Skip to content

So Charles isan’t expecting Brenda to resign then?

More than a million people over 50 have been forced out of their jobs prematurely, costing the economy billions, the Prince of Wales will warn today.

Or is he hoping to use this as an example to her?

17 thoughts on “So Charles isan’t expecting Brenda to resign then?”

  1. He’s quite right, of course, but as he’s a loon no one will listen.

    I’ve said before it’s pretty pointless expecting a rise in retirement age to change anything as a good part of the population either takes early retirement from a state job or gets made redundant in their 50s never to work again.

    It would be interesting to know just what fraction of the workforce actually works up to 65.

  2. Does forcing older people out of their jobs cost the economy anything? If job still exists then someone else can get the job. If job doesn’t exist is the company able to work better? Make more profit without this cost?
    Is it a nil score draw?

  3. Does forcing older people out of their jobs cost the economy anything?

    At a first approximation, “The opportunity cost of whatever the younger person would have otherwise have been doing.” minus “The total value of the older person having enforced leisure.”

    I think …

    There will be other costs if the younger person does the job with a differential value to the older person and these may very well cascade down multiple orders (i.e. the younger person’s previous role is now filled by somebody less capable and the older person being in leisure will impact on the value to others of that leisure activity – it might be it is less pleasant because of crowding or more pleasant because they now have a bridge four in the pub.)

  4. I’m not royalist but I think it woul be better for all of us if she was to out live her eldest son. Not that I wish ill on him, more a long and healthy life for her.

  5. The only reason I am anything like a monarchist is because cunts like Arnald are not. If they’re for something, I’m agin it, and it’s as simple as that.

    Anyone know the history behind the ‘Brenda’ thing? I know it’s from Private Eye (bunch of wankers IMO) but why?

  6. On older people, we currently have the house full of various tradesmen. None younger than late 40s (and all of them busy as fuck, it’s a job to keep a roofer in the place for more than half a day at a stretch).

    One of the chaps has been a carpenter for thirty years, says he’s still learning (which I suppose makes sense). But they cannot get any younger people prepared to sit out on a roof in the cold and actually learn anything.

    He thinks – I know it’s not data – that we’re heading for big trouble when his cohort jacks it in.

  7. Martin Davies,

    “Does forcing older people out of their jobs cost the economy anything? If job still exists then someone else can get the job. ”

    But how often does that happen? How often does an old person who is doing a good job get kicked out and replaced by a young person?

    The general problem is that most people don’t keep up with technological changes. If you’re working in a typing pool, the sight of a word processor should have you looking for an exit strategy.

  8. Interested,
    There’s an easy way to get younger people interested in in trades:

    1) Don’t take them on as apprentices, and subject them to cold roofs, or whatever

    2) Take them on as Consultants, and have them advising the actual tradesman. They can do this in the warmth, online, and at arm’s length from customers. Add a good salary and problem solved.

    (If you think this is nuts, consider that business consultants is frequently a FIRST job for graduates. How did that happen?).

  9. According to the local press, and I can’t confirm the veracity of their figures, there is a shortage of construction workers in the booming Plymouth house-building industry – and 90% of the existing cohort are aged over 50. Many of the lads I know who are fitters/welders are also 60’ish. Most will probably keep going until they are physically incapable because the money is good and they are reluctant to prejudice their current lifestyle (swapping the annual trip to Vegas for a week in Clacton). Conversely, if you’re a middle-ranking white collar type, there is an almost limitless supply of twenty-something graduates that can do most of what you’re paid to do for less than half your cost. It makes you wish you’d become a sparky instead of joining RBS as a kid.

  10. What we need is more jobs – currently keeping more old or middle-aged people in work just reduces the number of young people in work and increases the number of NEETs.
    So, abolish the Minimum Wage and “onshore” some jobs from Chi9na and Bangladesh. The increase in aggregate (worker’s plus unemployed persons’) income – since wages have to be more tjan JSA in order to persuade 99.8% of people to work – would generate economic growth in consumer/leisure industries and further employment.
    A former colleague complained that I have more letters after my name than in it (my card just had initials instead of my middle names) but I clean my own office because it isn’t worth hiring a cleaner (mostly it’s the need to have employer’s liability insurance but paying for a job I can do myself in slack periods just makes it worse). Forty years ago my employer’s office cleaner used to work round me if I was working late and tidied up after Bob and me on Saturdays if we worked late all week; can’t do that now

  11. @Jack – yes that’s about the size of it.

    @ Bernie – there’s a lot to be said for a job where you basically mix with blokes all the time, mostly outdoors. The craic is generally superb, there’s next to no politics and stuff gets done, whether it’s putting on a roof, building a wall or advancing to contact. I say that as a chap who very much enjoys the company of women (and I don’t mean in a sleazy way, I just like being around them). I can quite imagine that the hardest thing to give up for those blokes is the amusing chat, rather than the money.

  12. You are really missing an undeveloped industry- Religion
    There would be room for thousands of acolytes, priests etc. They would be just as useful as politicians. And more useful than teachers.
    And the actual number of independant relgions is quite impressive.

  13. The Stigler – my sister was a typist in the civil service for many years, even after word processors came in her department had a typing pool then just a single typist after a few years.
    Think it was only about 10 years ago they gave up the typist.

    What you guys are saying about construction around here I hear about leather workers. Still a decent industry locally, I know one firm well with its youngest leatherworker in his 50s and several in their early 70s. Working because they enjoy it and are very good at the work – pride in accomplishment.
    Simply hard to impossible to get a youngster interested in something involving needles, hammer, chisel and craft knife.
    While I can do a little craft leatherwork I’m probably equvilant to apprentice on day 1 about lunchtime. These guys train for years.

  14. So Much For Subtlety

    Roue le Jour – “I’ve said before it’s pretty pointless expecting a rise in retirement age to change anything as a good part of the population either takes early retirement from a state job or gets made redundant in their 50s never to work again.”

    Which high lights the basic point – raising the retirement age is not about us, it is about them. The government is faced with reduced revenue as people work less. So one solution would be to force people to work longer. Another solution would be for the government to spend less.

    Guess which they are going with?

    However, as long as people don’t love their jobs much, and very few people do, they will not work longer than they have to. Forcing them to do so will be problematic. They will go out with bad backs. Or take their cash and go to Spain. How is the government planning on stopping them?

    I also think that older workers are fired because they make managers uncomfortable. Not because they are poor workers, they are probably very good and productive workers. But because having a young manager telling someone old enough to be his Dad what to do is not going to be comfortable for either side. Especially as an older worker knows he is close to retiring and can tell him to f**k off. So the managers want a younger work force even if that means a less efficient one.

    Bloke with a Boat – “I’m not royalist but I think it woul be better for all of us if she was to out live her eldest son. Not that I wish ill on him, more a long and healthy life for her.”

    I don’t know. I disagree with most things Big Ears has to say. But on the other hand I think his interventions in public life have been largely for the better. People hate him because he is a Royal of course. Well, by “people” I mean the Guardianistas and their tendency. But he has talked about things that we should be talking about. He has done good work on the whole.

    By and large I think he has been a success. What he suffers from is media insanity. Like Sarah Palin. The media can’t point to anything bad they have done, but they drive the media feral and so a feral attack is what they get.

  15. bloke (not) in spain

    @interested
    “Anyone know the history behind the ‘Brenda’ thing?”
    And various other re-christenings.
    The way I heard it (from a press photographer) was it started amongst press photographers. There was a sort of protocol surrounding taking pics of Her Maj & family, started to wear when you’d been doing it for a while. The Eye picked it up from there.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *