Post by Teddy Bear on Oct 14, 2011 22:21:50 GMT
I happened to catch a few minutes of R4's Today the other day, when they interviewed a woman, who could have done with some elocution lessons, and she was telling how the cuts had affected her finding work.
It was obvious the BBC were looking for any angle to continue their demonization of the coalition, and since the 'evil cuts' affected a large number of people, what better way. I could just imagine a producer thinking about what new could they do to show just how bad these cuts are, and they have a sudden flash - "Women! - we could get report it as if women are worse hit - that would get at least half the listeners onside against the coalition - at least those not working. And we could call it a 'Womancession' - brilliant".
You know when the BBC don't give a shit? - They avoid the subject as much as they can.
Richard Littlejohn heard the programme too and had a similar perception.
It was obvious the BBC were looking for any angle to continue their demonization of the coalition, and since the 'evil cuts' affected a large number of people, what better way. I could just imagine a producer thinking about what new could they do to show just how bad these cuts are, and they have a sudden flash - "Women! - we could get report it as if women are worse hit - that would get at least half the listeners onside against the coalition - at least those not working. And we could call it a 'Womancession' - brilliant".
You know when the BBC don't give a shit? - They avoid the subject as much as they can.
Richard Littlejohn heard the programme too and had a similar perception.
With 'victims' like these, the cuts can't be all bad!
By Richard Littlejohn
Last updated at 4:10 PM on 14th October 2011
A new word has been coined to describe the effects of the current economic crisis. ‘Womancession’ is supposed to reflect the fact that women have been hardest hit by rising unemployment.
Woman+recession. Geddit?
You can get on the radio with stuff like that. This week, somebody did.
There’s no doubt that the number of women claiming unemployment benefit is rising, largely because of a drop in part-time working and the loss of jobs in the so-called ‘caring’ sector.
Predictably, the BBC has seized on the latest statistics as evidence of the cruelty of the ‘savage Coalition cuts’.
Both the Today programme and PM, on Radio 4, featured interviews with female victims of the downturn.
First up was Tracey, a single mother of three, who has been out of work since her fixed-term contract with a local authority in London ran out in March.
That is, of course, the nature of fixed-term contracts, especially in the private sector. But Tracey had been expecting it to be renewed automatically, since she had worked for the council for the past five years.
We must sympathise with anyone struggling to bring up a family who is suddenly faced with a severe drop in income.
Having been deprived of her £30,000 salary, Tracey says she must now survive on a Jobseeker’s Allowance of just £67 a week, plus ‘a bit extra’ for her daughter. It can’t be easy. She has applied for over 100 jobs without success. The question which went unasked, though, was: where is her child’s father? How much, if anything, does he contribute to his daughter’s upbringing?
Tracey was followed by two Left-wing academics, who were adamant that the blame for her plight should be laid firmly at the door of the ‘massive’ reductions in public spending ordered by Chancellor George Osborne. (Cuts are always ‘massive’ or ‘savage’ on the BBC.)
It was one of them who came up with the contrived expression ‘Womancession’. Don’t give up the day job.
As I said, we all feel for those who are unemployed through no fault of their own and are actively seeking work. What I always wonder, however, is: what kind of work are some of these people out of?
Tracey says she has ‘a good range of skills’ — ‘events work, housing work, advice’. But there doesn’t seem to be much call for what she has to offer. I don’t dispute that she’s trying to get a job, but how wide is she spreading her net?
Does she expect another position in ‘events’ or ‘advice’? Or would she be prepared to set her sights a little lower and accept work that might not be fully commensurate with her skill set?
On the PM programme, the featured ‘victim’ was 17-year-old Anne-Marie. She complained she had been out of work for ‘a good three weeks’. Apparently, when she left school she landed an apprenticeship — it wasn’t explained in what — but ‘ended up leaving there because the company where I was at had a bad reputation’.
After that, she managed to find work immediately. It was a ‘commission job, door-to-door, to do with roofs’.
