Equal Opportunities

zidangus

Well the British Prime minister has finally admitted what everyone thought about him and his party, that is their a bunch of toffs who want to keep the poor down. He confirmed this in a recent interview when he basically said about job placements for students in his office, tough not in these exact words "its not what you know it's who you know". So basically if your not well connected you have no chance of getting a placement in his office and more generally a top job, no matter how good you are. Hence, a large number of young people are written off because of their background, while others progress because their dad knows someone who can pull a few strings.
This I find totally unacceptable in todays world, and exposes the attitude that this prime minister and his cronies have. I would expect this attitude from businessmen and the like, but for a Prime minister to openly come out and say it, without any reservations whatsoever, well I think its a disgrace.
The sooner he and this government go the better for the UK. I just hope its happens before this country goes right down the pan.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13173505


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zidangus

There is another article on how the UK government auction internships to big companies, again a disgrace in my opinion.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/17/internships-elitism-conservative-auction

What chance have young people got of getting a job in these type of position today if their not well connected. If you come from a poor background very little it seems.


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ThailandTom

The torries have tried to seem more middle or left wing this season if you will, but they are still torries. The poorer get poorer and the richer get richer. The same with every party however, they say multiple things pre election and fail to deliver post election.

The UK is screwed anyway, along with USA, it is only a matter of time

zidangus

Exactly tories are tories, they look out for their own, and forget the poor.
Their using this economic crisis to push through their ideological agenda. The NHS will be privatised under them, just watch and see. the sad thing is the lib dems are sitting back and letting them do it.

ThailandTom

the lib dems are because this season they got a great amount of votes compared to before. Everyone looking out for themselves, politics is a place where you can find the biggest egos often. Yes the NHS will be screwed, the doll also, (I assume you are a brit and know what the doll is) schools, everything. England has like a 60 billion deficit lol... One reason among about 100 why I moved away. I am happy though because I own a british passport and thus if I am very ill, can go back and get treatment from the NHS for free

compassionate_warrior

Believe it or not, in the US it's normal and acceptable to appoint cronies and kids of cronies to certain jobs. That's because there are certain jobs that are by political appointment, not vote, nor by advertising the job. When a newly elected candidate enters the Presidency, he's free to appoint people to a certain category of jobs that are for political appointees, i.e. cronies, people who have contributed generously to the candidate's electoral campaign. The most obvious of jobs in this class (you all might say, "oh yeah, I knew that") is ambassadorships. But there are many other high and lower-level jobs legally open to partisan appointment.

zidangus

In the UK there is a law for equal opportunities. Everyone should be treated fairly when applying for jobs etc etc, hence in theory people are employed on merit. However, the law covers race, religion or belief, sexuality, age, disability and gender and not anything to stop people appointing your friends above more qualified people. Do not get me wrong, this is a good law (brought in by Labour) in my opinion but I think it should be extended to stop this kind of thing happening. Of course the people who make the laws are the one who actually benefited from these so called leg ups and old boy networks, so I doubt the change in law will happen, knowing the tories they will most likely scrap the law instead of extending it. They already want to scrap the minimum wage, another kick in the face to poor people in the UK while the rich get richer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/12/conservatives-minimum-wage

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zidangus

Believe it or not, in the US it's normal and acceptable to appoint cronies and kids of cronies to certain jobs. That's because there are certain jobs that are by political appointment, not vote, nor by advertising the job. When a newly elected candidate enters the Presidency, he's free to appoint people to a certain category of jobs that are for political appointees, i.e. cronies, people who have contributed generously to the candidate's electoral campaign. The most obvious of jobs in this class (you all might say, "oh yeah, I knew that") is ambassadorships. But there are many other high and lower-level jobs legally open to partisan appointment.

Yes I have noticed that about America CW, its amazing to me that people do not kick up a fuss about this, or do they I don't know ?
Has it become so much the norm in the US that nobody cares how unfair this is ?

