "Look son, it's been this way forever, we all take a few extra weeks off and my advice to you is don't rock the boat".

And in other news, councillors are quitting because they're being asked to actually go to work rather than sit at home.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-65996576
"Forcing councillors in England to attend meetings in person is leading to some quitting, councils have warned."

And NHS consultants are going on strike because they want a 35% pay rise. The staring salary of a consultant is 88,364, so they're asking for a pay rise of £30,927.40. Given everything else what is going on, cost of living etc, as the NHS is funded by the tax payer, they're treating the tax payer with contempt.

I think the average wage is about £126,000 according to some toff senior doctor that was being interviewed on the beeb this week!

But that isn't for just a 40 hour week they will tell ya, and rightly so, if your getting that wage i would expect you to work longer than a fucking 40 hour week. They are just greedy c.unts!

I'd rather see all the lower paid doctors, paramedics and nurses get a pay rise who are probably working just as many hours and doing twice as much work!

[JackyJoll]

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-66047270

It looks like the NHS sick rota is still in full swing.
When I joined a large hospital I was told by a supervisor that there is a sick rota, each member of staff pre-books their sick leave and in general it's seen as acceptable to use this to add a couple of weeks or so onto your annual leave.
I was aghast and said it was basically stealing money from your employer via deception, he said "Look son, it's been this way forever, we all take a few extra weeks off and my advice to you is don't rock the boat".

And in other news, councillors are quitting because they're being asked to actually go to work rather than sit at home.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-65996576
"Forcing councillors in England to attend meetings in person is leading to some quitting, councils have warned."

Every now and again the media tells us which industries have high rates of sickness absence, without mentioning that these are the industries that give you six months sickness absence on full pay.