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13 Nov 07 - 09:25 AM (#2192659) Subject: BS: £100,00 for what? From: skipy From BBC Front Page News:- A scheme to clean and refurbish the tomb of King Edward II in Gloucester Cathedral has been awarded more than £40,000 of Lottery money. It is the 700th anniversary of the monarch's accession to the throne. The grant will go towards a restoration bill of £100,000 and will also support a series of anniversary events. £100,000? How the hell can they justify that for a clean up? Am I missing something here? The £40,000 of OUR money could have gone to fighting gun crime, fighting MRSA, Kids charities, hospital etc. etc. but no, we are going to buy solid gold mops & buckets & pay a specialist tomb cleaner £1000 an hour to clean it! Skipy |
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13 Nov 07 - 09:40 AM (#2192668) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: Sorcha My Brit history is a bit fuzzy...is this Longshanks? And I agree, skipy! Let the dead be dead! |
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13 Nov 07 - 09:46 AM (#2192675) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: John MacKenzie Not a titchy little tomb. G. |
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13 Nov 07 - 09:58 AM (#2192678) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: skipy I had taken a look at it, unless he was 75ft tall it's not that big! Still does not justify that sort of money! Skipy. (about to set up a tomb cleaning company)! |
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13 Nov 07 - 10:06 AM (#2192685) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: Peace It's the dusting wot'll take the time . . . . |
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13 Nov 07 - 10:28 AM (#2192702) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: skipy There is a theory that he was buried in Northern Italy! So perhaps it's the daily comuting that is putting the costs up! Skipy |
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13 Nov 07 - 11:36 AM (#2192744) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: Teribus Some points worthy of note: "From BBC Front Page News:- A scheme to clean and refurbish the tomb of King Edward II in Gloucester Cathedral has been awarded more than £40,000 of Lottery money. The grant will go towards a restoration bill of £100,000 and will also support a series of anniversary events." So let's get it clearly established here and now that it is Lottery money. The other £60,000 required is to raised from other sources. Skipy wails - "£100,000? How the hell can they justify that for a clean up? Am I missing something here?" Yes, obviously Skipy is missing something. Since when did resoration = clean up? But Skipy's wail continues: "The £40,000 of OUR money could have gone to fighting gun crime, fighting MRSA, Kids charities, hospital etc. etc. but no, we are going to buy solid gold mops & buckets & pay a specialist tomb cleaner £1000 an hour to clean it!" For a start Skipy the £40,000 is not your money, or our money, it ceased to be that the second the equivalent of 40,000 people waved goodbye to their bright shiny pound coins in the rather remote hope that they would win millions. If you are a Labour, or Nu-Labour supporter, socialist, lib-dem, Conservative, or "A Don't Know" and you are seriously stating that today in the UK we have to rely on the amount of money spent gambling each week to fight crime, fight MRSA, fund Kids charities, fund hospital etc. etc. Best emigrate chum your country's well and truly f****d. As you have not got the foggiest clue as to the work required to restore medieval stone work your last little blast of banality can best be left as a monument to your ignorance. In telling the tale and History of Gloucester Cathedral the Tomb is of extreme importance and as such it represents a significant piece of English history, Sorcha being from the US can be excused for dismissing such things so freely. But perhaps she might be interested to heard that if she ever wanted to visit the tomb of the man who wrote the tune to her own National Anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner" she would find herself in Gloucester Cathedral. As the Cathedral is the burial place of the man who composed the American national anthem. Organist and musician John Stafford-Smith was born and educated in Gloucester and composed the music in 1780. The words to "The Star-Spangled Banner" were written and set to Stafford Smith's music in 1812 by Frances Scott Key after a British attack on Baltimore. Classic example of somebody knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing, how much more dumbed down can we get. |
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13 Nov 07 - 11:41 AM (#2192745) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: GUEST,PMB It's all that intricate pokerwork.... Don't be a philistine Skipy, the tomb is 700 years old, and we have a duty to hand it on intact for future generations. Proper conservation work is slow and difficult, as you have to be sure that the treatment won't cause damage. The overall cost is half the price of a modest house, or about the same as a bus, or lunch and a round of drinks for a CBI meeting. |
