Most Inspiring Political Figure of UK

[Ray]

MOST INSPIRING POLITICAL FIGURE


We give you the chance to have your say on one of the key awards - the 'Most Inspiring Political Figure' of 2007. Before Christmas, Channel 4 viewers were invited to nominate their most inspiring political figure of the year. This list has been whittled down to six nominees by our panel.

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HOW TO VOTE

Consider the list below - and if you need reminders you can read the profiles for each nominee. Once you've made up your mind you can either phone, text or email with your choice.


THE SHORTLIST

AISHAH AZMI | Profile
09011 27 27 01 or text AWARD AZMI to 83188
Vote by email

TONY BLAIR | Profile
09011 27 27 02 or text AWARD BLAIR to 83188
Vote by email

DAVID CAMERON | Profile
09011 27 27 03 or text AWARD CAMERON to 83188
Vote by email

GENERAL SIR RICHARD DANNATT | Profile
09011 27 27 04 or text AWARD DANNATT to 83188
Vote by email

BRIAN HAW | Profile
09011 27 27 05 or text AWARD HAW to 83188
Vote by email

ARCHBISHOP OF YORK | Profile
09011 27 27 06 or text AWARD YORK to 83188
Vote by email


N.B. Only one entry per person. Multiple votes from the same phone number or email address will be discounted. Calls cost 25p, mobile and other network rates may vary. Lines close 11.59pm on Friday 2 February 2007. Texts cost 25p plus your standard message rate.

VOTE
Call the number of the nominee below who you believe should be crowned 'Most Inspiring Political Figure of the Year'.

Aishah Azmi
09011 27 27 01
Tony Blair
09011 27 27 02
David Cameron
09011 27 27 03
General Sir Richard Dannatt
09011 27 27 04
Brian Haw
09011 27 27 05
Archbishop of York
09011 27 27 06

Calls cost 25p, mobile and other network rates may vary. Lines close 2 February 2007.

You can also vote by text
& email.

Channel 4 Political Awards 2007

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[Ray]

It would be interesting to see how the members of the WAB vote!

So go ahead and vote!

Do also give the reason, if you please, as to why you voted for the person since it would allow understanding as to how the internatonal community looks at this issue!

[Karthik]

I would have Sir, but there wasn't a 'none of the above' option.

[Ray]

Oh come on Karthik, old bean.

Give it a shot.

It won't hurt! :)

[Economist]

Oh come on Karthik, old bean.

Give it a shot.

It won't hurt! :)

Tony Blair

[Karthik]

Oh come on Karthik, old bean.

Give it a shot.

It won't hurt! :)

Blair got my vote, because I think his story of political survival thus far is quite something.

[pdf27]

I had to google two of them, and Richard Dannat isn't really a political figure (at least, not by choice). That leaves two pretty awful party leaders, and a somewhat insipid bishop. The Bishop is by some way the best of a bad lot.

[Ray]

British soldiers risk death for less than the minimum wage

by Kim Sengupta, The Independent , 11 September 2006

British soldiers risking death in Afghanistan and Iraq are being paid about half the national minimum wage. The troops, facing daily attacks in Helmand and Basra, and suffering a rising toll of dead and injured, are among Britain's lowest paid workers.

In the midst of a recruitment crisis, with soldiers being sent to highly dangerous conflicts with little monetary reward, commanders believe an improvement in wages is essential to maintain morale. General Sir Richard Dannett, the recently appointed head of the Army, said: "There are issues like basic pay. A Para with a year's training at Catterick, engaged in Helmand, is taking home £1,150 a month. Is that enough? Is that fair?"

The discontent over pay comes amid growing concern about casualties being suffered, especially in Afghanistan from a resurgent Taliban. Doubts have been expressed about the tactics being pursued. The former aide-de-camp to the British task force in Afghanistan, Captain Leo Docherty, of the Scots Guards, who has just left the Army, said the campaign in Helmand was " a textbook case of how to screw up a counter-insurgency".

The average salary of a newly qualified soldier is £14,300 before tax - compared with about £20,000 for a police officer. In a combat zone, being on duty for a minimum of 16 hours gives the troops an hourly rate of £2.45. There is also a longer service separation allowance of about £6 a day, but this only applies to those who have served at least 12 months away from home.

