To think Piers Morgan has a point?

[Bluebellpainting]

Personally not a fan of Piers Morgan and his interview style annoys me with the constant interruptions. However when questioning the health secretary I did think he had a point about taking a pay cut. Matt Hancock was quite quick when asked to suggest that footballers should take a pay cut but isn’t willing to do the same himself. My husband and I disagree but wondered what others thought. AIBU to think the Matt Hancock is being hypocritical by suggesting others should be taking a pay cut but not being willing to take one himself?

The whole issue with footballers was some clubs expecting the taxpayer to pay to furlough their lower paid workers while they continued to shell out millions for their footballers, which stuck in everybody reasonable’s craw and was not what it was designed for. It was grossly selfish and an abuse of the governments’s frankly amazing rescue packages.

What that has to do with poor Matt Hancock’s salary is beyond me.

But why do people feel that some people need to take a pay cut exactly? Because just saying that x profession should take a pay cut because they earn too much or because y profession isn’t being paid enough is nothing more than virtue signalling.

FWIW, a report out today has stated that 91% of deaths have been in people who had underlying health conditions. Obviously that’s not much comfort to people who do have underlying health conditions (I do) but the reality still is that if you don’t have any other conditions you are far less likely to die of the virus.

It would also explain why certain countries have higher death rates than others due to their lifestyles etc.

It’s very easy to sit and blame the government but I think that regardless of what they did it would never have been considered right.

And demanding pay cuts is meaningless, whoever you are demanding takes one.

Peers Morgan knows that, he is only saying it to look as if he’s really on the side of the poor man, but if he genuinely believed it he would have taken a pay cut himself which he hasn’t. Same as when he was demanding people stay home he was still travelling to the studio to bully whoever was next up on his show.

He is a grade A twat.

Footballers were singled out because despite paying players upwards of 20k a week at the time some of them, including Spurs and Liverpool ( not just small clubs) were asking the government to pay furlough to their non playing staff so grounds men for example would be taking a 20% pay cut and clubs wouldn't have to fork anything out for their poorer staff so they could continue paying players to sit on their arses instagramming on 20k a week. He was quite right imo and most ofvthe clubs have retracted their applications for furlough now.

Footballers aren't working. Matt Hancock is. I hate this concept that people that have worked hard to get into a well paid position should just give money up.

stopwinding
Indeed. She earns NZD471,000 (plus another NZD22,000 top ups), in a country where the median average wage is NZD52,000. And yet she stated in reference to the pay cut,
’If there was ever a time to close the gap between groups of people across New Zealand in different positions, it is now’.
If Boris Johnson came out with such claptrap he’d rightly be told to fuck off.

Is Piers Morgan taking a pay cut on his GBP1,100,000.00 GMB salary? If it’s fair to ask Matt Hancock must be fair to ask him. Makes about as much sense.

Footballers were singled out because.....

Many are/were also tax avoiders by use of personal service companies, use of offshore/trust/loan tax avoidance schemes etc. Many have their "wages" split into a small amount of wage taxed under PAYE with a much larger amount called "image rights" paid offshore or to some other tax avoidance vehicle to avoid paying PAYE/NIC etc.

erm...not wishing to defend the government here, but footballers just kick a bag of wind around, when they're being footballers...(and that's coming from a life-long LFC fan who is a tad frustrated that we haven't won the sodding league)
speaking of "bags of wind" - why do TV presenters need to be paid? what positives are they bringing to our lives? what are they for??
Matt Hancock is working, you know, as in attempting to run the country/NHS. I'd hate to be in his shoes at the mo.

As others have said. Some Premiership footballers earn more in a week than an MP earns in a year.

But why do people feel that some people need to take a pay cut exactly? Because just saying that x profession should take a pay cut because they earn too much or because y profession isn’t being paid enough is nothing more than virtue signalling. Well why did Matt Hancock single out footballers then? He clearly feels it is OK for him to judge but not be judged.

FWIW, a report out today has stated that 91% of deaths have been in people who had underlying health conditions. Obviously that’s not much comfort to people who do have underlying health conditions (I do) but the reality still is that if you don’t have any other conditions you are far less likely to die of the virus.

But what is the underlying health condition? I know someone who developed diabetes type 1 when he was 9, he is now almost 50, fit and healthy with well managed diabetes. I think when they talk of underlying health conditions alot of people imagine it is someone who is frail, possibly elderly. Do they think of someone like David Beckham or Paula Radcliffe who both have asthma since childhood. I would imagine they are probably fitter than most people without an underlying health condition.

As others have said. Some Premiership footballers earn more in a week than an MP earns in a year. Some get paid it as well.

attempting to run the country/NHS Yes 10 out of 10 for effort, achievement? Not so much.

Well I don't see any premiership footballers making a fantastic contribution in manufacturing scrubs/masks/visors, do you?
Not like they've anything else to do in the near future...

":08koshkatt

Her salary is huge compared to our MPs. She is also a wokey so am not a fan."

Not being goady here - genuine question. What do you mean by "wokey"?

Footballers earn in a week what MPs earn in a year plus at the moment footballers aren’t working at all whereas most politicians are working more hours than ever. Footballers were also singled out as their clubs were asking the Government to pay the 80% for lower paid staff e.g. cleaners, cooks etc whilst the players were still earning hundreds of thousands a week.

@ElisavetaOfBumsornia Hancock is a health minister, so his communications focus on health matters. My understanding is that Sunak has provided a government position in this matter. He said something along the lines of the furlough scheme is there to help companies facing insolvency, but given the urgency of getting that money to many of those companies the treasury had decided that adding too many layers of scrutiny regarding entitlement for the scheme in order to reduce applications from companies that can weather the storm would end up doing more harm than good.

Hancock wasn't sticking to his health brief when he gave the view about footballers, so the time for that has been and gone. If footballers who don't actually make the decision about whether their clubs choose to furlough staff are relevant to the sacrifice being made by NHS staff, so are other people in equally unrelated sectors.

And what Sunak said isn't a specific position on Hancock's footballers view. We all know football clubs as well as other businesses where some staff continue to be paid high wages (and dividends) can potentially legally qualify for the furlough scheme. That wasn't the question he was asked nor the reply he gave.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/15/jacinda-ardern-new-zealand-election-vote-disillusioned
Interesting Guardian article and comments

I think you could compare NZ with Norway or Iceland or maybe Denmark but UK should be compared with Germany and France, similar size pops.

You are right OP, and he is.

Comparing UK to New Zealand is as absurd as comparing footballer salaries to MPs

In the context of this discussion it’s not absurd at all.

To be fair, a country whose population density is barely twice that of the Scottish Highlands is in a permanent state of social distancing anyway...

What a load of rubbish!!! Anyway, the best thing NZ did to limit CV cases was to close the borders early - something I believe the UK still hasn't done.

Piers Morgan is an idiot
That’s all

Is that the going rate for a prime minister in NZ? If it is and she didnt set it herself I don't see the issue.

Exactly. There are many people in NZ who earn more than the PM.

PMs tend to make the real money after they leave the job anyway.

eaglejulesk

What a load of rubbish!!!

I’m afraid you’re the one talking rubbish. The population density of the Scottish Highlands is 8 per square km, that of New Zealand is 18 per square km.

The UK has 281 per square km - 15.6 times the population density of New Zealand!

It’s always good to check the facts before making a fool of yourself