The CEO of British Gas has had a pay-rise. His annual salary has increased from 4 million to 8 million. That’s quite a substantial increase. He must work very hard at making gas expensive to deserve such a pay-rise, that’s all I can say! Personally I find it hard to imagine earning so much money. What does he do with it? Of course, he has lost all the fun of anticipation as he does not need to save up for anything. You could almost feel sorry for him … but not really!
I remember when I was still working as a teacher, probably a bit harder than the CEO of British Gas, although without his responsibilities I have to admit, stories used to go around the college about how the principal wanted his salary to reach £100,000 per annum before he retired. Such is the joy of having your pension linked to your final salary! Mine was nowhere near that amount but my teacher’s pension is nonetheless quite adequate to my needs. Perhaps I am more easily satisfied. I never found out if he reached that exalted sum as ai moved on to another place of work.
According to Jeremy Hunt, £100,000 is not a huge salary. Apparently he made the comment in response to a call from a constituent who had complained that the government’s free childcare scheme was not available to families with a parent earning more than £100,000. But not all his constituents agree. “I can’t imagine how anyone could say £100,000 is not a huge amount,” said Merve Topaloğlu, a 34-year-old former Turkish reporter, who runs the Journalist, a cafe on Godalming’s High Street right in the heart of Hunt’s Surrey constituency. “The annual profit from my whole cafe isn’t close to £100,000.”
“Politicians like to tell us that they are in it with us,” Topaloğlu says. “But if he can say that, it shows he doesn’t know what life is like for many of us living on a lot, lot less than £100,000.”
Merve Topaloğlu is probably correct on that last point. I often doubt if any member of the current government is really aware of how most people live.
Mind you, that’s not the only area of modern life that seems a little out of touch. I came across this headline yesterday evening:
“UK weather: rain disrupts Easter weekend events amid flood warnings”.
I was quite intrigued as we had had a lovely day, a bit chilly but bright and sunny. Grandson Number Two even insisted on having a picnic on the grass. He demanded a rug to sit on but was satisfied with an old oilskin tablecloth, which prevented him from getting a wet bottom on our damp grass. He also selected garden toys to play with and was a little disappointed that the neighbours had not put their rabbits out to nibble the first dandelions of the year! He is only four years old and I suppose his understanding of the weather is limited. Grey clouds = rain. Black clouds = snow. Blue sky - warm and sunny. Sunny it was and rather less cold than it has been but hardly summer yet - despite our changing the clocks to British summertime!
Anyway, the misleading headline did what headlines often do: talk about England while largely ignoring the North West, as if we don’t quite exist. Here’s a sample of the report:
“Flooding caused by heavy rain has disrupted many Easter weekend events in the UK.
The Met Office said more rain was forecast over the bank holiday weekend, with travel disruption likely as a band of heavy rain moves across England and Wales on Monday.
The Environment Agency issued 17 warnings for expected flooding across parts of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire on Saturday morning.
It also issued 132 flood alerts across southern England, which means flooding is possible in those areas, after several days of heavy rainfall across the UK.”
Today is not bad either but not so spectacular as yesterday. After the picnic his seven year old sister and I managed to persuade him to go for a walk round the village. On the whole a good day.
Life goes on, stay safe and well, everyone!
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