I’m in danger of becoming a Neil Watch if I’m not careful. Actually, as is often the case, I find myself in partial agreement with Neil; in this case on the general tendency of the media to distort facts for the sake of a headline. He refers to Simon Jenkins in the groan commenting on the news vacuum of the August break:
News editors abhor a vacuum. Half an hour of airtime and 10 pages of news must be filled each day, whatever the weather. If a story normally confined to the local press is given national prominence, so be it.
Indeed, I recall a Spitting Image spoof on this very issue many years back; there is projected news, actual news and the waffle that fills the gap between the two and all too often the actual news isn’t worth reporting.
If Neil confined himself to a non-partisan kicking of the press and their desire to distort fact and wallow in facile celebrity “news” then he would have a good post up. Unfortunately for Neil, what we get is the usual descent into partisan politics and a rant about the “right” and the “distorted” market.
The solution is simple…but it could mean a little more taxes to pay.
Groan… Here we go. A “problem” is perceived (you see, Neil is swallowing the very nonsense he derides, so just how big is this “problem” anyway?) and the solution is that the taxpayer is expected to dig yet deeper to fund another unnecessary project. In this case, keeping the yoof off the streets and gainfully employed. One problem here is that the people in question haven’t been asked what they want; which might just be a useful starting point, no?
Finally neither does the Right’s reliance on ‘the free market’ to magically solve everything, work. In fact ‘the free market’ is exactly the problem.
No one has claimed magical powers for the free market and it certainly isn’t the problem here. Indeed, it is less of an issue than it is being made out to be – remember; we don’t believe the “Tory” press with its “right wing agenda” do we?
There is no short-term economic incentive for the private sector to keep our youth – active, healthy, educationally and sportingly engaged in rewarding worthwhile pursuits, there is just not enough money to be made – which is why our youth are left to wander the streets aimlessly.
Now that is interesting. Why do large football clubs, private businesses, indeed, run youth schemes? Other sporting bodies do likewise. Why is this? Oh, that’s right, it is because they are long term planning, looking for tomorrow’s players; that is the short term incentive.
Businesses have proved they cannot think that far ahead,
Once we’ve completed the mental somersault, I think that we can deduce from this comment that Neil has never had to put together a business plan. I could also mention that he cites no evidence for this absurd assertion. Oh, sorry, I just did.
Like evolution – the ‘free market’ is a process that is nasty, brutish and wasteful.
Life is potentially nasty, brutish, wasteful and short. Get used to it. Utopia is a pipe dream. We are born, we struggle and we die. It is up to us as individuals to make the best of our lot. If we can help our fellows along the way, then well and good, but it changes not the basic facts of life.
Left to the distorted market (for that is the true picture without decent regulation to keep it in check) the majority have to suffer for the few to prosper.
Yet it is okay if the state makes the majority suffer for the behaviour of the few.
As I’ve said on Neil’s comments, I seem to have missed the bit where he described his “simple solution”, so I’ll reserve judgment until he describes it. Maybe it’ll involve cutting edge technology coupled with crazy draconian laws, maybe it won’t 🙂
It is so devilishly simple you didn’t notice it. Raising taxes was it. Sorts everything that does – majick is what it is.
We are still a low tax (below Eurozone average), low regulation country. Taxes as percentage of GDP were 48% in the 1950’s, now below 40%. France, Germany and Scandanavia all have higher tax/GDP rations – so it is no surprise they also have better public services. Paying more tax is not a magic bullet but generally it works. The Tories no longer argue the NHS is getting worse – they argue it doesn’t give good value. The party that cut funding and caused winter crises and crumbling school buildings have a cheek when they oppose NHS re-organisation which closes some hospitals.
Where there is plenty of competition, the market can be (sometimes) very good at responding to demand (i.e. giving people what they want).
The state in contrast, can be very bad at doing this. But as healthcare demonstrates, the market can sometimes be worse.
There are two problems;
1. What people think they want (at least initially), might not really be what they want or need.
2. The market is easily distorted – without state regulation it quickly degenerates as mergers, aquisitions, cartels, barriers to entering the market, consumer’s imperfect knowledge all reduce competition and distort wages and profits.
The facilities we have for people in this country (both young and old) are generally awful. Go to most towns and there is little organised for people to do in the evenings (other than pubs). It is no surprise, youngsters find fun in mischief.
A low tax economy is a good thing, not a bad one – and you are not comparing like with like. The French healthcare system, for example (about which I know something) is not only excellent, it is struggling to cope with barely adequate funding yet it is not fully publicly funded.
Keep pushing taxes up and sooner or later you erode the work ethic.
Yeeeessss. You have contradicted yourself with this one. Either the newspapers are a bunch of lying shits; in which case there isn’t really a problem, or there is a problem in which case the gentlemen of the press are purveyors of honesty and truth. You can’t have it both ways.
I’m incline to the lying shits theory myself; based as it is upon personal observation and experience. Not least because the stories about teenagers having nothing to do was being touted about when I was a teenager some thirty odd years ago – it was no more true then than it is now. I found plenty to do – it all depends on one’s motivation. If people want to hang about on street corners moaning about their lot, providing facilities, however they are funded, won’t change that.
Doing things to people in an attempt to change culture is ultimately doomed to failure because it fails to recognise that we are autonomous individuals with the will to make our own way in life – or not, as the case may be.