AFC Sudbury

[Pe├▒a Oxford United]

Pat├®, I think. She used to like liver but she's gone off it recently.

[Snake]

Thanks, but not keen on Paté.

As a minor present then I think some prawns, though I suppose it’s a bit early to wrap them up just yet.

[A-Ro]

Made some decisions today.

Definitely going to Sudbury next week, almost certainly going to Spain next Feb for the England game but I won't go if it's in Madrid because I don't want to be beaten up by Spanish coppers and I'm definitely going to the England game in Amsterdam next August even though I'll have to take 2 weeks off work because I've got tickets for the last Ashes Test at the Oval the following week.

What with the Barbados Test match in February, 2009 is going to be a SportTastic year and there's not even a World Cup or European championship.

Who'll feed the cat?

[Ascension Ox]

Made some decisions today.

Definitely going to Sudbury next week, almost certainly going to Spain next Feb for the England game but I won't go if it's in Madrid because I don't want to be beaten up by Spanish coppers and I'm definitely going to the England game in Amsterdam next August even though I'll have to take 2 weeks off work because I've got tickets for the last Ashes Test at the Oval the following week.

What with the Barbados Test match in February, 2009 is going to be a SportTastic year and there's not even a World Cup or European championship.

Who'll feed the cat?

Forget that, good to see the credit crunch doesn't exist for some. What are you , an insolvency practitioner?

[Snake]

ItÔÇÖs not all doom and gloom on the economy. For example, I have a whopping mortgage but itÔÇÖs also a tracker at 1% above base rate (with no collar). It also means you can negotiate better discounts on anything from the cash-in-hand rate for a plumber to a new fridge freezer. And as for the Iceland situation, well, they are almost giving away frozen prawns in that shop at the moment.

[OUFC4eva]

Agreed.

My mortgage is tracking at 0.18% above Barclays PLC base rate and I am &quotsaving&quot £200 a month.

But......there is no way I am chucking that money at the high street (which is what this govt. is desperately wanting me to do!)

[Snake]

The 2.5% drop in VAT will make a small but significant difference to my (recently vast) fuel bills, and will also benefit OUFC as like many retailers they appear to be keeping the money rather than passing it on to their customers (every little helps) and that extra £250 per home game from the casuals could fund another player until the end of the season, or even a new manager if they were to play the “admittedly we’re paying peanuts but if you want to kick start your career then you’d accept it..

[A-Ro]

Forget that, good to see the credit crunch doesn't exist for some. What are you , an insolvency practitioner?

No, an investment banker, as you already know, and the company I work for is now owned by the government so my bonus is going to be severely reduced and I'm not expecting to receive the benefit of a government pension either. Life isn't fair for everyone.

[Ascension Ox]

Forget that, good to see the credit crunch doesn't exist for some. What are you , an insolvency practitioner?

No, an investment banker, as you already know, and the company I work for is now owned by the government so my bonus is going to be severely reduced and I'm not expecting to receive the benefit of a government pension either. Life isn't fair for everyone.

I had no idea what you did. I bet a lot of sectors would like government assistance at the moment. (Actually I wouldn't be surprised if OUFC are looking for eased terms on their current VAT/PAYE commitments -like thousands of other small businesses. Count your blessings that the government stepped in to at least bail your employers out.

[A-Ro]

Yes it is possible we could have gone to the wall which is indeed a very scary prospect, not for myself especially but more for the country as a whole. There is a constant threat of redundancy here which doesn't make for a fantastic working environment but as you inferred it's better to be working than not.

This bonus situation is a strange one as well, I can understand the government wanting to be seen to be controlling the &quotFat Cat&quot culture but if they ever want to recoup their investment they are going to have to employ or at least retain the right level of staff to make the business a success and they won't achieve that if all the good staff go to those businesses who are still paying good bonuses.

[Pe├▒a Oxford United]

Mmm. But whether the chasing of ever bigger bonuses is actually what you want people to be doing is one of the questions which the economic crisis obviously raises, is it not?

[A-Ro]

2 points there, firstly I think the govt. would welcome more liquidity in the economy at the moment and secondly while there is free competition then people will do what they think is best for themselves and move jobs accordingly.

[Ancient Colin]

What would a bonus in 2008 be for? The idea of a bonus is that it is supposed to provide incentives for good performance and to align interests. One way might be to insist that bonuses (for senior staff) were in shares and that they couldn't be sold for a set period to encourage decisions that were at least in the medium term interests of shareholders/stakeholders.

Anyway, now under government control, always the chance of a new year's honour ... services to the collapse of global capitalism and capturing the commanding heights of the economy?

[A-Ro]

What would a bonus in 2008 be for?

You answered the question yourself

The idea of a bonus is that it is supposed to provide incentives for good performance

Just because those monkeys in the front office haven't performed very well doesn't mean that I haven't.

[Mally]

[quote=&quotSnake&quot]The 2.5% drop in VAT will make a small but significant difference to my (recently vast) fuel bills, and will also benefit OUFC as like many retailers they appear to be keeping the money rather than passing it on to their customers (every little helps) and that extra £250 per home game from the casuals could fund another player until the end of the season, or even a new manager if they were to play the “admittedly we’re paying peanuts but if you want to kick start your career then you’d accept it..