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13 Nov 07 - 11:58 AM (#2192756) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: Emma B I can understand skipy's frustration to some degree. Although I've never personally ever played the lottery I know that many people who do believe their money is contributing to "charitable" causes. Perhaps more transparency on just what this money goes to fund and how decisions are arrived at between A or B might be desirable. For example to quote from a BBC news item "An extra £675m of lottery funds has helped cover the Olympics' £9.35bn budget, which has risen from £2.35bn." that is "Currently £1 in every £5 of lottery money spent on good causes is going towards the Olympics." |
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13 Nov 07 - 12:33 PM (#2192797) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: GUEST,BobL I understand that restoration work is the sort you might call labour intensive. In other words, a good chunk of that 40 grand will be going to pay the wages of skilled craftsmen. A worthwhile cause? |
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13 Nov 07 - 01:13 PM (#2192833) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: Bill D 700 man-hours with soft toothbrushes and scouring powder. |
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13 Nov 07 - 01:31 PM (#2192845) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: catspaw49 Skip, I love ya' man, but are you telling me people actually say, "Well I believe today I would like to contribute to a charitable cause. Isn't it wonderful that I might win a bit of money as a bonus?" C'mon Skip......Gimmee a break here........Maybe y'all are a lot different than we are over here in the great unwashed United States, but I can assure you that 99 out of every 100 rednecks in line to buy lottery tickets on payday are thinking, "Dear God bring me some luck 'cause the Powerball this week is 427 million clams!" In this state the lottery goes for mainly education and it does. The law that passed it into effect states that. But I can guarantee that when they passed that bill people around the Buckeye State were mainly thinking, "HOT SHIT!!! I'm gonna' win a gazillion bucks!!!" I don't play because a substantial portion of our taxes are already well and truly misspent by those in the educational system. More to the point, I also figure my chances of winning are exactly the same whether I play or not. Spaw |
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13 Nov 07 - 01:36 PM (#2192849) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: John MacKenzie Please see that my grave is kept clean |
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13 Nov 07 - 02:48 PM (#2192900) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: Severn With a bland Lemon-Freshened cleaning solotion, Giok? |
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13 Nov 07 - 03:42 PM (#2192938) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: Q (Frank Staplin) The district hospitals in Alberta, grossly underfunded by the province, run lotterys to which I always contribute. I believe some other provinces and states have to do the same. We also have a provincial lottery, but like catspaw, I let others spend on the tickets. Preserving the history and structures of the past is worthwhile. I watched some of the restoration work in York when I was there. I have no idea what the repair to the cathedral cost, but it must have been a few million. Benefit to York from tourism would be several times the cost of restorations. I have a medal given to my grandfather for his aid in raising funds to restore the USS Constitution many years ago; there are many deserving projects of this kind. |
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13 Nov 07 - 03:44 PM (#2192942) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: Rog Peek Skipy, if they can spend 28 million GBP on an asylum centre in Bicester Nr. Oxford that never got built, I guess they reckon' £100,000 for a dead king's tomb is just a drop in the ocean. You could be forgiven for thinking I made it up, so have a look at this and weep! http://uk.news.yahoo.com/politics/20071108/tpl-govt-criticised-for-28m-abandoned-as-81c5b50.html Rog |
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13 Nov 07 - 04:20 PM (#2192972) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: Emma B We have a lot of history I suppose... not all so generously supported Edward 11 was deposed in January, 1327. "Today, he is perhaps best remembered for his murder and its connection to Edward's alleged homosexual behaviour." Wiki quotes that - "all his father's efforts could not prevent his acquiring the habits of extravagance and frivolity which he retained all through his life". It's by no means certain whether this is indeed a "tomb" or merely a shrine to a singulary "flawed" monarch! and btw, it will cost you £3 to view the cathedral although I suppose you could just watch the first 2 Harry Potter films! You may have noticed I'm not a monarchist :) |