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zidangus

the lib dems are because this season they got a great amount of votes compared to before. Everyone looking out for themselves, politics is a place where you can find the biggest egos often. Yes the NHS will be screwed, the doll also, (I assume you are a brit and know what the doll is) schools, everything. England has like a 60 billion deficit lol... One reason among about 100 why I moved away. I am happy though because I own a british passport and thus if I am very ill, can go back and get treatment from the NHS for free

I hope the NHS is still free when/if you ever come back ThailandTom, I think Thailands health service will be better that the UK's soon anyway, if it is not already.
And your right the dole will be broken up as well, rich get richer poor get poorer, its the new tory slogan

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compassionate_warrior

Yes I have noticed that about America CW, its amazing to me that people do not kick up a fuss about this, or do they I don't know ?
Has it become so much the norm in the US that nobody cares how unfair this is ?

I'm not an expert on this, but I'll do my best to answer your question. Any time a new political leader, whether a President or a governor (and to a lesser extent, Mayor, who appoints his Board of Supervisors) comes into office, there are certain jobs he/she needs to fill that are purely political appointments. The board of directors of a state agency, heads of government commissions and agencies, for example. These appointments get made mainly when there's a change in party as the result of an election, so the new authority would want his own party people in place, so that decisions-making and implementation of decisions will proceed smoothly and according to party values. Whether or not the staff in those agencies can bypass the job application process and get in via "connections" when there's a change-over like that, I don't know. More likely they have to go through the normal job application process, but if they have a string or two to pull, to hedge their bets as to being picked from the competition, they will.

Most federal and state jobs are filled from the Federal job register and state job registers, and laws barring discrimination of any sort apply, just as they do to jobs filled in private industry. We're only talking about a tiny fraction of jobs that are subject to political appointment. Ambassadors in your country aren't elected officials, are they? There must be other jobs that are also filled by appointment, but the public doesn't hear about it much.

Spock

I think the original links to the BBC and Guardian articles raise far more important democratic issues that just being related to money or nepotism.

More and more, the political classes are being drawn from the same public schools and universities.....politicians tend to come from debating societies or active student bodies.....gain interships into the leading parties central offices... end result:

dogmatic ideological theorists with little understanding of living in a wider society, they tend to be career politicians rather than wishing to contribute to society for the greater good! Less and less people are now voting for a number of reasons including:

-they feel alienated from the political system,
-no party adequately represents what the believe in
-they are part of a disaffected society which does not have the education or volition to bother voting

Of course, this is to the benefit of politicians because the more educated classes, who tend to have more money, are more likely to wish to follow a Capitalist path.

I haven't voted for over 10 years, for the former point, but being a Buddhist has helped me become less passive. I think if a reincarnation of Che Guevara (without the gun) arrived on my doorstep, I would want to be part of a non-violent battle to end greed and global capitalism.

zidangus

I think the original links to the BBC and Guardian articles raise far more important democratic issues that just being related to money or nepotism.

More and more, the political classes are being drawn from the same public schools and universities.....politicians tend to come from debating societies or active student bodies.....gain interships into the leading parties central offices... end result:

dogmatic ideological theorists with little understanding of living in a wider society, they tend to be career politicians rather than wishing to contribute to society for the greater good! Less and less people are now voting for a number of reasons including:

-they feel alienated from the political system,
-no party adequately represents what the believe in
-they are part of a disaffected society which does not have the education or volition to bother voting

Of course, this is to the benefit of politicians because the more educated classes, who tend to have more money, are more likely to wish to follow a Capitalist path.

I haven't voted for over 10 years, for the former point, but being a Buddhist has helped me become less passive. I think if a reincarnation of Che Guevara (without the gun) arrived on my doorstep, I would want to be part of a non-violent battle to end greed and global capitalism.

Could not agree more Spock. Politicians today have no idea about the real world. How can David Cameron tell the British public "were in this together" and believe in his so called "big society" and "social mobility" when he got to were he is because of his and his dads old boys club network, moreover, he openly admits that he believes in a policy of "its not what you know its who you know" what a hypocrite. What do those students feel who work so hard to achieve their best, are applying for internships to get experience and see that their getting overlooked for less qualified people who are "well connected"

And your right the political classes are being drawn from the same public schools and universities, the exception was Gordon Brown who for a change was a Prime Minister who did not go to Oxbridge, he went to Edinburgh University.


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