Thing Number 1 - Racism
Don’t
know if you picked up on this yesterday, but after the furore surrounding Ken
Livingstone’s inappropriate comments about an easily identifiable group, there
was a similarly inappropriate comment by Andy Burnham on Question Time last
night, where he told us his policy about foreigners. He said that he’d like to
introduce a law that bans an easily identifiable group of foreigners from being
able work in the UK purely on the grounds that they are foreign. Of course, he
didn’t use those words, he said it the other way round – that he wanted a law
to protect British wages so companies could not look to recruit labour at a
more competitive rate from abroad. Apart from the different choice of wording, the statements made by both men should have made the headlines as being dodgy – but, alas, we
live in a society in which that is highly unlikely to happen.
Thing Number 2 - The Minimum Wage
So, a
chap I know called John told me today that having applied for the government’s
cycle to work scheme in which he purchases a bike and accessories, and through
the salary sacrifice initiative makes savings of 42% via reduced tax and
National Insurance contributions, his application has been rejected because the
monthly deductions on this (don’t forget voluntary and beneficial) purchase
will take his earnings below the legal minimum wage, and makes him ineligible
for the scheme.
Great – another of the many minimum wage stories of lament –
the consequence of which, in this case, is that staff in his firm on 20-100k per
year could obtain the full 42% tax savings on a bike, but John who earns just
above the minimum wage cannot. You don’t have to be that bright to see what’s
wrong here. I phoned on his behalf and made what was to me the obvious
suggestion that in order that minimum wage earners don’t miss out they could
extend the 12 month payback duration to 18 months to keep them above the
earnings threshold, but they couldn’t alter it as it’s driven by central
government. Thanks central government! Thanks Chancellor!
Thing Number 3 - Hillsborough
Despite his
ill-conceived comment on Question Time, Andy Burnham covered himself in glory
this week with his part in the Hillsborough inquest. The
recent Hillsborough ‘Justice for the 96’ outcome was the end result of a
controversial process that has lasted 27 years, largely to do with the issue of
blame. Initially the police blamed the fans, but given the falsity of this
claim it was always likely that eventually, and with an impressive degree of
tenacity and perseverance, the campaigners would see the truth exposed – that,
in fact, the police were to blame, as were the Football club, and many others
involved in the organisation the of this tragic FA Cup semi-final event. The
outcome has been pleasing not just because it’s good when justice prevails, but
also because it is a lovely demonstration of how honest people working together
for a worthwhile cause can find justice in the end and see that the blame is
apportioned to the right people, which, as they knew all along, wasn’t the
fans.
Thing Number 4 - The Blame Culture
Alas,
unlike the Hillsborough campaign, quite often blame does not go to the right
people. In a society solidly riveted to the recourse of the blame culture, this
often makes for frustrating reading, particularly in the political arena. I’m
afraid to have to say that very often politicians and the media get this
backwards – that is, they go about their business in a culture in which too
many people get blamed for things that aren’t really their fault, and don’t get
blamed for things that are their fault. A lot of the things politicians do that
are their fault – like imputing price controls, over-regulating industries, and
creating artificial shortages – elicit praise and support from large swathes of
the population when really these things should be met with ignominy. On the
other hand, a lot of the things politicians get blamed for, for which the fault
ascribed to them is an exaggeration – like crime levels increasing under their
time in office, increased inequality, and increased poverty – elicit reproach
and hostility when really these things should be opined about with a more
balanced and informed view.
