Cuts - the only saving grace is ...

That makes no sense to me. I get the impression that you feel Coventry should not be supported with money that its taxpayers have contributed over the years in order to bring some prosperity to the area and maintain essential services. Yet you would happily throw that money to other countries who certainly cannot make their way on their own merits, despite them having contributed not a penny to it. We need to look after our own, especially in austere times.

Foreign aid = taking from the poor in one country to give to the rich in another

Hear hear Pixrobin, perhaps some won't be happy till we end up back in the Dickens days, also why I'm sick of tv all charity adverts. This morning's news more cuts on the way for Coventry, by 2018, which will mean libraries going and not fixing the roads.

I didn't say "Coventry should not be supported with money that its taxpayers have contributed over the years in order to bring some prosperity to the area and maintain essential services." There is not enough cash to give to every city, and if one got it, they would ALL want it. Aid to other countries is a drop in the ocean compared to what all cities, towns, villages etc would want or need.

If Foreign Aid in Britain was cut to zero, the amount that would have gone out divided by the total population would give you all £184.00 per year. Would you all voluntarily hand it over to the council such that services could be improved? If the council was given the money directly, it would work out to around £55,000,000. What would that buy? An office block maybe? It wouldn't go far for sure, but Foreign Aid can go a long way, if only to giving International kudos to those countries who do try to help.

Coventry council cuts: How will they affect you? Can any enlighten me on what kind of cut back on the street cleaning is besides removing graffiti please . Was it not only the past week news stated from the council it self that we are over run with rats, which closed a department in our hospital twice preventing operations because of rats found, also closed the Belgrade because of rats found again. Then they want to build more houses here. I must start learning how to play a pipe me thinks and rename my self by deedpoll the pied piper.

CCC couldn't run a proverbial in a brewery. I haven't yet heard a single word about expenses and allowances being cut.

May be they want Birmingham to take over or get more money from the EU. As today s news says we are all EU citizens and should all be treated equal through out Europe, so can we all move to a warmer climate, have the same treatment in hospital, same services for disabled, claim the same housing benefit etc , given a house, visit our history centres, also have our festivals and free boarders to come and go as we please same rules and laws through out, yes please, I cant wait. As of their expenses etc being cut dont be silly, we all know each and every party are in it together with the EU which they all admit having an EU member in their parties being paid by the EU.

Mods please delete if not deemed appropriate for here - I normally steer away from anything overtly political but when we are cancelling operations and considering shutting libraries, I find this unbelievable. Especially when these are the people that decide where the money goes!

I wouldn't pay most on that list with rusty washers.

NeilsYard. As I have always said no one cares or takes notice until it hits themselves then it's too late. The government even want to stop all welfare, which even America doesn't agree with nor other countries, on the news they each said welfare is needed. We should be asking the real reason why we are having all the cut backs, what has been agreed behind closed doors or with Europe or the powers that be. Is it to gather a group of councils together for Europe to control, easier control one instead of many councils. Or is it to join fully with Europe into the Euro. AD said on another thread hospitals do not come under the council but the government, yet I always believed it was our local council. As these services are being cut do we pay less council tax

I think what a lot of people are forgetting here is inflation. Most of the salaries within top jobs keep pace with inflation. Not so with lower paid employment. Most lower grade posts of yesteryear no longer exist. After leaving the army I was appointed to a Grade 3 technicians post at the Lanchester Polytechnic in 1972. I earned approximately £1,500 a year. To increase that in line with inflation it would need to be approx £18,000 a year. When I left my last salaried post in 1989 as a Grade 6 Technician working in London my salary (inc London Weighting) was around £14,000. To get the equivalent now they would need to pay me almost £33,000 per annum. In 1995 I was writing as a freelance for computer magazines. I was paid £140 per 1,000 words. Today that would need to have risen to over £240 per thousand. To put things more in perspective someone on a salary of £100,000 today would, in 1989, have needed only £42,711.31. The head of the architecture school where I worked in 1989 received a salary of approx £34,000. Don't get me wrong here. I am not suggesting the individuals in post are worth their salaries, merely that the salaries need to be put into an historical perspective.

I am probably mistaken but I thought that councillors were paid expenses only. It's not a full time job, or is it? If it is does the job have a basic wage? Are the earnings quoted on the first post a combination of earnings and expenses?

Norman Conquest http://www.coventry.gov.uk/councillors Reading Manchester's forum replies, one man stated the cuts are for this government to privatise what's left, which I can believe, another man is appalled while Labour sits by and watches these cuts. Sorry Pixrobin, I don't believe it because of the recession at all, for the amount we pay Brussels, plus charities across the world, we owning most of the finance services abroad, it just doesn't add up. Reading last week we still control America's economy.

You are mistaken in that the list was not councillors. It was paid staff who are simply full time council employees. Those sums may seem a lot but they would argue, often correctly, that a post carrying similar responsibility in the private sector would carry a salary many times higher. I have no objection to officers getting well rewarded if they are competent at their jobs. The truth is that none of us know any of those people to assess that competence. They are paid to carry out the policies of the elected councillors without political bias. If you pay peanuts you get monkeys! Coventry, like most councils, is having to make savage cuts to services because of the reduction in government money. Only a small proportion of spending actually comes from council tax. The poster who said that nobody cares until the cuts affect them is spot on. The public perception for many people is that they want money saved and public sector staff made redundant, but still expect the job they did to continue to be done. The services we provide for our citizens define us as a society and I do sometimes wonder what this country will be reduced to if we continue to destroy services for the elderly and vulnerable, along with things we have always taken for granted.