But, as Anne-Marie elaborated, ‘people don’t wake up in the morning thinking about fixing their roofs’. So she concluded there was no future in this particular line of work and resigned after three days.
She has since been sitting at home, looking for work on the internet, but has now given up. She says that when she applied for one job, she was expected to travel to a ‘different borough’. As her London Transport Oyster Card had expired: ‘It was too much hassle.’
Anne-Marie is now considering returning to education. She did go to college once, but ‘it was more of a social place than a learning place’ and so she left. She now says she hopes to become a social worker.
You couldn’t make it up.
With hindsight, the PM producers must be wishing they had chosen a more worthy ‘victim’. There are thousands upon thousands of good family men and women out there who have fallen on hard times and are banging their heads against a brick wall in frustration at their failure to find work, no matter how hard they try.
Yet the BBC singles out a dopey bird who thinks it’s ‘too much hassle’ to travel to the next borough. When she does get a job, she jacks it in after three days.
There are parts of the country where employment opportunities are few and far between. But both Tracey and Anne-Marie live in London, where there’s no shortage of work.
Two million Eastern Europeans have managed to find gainful employment in Britain over the past few years. They’ve travelled across a Continent. Anne-Marie can’t even be bothered to travel a few miles to the next borough.
My wife’s piano teacher is a young Polish girl. She ran up a batch of professional-looking flyers and tramped the streets of North London pushing them through letter-boxes in a determined effort to drum up business.
She’s now reaping the benefits. Her husband has had no trouble finding a driving job.
Somehow, I can’t imagine the feckless Anne-Marie showing such commendable initiative. Labour’s debilitating welfare monster has created an underclass of self-pitying entitlement junkies who think the world owes them a living.
Jobs shortage: The rate of employment fell rapidly between June and August
Jobs shortage: The rate of employment fell rapidly between June and August
We’re a lifetime away from the Depression of the 1930s, which brought mass unemployment to this country.
Seventy-five years ago, miners and shipworkers marched from Jarrow, where unemployment topped 70 per cent, to London in an effort to concentrate the government’s attention on their genuine hardship.
Two weeks ago, a Rag, Tag and Bobtail army of 500 self-styled ‘Socialists’ set off to recreate that famous march.
The majority melted away when they hit the outskirts of Jarrow half an hour later.
After five days, there were just 16 left. By day six, they were all complaining of sore feet and decided to continue their journey by coach.
When the last eight got off the bus to walk into Ripon, Yorkshire, for the benefit of the cameras, they were asked what had happened to the rest of the marchers.
Most of them had peeled off the previous Monday to sign on and collect their Giros.
I blame the cuts.
By Richard Littlejohn
Last updated at 4:10 PM on 14th October 2011
A new word has been coined to describe the effects of the current economic crisis. ‘Womancession’ is supposed to reflect the fact that women have been hardest hit by rising unemployment.
Woman+recession. Geddit?
You can get on the radio with stuff like that. This week, somebody did.
There’s no doubt that the number of women claiming unemployment benefit is rising, largely because of a drop in part-time working and the loss of jobs in the so-called ‘caring’ sector.
Predictably, the BBC has seized on the latest statistics as evidence of the cruelty of the ‘savage Coalition cuts’.
Both the Today programme and PM, on Radio 4, featured interviews with female victims of the downturn.
First up was Tracey, a single mother of three, who has been out of work since her fixed-term contract with a local authority in London ran out in March.
That is, of course, the nature of fixed-term contracts, especially in the private sector. But Tracey had been expecting it to be renewed automatically, since she had worked for the council for the past five years.
We must sympathise with anyone struggling to bring up a family who is suddenly faced with a severe drop in income.
Having been deprived of her £30,000 salary, Tracey says she must now survive on a Jobseeker’s Allowance of just £67 a week, plus ‘a bit extra’ for her daughter. It can’t be easy. She has applied for over 100 jobs without success. The question which went unasked, though, was: where is her child’s father? How much, if anything, does he contribute to his daughter’s upbringing?
Tracey was followed by two Left-wing academics, who were adamant that the blame for her plight should be laid firmly at the door of the ‘massive’ reductions in public spending ordered by Chancellor George Osborne. (Cuts are always ‘massive’ or ‘savage’ on the BBC.)
It was one of them who came up with the contrived expression ‘Womancession’. Don’t give up the day job.
As I said, we all feel for those who are unemployed through no fault of their own and are actively seeking work. What I always wonder, however, is: what kind of work are some of these people out of?
Tracey says she has ‘a good range of skills’ — ‘events work, housing work, advice’. But there doesn’t seem to be much call for what she has to offer. I don’t dispute that she’s trying to get a job, but how wide is she spreading her net?
Does she expect another position in ‘events’ or ‘advice’? Or would she be prepared to set her sights a little lower and accept work that might not be fully commensurate with her skill set?
On the PM programme, the featured ‘victim’ was 17-year-old Anne-Marie. She complained she had been out of work for ‘a good three weeks’. Apparently, when she left school she landed an apprenticeship — it wasn’t explained in what — but ‘ended up leaving there because the company where I was at had a bad reputation’.
After that, she managed to find work immediately. It was a ‘commission job, door-to-door, to do with roofs’.
But, as Anne-Marie elaborated, ‘people don’t wake up in the morning thinking about fixing their roofs’. So she concluded there was no future in this particular line of work and resigned after three days.
She has since been sitting at home, looking for work on the internet, but has now given up. She says that when she applied for one job, she was expected to travel to a ‘different borough’. As her London Transport Oyster Card had expired: ‘It was too much hassle.’
Anne-Marie is now considering returning to education. She did go to college once, but ‘it was more of a social place than a learning place’ and so she left. She now says she hopes to become a social worker.
You couldn’t make it up.
With hindsight, the PM producers must be wishing they had chosen a more worthy ‘victim’. There are thousands upon thousands of good family men and women out there who have fallen on hard times and are banging their heads against a brick wall in frustration at their failure to find work, no matter how hard they try.
Yet the BBC singles out a dopey bird who thinks it’s ‘too much hassle’ to travel to the next borough. When she does get a job, she jacks it in after three days.
There are parts of the country where employment opportunities are few and far between. But both Tracey and Anne-Marie live in London, where there’s no shortage of work.
Two million Eastern Europeans have managed to find gainful employment in Britain over the past few years. They’ve travelled across a Continent. Anne-Marie can’t even be bothered to travel a few miles to the next borough.
My wife’s piano teacher is a young Polish girl. She ran up a batch of professional-looking flyers and tramped the streets of North London pushing them through letter-boxes in a determined effort to drum up business.
She’s now reaping the benefits. Her husband has had no trouble finding a driving job.
Somehow, I can’t imagine the feckless Anne-Marie showing such commendable initiative. Labour’s debilitating welfare monster has created an underclass of self-pitying entitlement junkies who think the world owes them a living.
Jobs shortage: The rate of employment fell rapidly between June and August
Jobs shortage: The rate of employment fell rapidly between June and August
We’re a lifetime away from the Depression of the 1930s, which brought mass unemployment to this country.
Seventy-five years ago, miners and shipworkers marched from Jarrow, where unemployment topped 70 per cent, to London in an effort to concentrate the government’s attention on their genuine hardship.
Two weeks ago, a Rag, Tag and Bobtail army of 500 self-styled ‘Socialists’ set off to recreate that famous march.
The majority melted away when they hit the outskirts of Jarrow half an hour later.
After five days, there were just 16 left. By day six, they were all complaining of sore feet and decided to continue their journey by coach.
When the last eight got off the bus to walk into Ripon, Yorkshire, for the benefit of the cameras, they were asked what had happened to the rest of the marchers.
Most of them had peeled off the previous Monday to sign on and collect their Giros.
I blame the cuts.
