chrisp65

it's a slightly waffley read, but New York Times The article does reference orchestra auditions. It says that back in the day orchestras were almost entirely male. A few orchestras noticed this and blinded the auditions...

It's a bit of both.I saw a figure and repeated it, but couldn't find it again when put under intense VT cross examination. But one thing I definitely got wrong, I quoted 2008 when I should have quoted 2009. It was 2009 that carmageddon happened. According to SMMT and OICA. Production in 2009 was under a million. This year it's forecast to be 1.7 / 1.8 million. The all time UK record was 1972 and even that was under 2 million. It's perfectly possible that 2017 will be the UK record for car production. There will be a handful MORE car workers in the UK in 2017 than there were in 2009. But again, that's a distraction from the overall point that there are far more people making far more cars than ever before. They just don't live in Dagenham anymore.

People's Princess Diane James has now quit the 'kippers altogether. But has decided to stay on as an Independent in her £84,000 p.a. role as an MEP.

I agree, it's bland. I'm no global capitalist economics writer. But then I didn't pretend to be, and come up with 'We have now reached a point in history where capital, the inventory of surplus value, is so large it struggles to find opportunities for further productive investment.' I'm sure if companies have too much money to make it possible to invest they could give it to Elon Musk, I reckon he'd find a high risk high reward project for their money. What we've reached is a point in time where some very big companies have some very average bosses scared to take a punt. Maybe not 'scared', maybe they've just realised that doing nothing much is all they need to do to pick up their 5 million pound bonus every year. But don't put a blanket judgement on jobs. Yes, there are way too many crap deals out there. But for some people they suit and shouldn't be simply disregarded. My missus wants to work 3 days a week because it suits her and the lifestyle she wants to lead. We could have a bigger TV and a shinier car, but opted for more walks on the beach. So don't dismiss short flexible weeks. Then there's the full time mundane job. I know somebody that ran a Remploy branch. People would get up every morning, get themselves on a bus, and turn up at 9:00am to spend a day with friends drinking tea and putting plastic plumbing bits into little bags. The government decided such mundane jobs weren't required. There have never been so many jobs. The quality and worth of those jobs is another topic.

I can't find it. But you're right the UK figure is wrong. My guess is that I looked at half year figures. Also, I'm breaking in a new pair of varifocals today. But the overall point is the same and stands. More people are producing more cars. Maybe not in the old car making plants in the traditional countries, but more.

I was hoping somebody would know it. Good man.

I'm not able to back this up right now, I might later (probably won't). Isn't there a proven case that blinded CV's and job applications lead to a much more diverse workforce? Strip out the names, addresses, photo's, age and all those other things that aren't relevant to many jobs and all of a sudden Winston Kodogo from Brixton gets a much better success rate when applying for jobs. It's not consciously deliberately 'racist'. Most successful applicants probably just mirror most recruiters.

Very rare to see someone with money excluded from anything worthwhile anywhere. As a little local example, our office doesn't employ anybody of Somali origin. We're not anti-Somali. It's just that they almost all live in a particularly poor area of the town. What actually happens, is that we don't employ anybody of any colour or creed from that part of town. Sadly, their background, their schooling, their role models mean that their aspirations don't quite match up with taking 7 years in Uni to qualify as an architect. But statistically, we don't employ Somali's.

Happy 142nd Birthday to Aston Villa. A tough couple of years, but on the mend.

several amens! through that post

The whole argument is built on sand. Country's economies are not independent of each other, companies work across borders, there are more paid jobs now than ever before and the number is going up. The real problem is the opposite of the case being put forward. We have more people producing more shit for more people to throw away. But don't get me wrong. If we can tax Chinese robots enough for us all (on a planetary scale) to buy sustainable stuff and retire happy and fulfilled, great!

top ten, get in

Those production figures are not mutually exclusive though. Yes car industry workers are producing 2 more cars per person now than previously. But the total number of cars produced in the UK has almost exactly doubled between 2008 and now. So we have both more staff and higher production at present. But even if we didn't, that would only be the UK and would not make a strong case for the argument. I can't believe the total number employed in the car industry has dropped in the last 10 or 20 years. The number of cars being produced in and for China and South Africa, Malaysia, India, Brazil etc.. It might not be the UK having an increase in employment, but companies aren't bothered by boundaries. The overall number of cars is rising. As are the number of people involved in the industry. overall car production Taking the most obvious and extreme examples in the table above. Since year 2000 car production in the USA has dipped very slightly, by a few hundred thousand units. I would expect, that due to increased automisation the number of people employed has reduced significantly. production down from 12.8 million to 12.1 million units. Since the same year, 2000, production has gone from 2 million units to 24 million units in China. I think its safe to presume they've been recruiting. Similarly, production in India has quadrupled, its doubled in Mexico, quadrupled in Turkey and on and on and on... I know that's only one industry. But I bet it's a picture that's repeated as new markets are opening up with new consumers AND new worker bees. Agriculture is an obvious exception, unless you look at 'farming' and then compare that total with the new total in food production. We might not all be working the fields anymore. But I bet we're all designing soup tin packaging and driving Ocado vans and working in Morrisons. A smaller per centage of the population. But a much much bigger number in crude terms. Fact is, right now, there have never been so many jobs. You can't be selective on what type of job in what year you want to make comparisons with.

the like was a nod of common ground on the first paragraph not me liking you having shitty knees Usual building industry Christmas spike already building up as they realise it looks a lot better to finish a job in 2016 than two weeks later in 2017. Then there's the Clients and Project Managers that think every year that if they can send out tenders on Friday 23rd December there's no reason they can't be returned on 3rd January as you will have had nearly 2 weeks to work on them.

I joined an existing quiz team that was made up of two teachers, and two doctors. Because there was an existing strong dynamic in the group I felt I had to be quite assertive. A throw away question came up to begin a round of questions: ‘where is the national railway museum?’ They put down York. By sheer strength of character I persuaded the four of them to change it to Swindon. We came second. Lost by a single point. I guess the team split up, because I never got any more invites.

My dad was Father Christmas at a Golf Club 'do' today. Clearing.

A bit of a Sunday morning relax

yeah, from memory the mullet boy got a hammering some dispute over a half time tea spilled on Lee's programme notes not every clubhouse has a boxing champion but some have two

aw shit that's another heavy loss, made me go cold when I read that. Really really wasn't expecting it.

Lee and Andrew.

I've stuck this here rather than politic up the 'piss you off' thread: Children in Need 2008: £38.5 million raised Children in Need 2009: £40.2 million raised Children in Need 2010: £36.6 million raised Children in Need 2011: £46.1 million raised Children in Need 2012: £43.3 million raised Children in Need 2013: £49.6 million raised Children in Need 2014: £49.1 million raised Children in Need 2015: £55.0 million raised 2008 to 2015 total = £358.4 million raised The Queen's estimated personal wealth (Times Rich List 2015) = £340 million Duke of Ed's personal wealth (not easy to find / google estimate) = £25 million Duchy of Lancaster: valued at £470 million earning £16 million p.a. income for royals Duchy of Cornwall: valued at £750 million earning £19 million p.a. income for royals Tax paid by the Queen, Duke, Duchy of Cornwall, Duchy of Lancaster: £0 Tax to be paid by the UK tax payer that will be used to renovate Buckingham Palace: £360 million I accept it's a cheap thing to make the comparison. But, well, y'know. All in it together.

They're playing Cardiff in 2 weeks time but I'm away up that London, which is a little annoying.