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13 Nov 07 - 04:36 PM (#2192985) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: skipy Hi Rog, it's just up the road from me so I am aware about. I still believe that the £100,000 figure was "pulled out of a hat". Oh! & yes if the work needs doing then it MUST be done I have no problem with, but I feel it is indicative of the waste in our society, in our NHS, in our schools etc. etc. After the attack by Teribus, another reminder of how vile a place the "Cat" can be! Skipy |
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13 Nov 07 - 04:52 PM (#2193000) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: Teribus Attack? Attack? It was you that asked the questions and I gave you some answers now I'll ask another couple: Are they buying solid gold mops & buckets & are they going to pay specialist tomb cleaner £1000 an hour to clean it? No thought not. But one thing is for sure Skipy your £1000 an hour is not too far under the £820 per hour being paid to Consultants to the NHS who would stand around and write a report on fighting MRSA. £40,000 a bloody drop in the ocean, government waste that amount wouldn't raise a blip on the screen. |
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13 Nov 07 - 04:55 PM (#2193002) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: Rog Peek You're absolutely right Skipy, I was just offering this as another example of the cavalier way in which they spend our hard earned money, without any real accountability. When it comes to providing, for example, life giving drugs to sick people they can be very frugal, under an 'efficient use of public money' banner. When it suits them however they can, as you say, pull random, often very large, sums of money 'out of the hat' apparently with little concern for efficiency. The only consequence then for squandering large sums of public money that could be spent on the NHS or Education seems to be a mild rebuke by the National Audit Office. Rog. |
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13 Nov 07 - 05:15 PM (#2193016) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: Emma B O heavens Teribus - never employed hyperbole? I bet they work for less than £1000 per hour :) |
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13 Nov 07 - 05:39 PM (#2193040) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: The Vulgar Boatman Talking of the National Audit Office, and risking a small thread drift, has anyone noticed the number of cuts in all sorts of research funding and services (NERC, British Geological Survey, Family Records Centre, British Waterways, and a lot of academic funding - check them out on a weekly basis...)that are quietly going on right now un-noticed by the great grey masses 'cos they don't give a monkey's tabernacle anyway? Of course it couldn't be just another way of diverting funds towards the hideous overspend anticipated in the run up to 2012, now could it? |
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14 Nov 07 - 04:10 AM (#2193294) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: GUEST,PMB The waterways cut (pun?) happened because the waterways (most of them) are administrated by DEFRA, and DEFRA bolloxed up the EU farmers' payment scheme. The EU fined them a third of a billion pounds. To make 'savings' they cut money- a small amount for DEFRA, a huge amount for the waterways- from the BWB budget. Having said that, the Olympics are not only swallowing a disproportionate amount of lottery money and other public funds, but it is being inevitably gold- plated by home- counties chauvinists. The original proposal for the canoe slalom course had to be abandoned for variouys reasons. Nottinghamshire County Council pointed out that Britain already has an Olympic standard slalom course at Holme Pierrepont near Nottingham. The Olympic Committee thinks that Nottingham is too far from London. |
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14 Nov 07 - 11:18 PM (#2194099) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: Jim Lad How much of that forty thousand is coming from Scotland? FREEDOM! |
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15 Nov 07 - 07:16 AM (#2194267) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: beardedbruce "As the Cathedral is the burial place of the man who composed the American national anthem." Just to give additional information... Re F. Scott Key: "He died in Baltimore from pleurisy while visiting his daughter Elizabeth Howard and was first buried at Saint Paul's Cemetery there in, but was removed to his family's lot in Frederick in 1866. The Key Monument Association erected a memorial in 1898 and the remains of both Francis Scott Key and his wife were placed in a crypt in the base of the monument. Burial: Mount Olivet Cemetery Frederick Frederick County Maryland, USA" |
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15 Nov 07 - 08:23 AM (#2194300) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: The PA My old grans rock could do with a scrub, any offers! |
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15 Nov 07 - 10:47 AM (#2194436) Subject: RE: BS: £100,00 for what? From: jeffp It was skipy that mentioned 1000/hour, not Teribus. |