Labour is similar to any other commodity in that it's value is determined by the supply & demand for it. If skilled labour (in any sector) is hard to come by then chances are their value will increase. However, skilled labour probably represents a minority of jobs in the economy.

I've spent most of the last ten years working principally in engineering (Mining, Oil/gas, Construction, Industrial) and again the market drives price.

I worked on a huge industrial progamme in North Africa where workers were offered higher level HSE training. One of the company bosses said train equally across companies or you will create an imbalance in the market and as such introduce movement and then local inflation

So that's 4 more markets. Rather than me keep going on, maybe you could provide examples. I'm unsure what is representative.

Well. Astonishing article from the Mail. Quite wonderful: www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/artic ... ttlee.html

Well. Astonishing article from the Mail. Quite wonderful: www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/artic ... ttlee.html

He has lasted 4 days which is more than some thought!

I suspect if he doesn't raise his game he will be gone by Xmas

What have you seen in those 4 days to suggest that?

Raise his game? What do you want him to do?

It is widely reported that the owner of Hull City FC is withdrawing his significant donations to the Labour Party and encouraging "moderate MPs" to form a break-away party or join the LibDems. The whole thing has become a farce.

Assem Allam would make Brian Rix green with envy in his ability to turn absolutely any event into a farce.

His statement and that of other Blairite sympathisers proves just what value they place on democracy

Yes, because now he's been elected everyone should agree with everything he says or does. That's the problem with democracy, people can openly have opinions and beliefs, much like your belief that the NHS should be flogged off to the private sector.

Don't be so obtuse.

Allam can disagree all he wants to but to outwardly foment rebellion is not democracy, it is buying patronage.

Something he has vast experience of

No, please do keep going on.

At work yesterday we had a senior Tory MP visit. In his speech to a number of workers he said the country(Tories!) are pushing for and enticing more highly skilled / highly paid employers to set up here and to leave the low paid work for the Asia / Middle east regions.



Great to hear. Let's get out of the pits and improve peoples quality of life at both work and home. Jezzer wont bring that aspiration to the country.

What do you anticipate this type of attitude will do for the low paid, limited ability people I this country? Are this government really going to put the hard yards in to really improve the education system(the country's KPI) or just leave it for the few?
Why are this government not helping to assist highly skilled/ highly paid employers to actually be created in this country or does just "banking" count and nothing else?
Reading the post it can be read that this government requires others to do the job it isn't prepared to help with. Surely they are a bit wiser than that. If not then we are really in a worse mess than the current situation.

Maybe he was playing to the audience. I suspect he wouldn't have said something similar in a care home or bus depot.

Courtesy of @BestoftheMail

Press conference
Cameron: Anyone have any questions
*everyone raises hands*
Cameron: That aren't about the pig?
*everyone lowers hands*

Who is the pig? Is this an in joke?

Certainly was an "in" joke about 30 years ago!

Quote ="Exiled down south"Who is the pig? Is this an in joke?'" www.express.co.uk/news/politics/ ... e-Minister

Quote ="Exiled down south"Who is the pig? Is this an in joke?'" www.express.co.uk/news/politics/ ... e-Minister

Not the best of weeks!

Unions have helped a lot in Redcar

- completely impotent just like McCluskey when Ratcliffe called his bluff

Which union would that be? The CBI?

Let's be honest, what's happening in Redcar is symptomatic of the general failure of free market capitalism and of the Conservative's commitment to anywhere outside of their constituencies. Frankly, they're not interested. With the current electoral system they don't have to bother with anywhere like that. They can keep pumping money into where their MPs are. The corporate financiers that fund the Tories get their billions of profit from all over the world. They won't lose sleep overnight about the plight of thousands in the north of England. The only thing that stops the whole thing collapsing is your average small and mid sized business entrepreneurs who continue to seek opportunity in the UK. They're the people that put money into local economies and bring it in from overseas. Your average multinational, as we know, minimises its tax liability (to the point of avoidance) and sucks money from local economies into various financial institutions, which do the same.

Only the other week I was reading about Comet and how the venture capitalists that bought it paid £2. When it was liquidated, the workers had to get taxpayers money to pay them redundancy (statutory I believe not enhanced company terms) whilst the venture capitalists got £114m from it.

The workers got some back of the monies they and the previous company had put in i.e. employees/employers NI one of the reasons NI is set at such a high level!! is your £114m (50m given by Kesa to cover insurance claims + 64m recovered from the admin) net of the £74m HAL wrote off?

Hmm' they should just tug their forelocks whilst others made a killing for doing nothing.

If what Redcar produces cannot be sold, is it being argued that "the taxpayer" should pay for the pointless production? For how long? How do we know their will ever be a profitable market for the production? Wouldn't it be better to put resources into something more economically viable that could enhance people's living standards? We've lost millions of jobs in primary and secondary industries over the last 60+ years but have more people employed than ever. A lot may not be in highly paid jobs, but they never were - most jobs though being less dirty and dangerous than those they replaced.