Assorted things

[juliet]

P and I saw the R4 show "The Problem With Adam Bloom" being recorded last night, which was pretty good. I suspect, though, that the programme itself won't be as good, since the best bits were the unscripted bits in the middle. Bah. Free tickets to things are good, though, & he'd certainly be worth seeing as a standup (as would his mate, Brendan Burns, who was also on - raucous Australian type, slightly anarchic, felt a bit sorry for the producer trying to get him to shut up and get finished as they neared the end & looked like going over). Mr Bloom himself was rather quieter, slightly self-deprecating humour, that sort of thing.

Late into work this morning, due to upset stomach (now thankfully recovered), which meant that I caught some nice music in Hyde Park as people gathered waiting for the Queen to come & open the Princess Diana Memorial Water Feature by the Serpentine. I did not wait.

• Public sector workers take more sick days - news that immediately caused a froth of media indignation about the LAZY SKIVERS in the public sector. This, of course, completely ignored the two possibilities that a) public sector workers actually get ill more often, and why that might be (in the case of the NHS staff who have the highest rates - gosh, I dunno, maybe working with ill people makes you more likely to get ill?), or b) that public sector management might be treating their staff better and more fairly by making them go home when ill rather than struggling on regardless. The claim about how much this costs also fails to take b) into account - it is entirely possible that more days off sick could lead to increased overall productivity (because it means more days at full working rate, rather than lots of half-competent slightly-ill days, because people actually recover properly). I mean, possibly public sector workers *are* a bunch of skivers, but that survey doesn't demonstrate this.
• David Steele on abortions.
• Microsoft 0wnZ0rz your skin.
• Tax 'em till the hubcaps squeak.

Comments

[j4.livejournal.com]

Your links are broken -- both the David Steele link and the Microsoft link go to the Microsoft story...

[juliet]

cheers - now fixed!

[hatmandu.livejournal.com]

I've never quite taken to Adam Bloom ever since I saw him compering at Edinburgh about 6 years ago: he couldn't hack heckles at all, and completely lost his rag. He picked up his mike stand and tried to swing it at someone! (Remarkably, the same heckler was later challenged to see if he 'could do any better' - and promptly took to the stage and actually told some passable jokes. Those were the days, eh?

[vardebedian.livejournal.com]

I'm rather concerned by the article on 4x4s: I didn't realise people in ordinary-sized cars were so helpless in the face of these things ploughing through them, and am forced to conclude that if I ever buy a car then, unless 4x4s are banned to everyone else, I'd better get one too.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Umm...doesn't my nervous system already transport data throughout my body? I mean, it's not wireless, and sometimes the communication arrives a little different to how it was sent, but on the whole it does a better job than most networks.

Prior art

[exponentialdk.livejournal.com]

Microsoft 0wnZ0rz your skin.

Um, a friend of mine (Matthew K. Gray) was doing that at least 5 years ago at the MIT Media Lab. (I forget what years he was there.)

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

David Steele always seemed to be capable of talking a collossal amount of guff, but on this one I'm pretty much with him. It's a difficult issue, however.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Public sector workers take more sick days

Haahahaha I think most of them are probably down to TM (who works for the civil service, bless 'im) bunking off.

[andyroyal.livejournal.com]

The numbers of 4x4s I've been seeing on the roads seems to have made a sharp increase over the past couple of months. I don't think this thing about car sharing lanes is quite right either: one person in a Smart Car on a motorway doesn't bother me, one person in an SUV that seats 12 and is equipped to drive across lava driving round suburbia does.

[marnameow.livejournal.com]

It might go somewhere towards helping, though, even if it just helps people realise that the option is there.

[andyroyal.livejournal.com]

I agree with that, but I think the "get a smaller car, you sociopath" option should be encouraged just as much if not more.

[the23.livejournal.com]

while you are right that the survey doesn't demonstrate that they are a bunch of skivers, a couple of things are clear:

1) there is much less incentive in the public sector for management to prevent skiving (this is obvious and has nowt to do with the findings).

2) the survey indicates (but obviously doesn't prove) that more days off sick do not lead to increased productivity since we all know that the public sector is nowhere near as productive as the private sector (if it weren't the government would build all its roads and so on).

*

as far as taxing bigger vehicles is concerned why are you leftists always seeking to punish people for their choices and furthermore why (if you insist upon discriminating) don't you instead cut taxes on those who choose to drive more reasonable vehicles?

in actual fact 4X4 drivers are already paying much more in petrol taxes as a result of their bizarre choice. does no one in government consider the effect on the wider economy that all of these "sin taxes" have?

*

on the one hand 50 women who brought their death upon themselves (they chose the abortion), on the other thousands of helpless foetuses....the boy steele can surely come up with better arguments.

it seems to me repugnant that whether or not abortion (at any given point) is legal the government sees fit to confiscate money from the populace and use it to fund abortions, effectively subsidising the incompetent and feckless. this becomes even worse when one contemplates how slow and therefore woeful the nhs is when it comes to treating heart problems or cancer.

[jvvw.livejournal.com]

I was quite surprised by the average number of days taken off sick but I guess that must be bumped up by a small number of people taking a lot of days. I've taken one day in the last year or so and that's more than at least three-quarters of the people at work. But I guess I do work in the private sector :-) (And we are all young where I work which must have a big effect).

From my extremely limited experience (mostly of working at universities and one private company), people do work harder and get more done in the private sector, but get paid much more and end up burned out. I'm moving back to the public sector in a month's time :-) They won't know what's hit them when I think working 9-7 is a short day...