Majorityrights Central > Category: British Politics

One bright point of hope at last in the relentless march of statism and culture war: our civil servants are a weak and sickly bunch.  Or possibly they are just lead-swingers, depending on your credulity.  Or the lack of it.

A report published by the Cabinet Office has found that the average civil servant nabs two weeks of sickies a year.  The trend is rising.  In 2000 the average was 9.3 for women, 8.0 for men.  In 2001, it was 10.4 days for women, 8.5 for men.  Men are currently stuck on 8.5 days but the girlies have raced on to 11.3.  I haven’t found figures for 2002.  But in that year the three sickest government departments, apparently, were Transportation, Family & Community Services and, naturally, Health & Wellbeing.

The private sector is another story.  The outdoor life certainly seems one of rude health.  The check-shirted, blue-jeaned tough guys of oil and mining only succumb on 3.3 days a year.  Builders, who in my experience believe the common cold to be a rumour, take 4.2 days.

The lash of low rates of pay, presumably, forces expiring hotel and leisure staff to work – except on 4.6 days a year.  Across the board, the private sector average is about 30% below the public sector.  I can’t help thinking, though, that the Human Resources types who monitor these things have never ventured onto an average British dairy farm or they would find the differential quite incalculable because dairy farmers do actually have to be buried – and, if that won’t do it, cremated - before they will stop work.

It comes as no surprise to learn that ministers have set a target – yet another – of a 30% reduction from the 1998 sick-leave total.  They have decided in typical, arbitrary fashion that bureaucracy is, in fact, capable of emulating capitalism.  I suppose if in the face of all the known facts you cannot bring yourself to believe in differing human potentials and in the ineffably superior efficiency and work ethic of free enterprise you will never, never learn.

If I was Gordon Brown I wouldn’t bother about investigating all this.  If we can’t sack the lot of these people and slash our taxes the safest and best place for them is their sickbeds … or the pub … or the bingo hall … or the pier at Margate.  I suppose it might rain.

There has been no shortage of blogging about Rocco Buttiglioni.  He is, or was, good copy.  He brought about a colourfully chaotic passage in EU life, and we should all be grateful for that.  No doubt, the focus will now quickly move on.  His honesty and principle will not be much remembered.  Probably, there was never much chance that he could succeed to the Commission.  But it was a stand worth making, if only to remind us how dominant, arrogant and wrong the left is.

That said, one shouldn’t get too carried away with Rocco’s heroism.  He wasn’t proposing to expunge cultural marxism from the face of Europe.  Quite the contrary -  as a modern conservative politician he was a realist on social policy in the same way that his more or less post-socialist persecutors in the European Parliament are more or less realists on economic policy.  And he wanted that justice job.

So, with this post I will not pile more words onto the mountain of them blogged about the erstwhile Buttiglioni crisis.  Instead, I am going to ask you to make three leaps of the imagination.  If nothing else that is, as my foolish generation used to repeat ad nauseum, something completely different.

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In the piece I posted yesterday I displayed my ignorance - not in itself unusual, of course.  But in this case I was specifically unaware of our equality-driven government’s new initiative on violence against women.  No more.

The staggering thing is that neither Andrew Lansley nor, inexplicably, Ann Widdecombe rejected the idea wholesale or demanded to know what statistical evidence supports it.

A survey of 5000 young British women has yielded some interesting results. On the one hand, the survey confirms the “ladette” trend in female culture. More than half of the women admitted they got drunk at least once a week, 45% had taken drugs, 35% smoked and 73% had slept with someone they wished they hadn’t.

But some more conservative attitudes have survived behind the party girl exterior. A very large majority, 81%, hoped to give up work whilst looking after their young children, 86% wanted to get married and 96% believed they would be able to be faithful in marriage.

On issues of national identity, 70% wanted Britain to leave the EU and 80% rejected the Euro.

The moral of all this? Perhaps not to be too glum about liberalism controlling the beliefs and behaviour of young people. On some issues, at least, conservatism is still the majority view, even amongst young, modern, trendy party girls.