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Not very big, and not very Cleverly – politicalbetting.com

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  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 13,590
    https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/cognitive-ability-mattered-in-the-uks-vote-for-brexit-research-shows/

    “New research from the University of Bath’s School of Management finds that higher cognitive ability was strongly linked to voting to Remain in the 2016 UK referendum on European Union Membership.

    “The study shows that cognitive skills including memory, verbal fluency, fluid reasoning and numerical reasoning, were correlated with how people decided to vote.”
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,082

    Your plan only works if 85 year olds are as productive and draw similar state resources as 25 year olds. They aren't and they don't.
    No - what you want is a situation where the productivity of those who aren't retired/sick/etc pays for the whole thing. As a stable proportion of the population.
  • The lived experience for a household which was working in 2010 and is still working now will not be the dramatic gains that Sandpit is assuming...
    Ultimately, it's an average, and that always includes people doing better and worse than average.

    The key thing is that we even need to have this conversation, because overall we're no more prosperous now than a decade ago. I am, but mostly due to not paying nursery fees any more.

    But given the sluggish GDP growth and the lack of improvement in productivity, what did we expect?
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    .

    Then vote for the incumbent government at the next Dubai election.
    Despite what you might think, there are indeed elections in Dubai.
    Last month as it happens, not that there was much international coverage.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Emirati_parliamentary_election
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,650

    "If we underperform our peers it's a failure."

    That is the political stick that is used by all sides to beat one another. We didn't grow as much as Germany, no we grew more than France, etc etc etc. We saw this just yesterday from both sides.

    The crux of which is then leads to we aren't as prosperous society as our peers, so we can't afford what they have. That's very difficult sell to the electorate especially when it comes to say but Germany have better hospitals, they live longer etc.
    Agreed you don't trumpet 'average economic performance!' as the aspiration. The electorate need a bit of a tickle. But if the UK government can in practice deliver this, and a fairer more equal society, that will be a good government imo. One of the best for a long time. It's what I'll be voting for next year.
  • Sandpit said:

    .

    Despite what you might think, there are indeed elections in Dubai.
    Last month as it happens, not that there was much international coverage.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Emirati_parliamentary_election
    Is there an Emirati version of PB? :)
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 13,590
    Sandpit said:

    .

    Despite what you might think, there are indeed elections in Dubai.
    Last month as it happens, not that there was much international coverage.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Emirati_parliamentary_election
    Only 2 out of 20 were incumbents being re-elected. It seems people in Dubai don’t think their lot has gotten better either.
  • We spend way too much political energy on GDP. What will actually make us happier? Health, homes, social connection. Loads we can do on all three, and far easier to achieve than getting GDP growth to a consistent 4%.
    I actually think GDP is a close proxy for things we should care about. GDP is all the income in the economy - that is all of the wages and profits, so a higher GDP means households with more money to spend and businesses that are more profitable and so willing to hire and invest - and more potential tax revenue for the government too. GDP is all the spending in the economy, so it is all of the money households spend on stuff they need to live happy and convenient lives, all the money the government spends on health care, education and other public services, all the money businesses are investing to create future prosperity. And GDP is all the output in the economy, so it is everything we produce, all the goods and services we rely on here in the UK or we sell abroad. In other words, GDP is bloody important. And a big part of our problems right now is that GDP has stopped growing like it used to.
  • Is there an Emirati version of PB? :)
    Yes, but women re not allowed and the ban hammer is a lot more brutal.
  • isamisam Posts: 41,217
    These modern places of worship are just as elegant and beautiful as their predecessors

    https://x.com/bristolairport/status/1727651705309876546?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    .

    Is there an Emirati version of PB? :)
    Not yet, but they have just appointed a head of the casino regulatory authority.
    https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/uae-sets-up-gaming-regulator-led-by-us-industry-veterans-2023-09-04/
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,650
    edited November 2023

    https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/cognitive-ability-mattered-in-the-uks-vote-for-brexit-research-shows/

    “New research from the University of Bath’s School of Management finds that higher cognitive ability was strongly linked to voting to Remain in the 2016 UK referendum on European Union Membership.

    “The study shows that cognitive skills including memory, verbal fluency, fluid reasoning and numerical reasoning, were correlated with how people decided to vote.”

    Another of those 'research to confirm the obvious' exercises that Unis do from time to time.

    Next up, "Do tall men need longer than average trousers?"
  • kinabalu said:

    Agreed you don't trumpet 'average economic performance!' as the aspiration. The electorate need a bit of a tickle. But if the UK government can in practice deliver this, and a fairer more equal society, that will be a good government imo. One of the best for a long time. It's what I'll be voting for next year.
    Two slightly orthogonal things- creating wealth and turning that wealth into human thriving. It's hard to do the second without the first, which is why we don't have states run by hippies. It's possible to do the first without the second, but grim- worst bits of the USA, perhaps?

    Right now, I'm not convinced that the UK is doing that well at either. Though it could be worse. A lot worse.
  • theProletheProle Posts: 1,299
    edited November 2023

    Your plan only works if 85 year olds are as productive and draw similar state resources as 25 year olds. They aren't and they don't.
    Your plan only works if you have a population distribution with far more 25 year olds per 85 year old than you would naturally get. You can achieve this by massive levels of immigration, but unless your plan includes shooting them all at age 60 or something it won't work in the long term. Your 25 year olds will in turn become 85 year olds and you'll have to import even more 25 year olds a year. At some point we have to stop. Ten years ago would have been the best possible time to have done this, today is going to be the second best time. Waiting till the population is 80 or 90 million only makes it worse when it happens.