This is well below the current national minimum wage of £ 5.05 an hour, which is due to rise to £5.35 next month. In reality the figures for soldiers' earnings are even worse. In Helmand, where British forces are involved in some of the heaviest fighting in the Army's recent history, there is little respite from incessant attacks and they are, in effect, on duty all the time. Lt-Gen David Richards, the British commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, said soldiers were enduring "days and days of intense fighting, being woken up by yet another attack when they have not slept for 24 hours. This sort of thing has not happened so consistently, I don't think, since the Korean War or the Second World War. It happened for periods in the Falklands, obviously, and it happened for short periods in the Gulf on both occasions. But this is persistent, low-level dirty fighting."

The soldiers get free accommodation and food while based in combat positions such as Helmand. But they still pay council tax on their barracks rooms in Britain, and, back home, they also pay for food and board.

A British officer who has recently returned from Helmand said: "The wages paid to the privates is well below the minimum wage. Frankly, they would make more money emptying dustbins. They are being treated appallingly. It is not, of course, just what they undergo in combat, but the after-effects from these places as well. With our men it took a few weeks to get over what they experienced in Northern Ireland. After Iraq it took more than a year for many of them."

Anthony Bradshaw, who saw combat as a private in the Pioneer Regiment during the Iraq conflict in 2003, said: "Our take-home pay during training was £650 a month after the deductions. When we were in Iraq it rose to £800 a month. No one can say that the pay of a private soldier is good. It certainly does not lend itself to any luxuries." Pte Bradshaw, 22, was injured in Iraq and now receives a war pension and income support. "This does not add up to much either. Being a current or ex-soldier hardly makes you rich," he said.

The Ministry of Defence is looking at a series of options to boost the income of soldiers. They include proposals that soldiers will no longer pay tax while on operations overseas and payment of college fees.

The armed forces were to be brought into the minimum wage structure by the incoming Labour Government in 1997. But the idea was dropped after pressure from the then Defence Secretary, George Robertson, who claimed it would put the military into a financial and legal straitjacket.
British soldiers risking death in Afghanistan and Iraq are being paid about half the national minimum wage. The troops, facing daily attacks in Helmand and Basra, and suffering a rising toll of dead and injured, are among Britain's lowest paid workers.

In the midst of a recruitment crisis, with soldiers being sent to highly dangerous conflicts with little monetary reward, commanders believe an improvement in wages is essential to maintain morale. General Sir Richard Dannett, the recently appointed head of the Army, said: "There are issues like basic pay. A Para with a year's training at Catterick, engaged in Helmand, is taking home £1,150 a month. Is that enough? Is that fair?"

The discontent over pay comes amid growing concern about casualties being suffered, especially in Afghanistan from a resurgent Taliban. Doubts have been expressed about the tactics being pursued. The former aide-de-camp to the British task force in Afghanistan, Captain Leo Docherty, of the Scots Guards, who has just left the Army, said the campaign in Helmand was " a textbook case of how to screw up a counter-insurgency".

The average salary of a newly qualified soldier is £14,300 before tax - compared with about £20,000 for a police officer. In a combat zone, being on duty for a minimum of 16 hours gives the troops an hourly rate of £2.45. There is also a longer service separation allowance of about £6 a day, but this only applies to those who have served at least 12 months away from home.

This is well below the current national minimum wage of £ 5.05 an hour, which is due to rise to £5.35 next month. In reality the figures for soldiers' earnings are even worse. In Helmand, where British forces are involved in some of the heaviest fighting in the Army's recent history, there is little respite from incessant attacks and they are, in effect, on duty all the time. Lt-Gen David Richards, the British commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, said soldiers were enduring "days and days of intense fighting, being woken up by yet another attack when they have not slept for 24 hours.

This sort of thing has not happened so consistently, I don't think, since the Korean War or the Second World War. It happened for periods in the Falklands, obviously, and it happened for short periods in the Gulf on both occasions. But this is persistent, low-level dirty fighting."



British soldiers risk death for

Though a General is not to talk out of school, that is what he said and it is sort of 'political', if you go by the textbook code of conduct.

He is a hero to the British Army in a way!

The Indian Army too has a very unattractive pay scale compared to others, but we have quite a few perks, especially the medical aspects, which covers us for all ailments even after retirement and that cover includes the family and the soldiers' parents and their children including unemployed sons upto the age of 25 and unmarried daughter for life!

I was quite horrified to learn that even the war wounded are treated in civil hospitals and are given quite a shabby treatment.

As a comrade in arms since I am too a soldier, I feel quite peeved at the way the British govt treats it soldiers. They deserve a better deal for sure!