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| Daddy - is that the gravy train you missed? |
The gravy train seems to sum up so much of modern life and the corrupt antics of those who rule over us, but it is worth remembering lesser gravy trains which are no less important. It isn’t only the UN, EU and an uncountable number of quangos transporting the gravy. Those are the mainstream gravy trains, but think of the plodding climate scientist and epidemiologist too.
An employer who cannot go bust, a steady job for life, good holidays, easy employment terms, some foreign travel, conference jollies and an index-linked pension. What’s not to like about that? Very common in the public sector and for those with modest expectation perhaps we should regard it as just as much a gravy train as a quango directorship.
While retaining our focus on the mainline gravy train routes we should recall the multitude of little branch lines Dr Beeching was never asked to cull.
4 comments:
Yes, it's the same gravy train, but cattle class.
When I was working in Further Education, I inherited a department which trained counsellors. They were unprofitable and had to be culled, as the amount of money they brought in did not cover their salaries, let alone other operating costs. I also learned the interesting fact that the number of trainee counsellors seeking placements in the UK exceeded the number of counsellors currently working. That should have convinced some of them that the jig was up.
But try ejecting people from a moving train. They would rather the whole thing hit the buffers...
Remember, back in the last century, when people worried about ever increasing productivity znd automation removing the need for so many workers to work so many hours for so many days of the year. What would people do with all the free time - go crazy?
Intentionally or not, the problem is solved.
Many new jobs were created, doing things that we never knew needed doing before.
And with the jobs entire organisations controlling and organising and swelling their own importance.
Back then we were so primitive and ignorant we did not know the importance of Diversity Departments, Numan Resourses, Sustainability Directorates.
We had to struggle on feeding ourselves and looking after ourselves and families, without Public Health England, WHO, Anti Smoking Quangos.
Industries Procedures - ISO whatever number we are up to now.
Apologies to those many, many, organisations I have omitted.
Now this Coronavirus farce with lockdowns has shown how many workers society really needs.
People making stuff, farmers, delivery folk, the shop workers, the guys keeping our comms, water, sewers and power going, those carting our rubbish away.
The rest of the drones are busy "working from home" devising new restrictions, regulations, operating procedures, laws. Even the Police seem to have retreated to their Right Think computers, unless there is a few lockdown protestors to be cracked down on.
I hope that they are all shit scared that they have not been missed.
Society has not crumbled because of their absence.
And I am still not a Rarebit.
The gravy train is sadly funded by our taxes, and when so many incompetent people in public 'service' automatically change 'jobs' every two years, they double their income, pensions and also get eye-watering payoffs to boot.
see http://www.cityunslicker.co.uk/ by our good friend, Nick Drew!
Kent were even worse with over half a mill wasted on an utterly useless 'chief exec'...
Sam - "But try ejecting people from a moving train. They would rather the whole thing hit the buffers..."
That's my experience too. I'm sure they don't believe the thing will hit the buffers and far too often far too many of them are right.
Doonhamer - "Now this Coronavirus farce with lockdowns has shown how many workers society really needs."
This aspect bothers me too. It has been sort of obvious for a long time for anyone who grew up where jobs were about making something work. Now we have people employed in what is effectively the job of making words work in their favour. Nothing of wider value is created, only their employment.
Scrobs - yes, that looks like a horror story waiting to be opened up. Part of it is the same old problem, decent capable people don't want to enter the dirty world of politics and do their bit trying to put things right.
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