    We also need to face up to the fact that we are directing enormous amounts of resources at these immigrants - there are probably 10 million people employed in the construction supply chain which is currently effectively being used entirely to provide homes for immigrants. If would be better in the long term if those 10 million were filling the vacancies the immigrants come to fill rather than just working on building homes for them.
  • https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/cognitive-ability-mattered-in-the-uks-vote-for-brexit-research-shows/

    “New research from the University of Bath’s School of Management finds that higher cognitive ability was strongly linked to voting to Remain in the 2016 UK referendum on European Union Membership.

    “The study shows that cognitive skills including memory, verbal fluency, fluid reasoning and numerical reasoning, were correlated with how people decided to vote.”

    Did they control for age?
  • No - what you want is a situation where the productivity of those who aren't retired/sick/etc pays for the whole thing. As a stable proportion of the population.
    Well then don't start with our unstable demographics.....
  • algarkirk said:

    Among the remarkable features of this nonsense is that it is an egregious example of a common interviewer fail. Questions are frequently too long, too diffuse, incorporate grandstanding statements, and/or ask several things at once.

    (Another failing it to simplistically angle for the 'gotcha' moment even when you are obviously not going to get it, and when a gentler approach might get a better harvest).

    Framing questions to be precise, exactly framed, penetrating and tricky to avoid should be lesson 1.

    BTW Evan Davies and Amol Rajan are better than average.
    To be honest it screamed Chris Morris at his finest. Are we sure it is not a spoof? Now I am going to have to watch a lot of “the day today” on you tube.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 30,674

    To be fair to OmniConsumerProducts, one of their product lines in the Policing space *did* turn out to be World Beating.
    I would be broadly in favour of liberalisation of policing. Certainly I think there should be two overlapping strands of policing, sheriffs and police, so people could use their preferred choice. You would get very little twatting about on Twitter or bootboy antics when you look at a police officer funny if they were liable to lose their funding any day to the sheriffs department.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 24,148

    https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/cognitive-ability-mattered-in-the-uks-vote-for-brexit-research-shows/

    “New research from the University of Bath’s School of Management finds that higher cognitive ability was strongly linked to voting to Remain in the 2016 UK referendum on European Union Membership.

    “The study shows that cognitive skills including memory, verbal fluency, fluid reasoning and numerical reasoning, were correlated with how people decided to vote.”

    Democracy is counting heads, not weighing them. The point of a referendum is not to choose the best outcome but to obtain consent of the governed. There wasn't a "no stupid people" voting clause. If there was, the only person voting would have been me. 😃
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022

    Yes, but women re not allowed and the ban hammer is a lot more brutal.
    Ahem! https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45483/4
    UAE Parliament 3rd in the world for female representation.
  • Ultimately, it's an average, and that always includes people doing better and worse than average.

    The key thing is that we even need to have this conversation, because overall we're no more prosperous now than a decade ago. I am, but mostly due to not paying nursery fees any more.

    But given the sluggish GDP growth and the lack of improvement in productivity, what did we expect?
    Despite the stats showing low productivity, most Brits think they work their tits off. So either we are all deluded, or we are being busy fools.

    For a large number of people their expectations of the economy aren't all that great. Have a job which isn't too dull, earn enough money to not be worried about bills, be able to have some nice things and a holiday.

    The problem for the Tories is that for so many people it doesn't matter how hard and for how long they work, they are broke. Not "I don't have enough money to pay for that new £3k pair of TSE-signature loafers" broke, I mean "I don't have enough money to have anything left at the end of the month" broke.

    Combine that with public services being broken and infrastructure crumbing around us, is it any wonder that people want to punish them?
  • I actually think GDP is a close proxy for things we should care about. GDP is all the income in the economy - that is all of the wages and profits, so a higher GDP means households with more money to spend and businesses that are more profitable and so willing to hire and invest - and more potential tax revenue for the government too. GDP is all the spending in the economy, so it is all of the money households spend on stuff they need to live happy and convenient lives, all the money the government spends on health care, education and other public services, all the money businesses are investing to create future prosperity. And GDP is all the output in the economy, so it is everything we produce, all the goods and services we rely on here in the UK or we sell abroad. In other words, GDP is bloody important. And a big part of our problems right now is that GDP has stopped growing like it used to.
    Of course GDP is important, but that does not mean humans can't attach too much (or too little) priority to it. The GDP obsession in Western politics combined with our (nearly all parties across Western "liberal" democracies) inability to deliver it for the last decade or two simply leads to lack of faith and trust in government, hence the rise of the populist right.

    If a party for example made their number one pledge as reducing obesity by 10% over the life of a parliament, I think that is perfectly achievable and then in the medium run it does also improve productivity, and in the long run reduces healthcare and social care costs.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 30,674
    edited November 2023
    kinabalu said:

    Another of those 'research to confirm the obvious' exercises that Unis do from time to time.

    Next up, "Do tall men need longer than average trousers?"
    This is a deeply thick piece of research, conceived by, designed by, conducted by and appealing to deeply thick people. 'Those people who disagree with me are stooooopid, fnar fnar fnar' - the smell of *actual* stupid reeks off this. No nuance, no intellectual curiosity.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,341
    edited November 2023

    Despite the stats showing low productivity, most Brits think they work their tits off. So either we are all deluded, or we are being busy fools.

    For a large number of people their expectations of the economy aren't all that great. Have a job which isn't too dull, earn enough money to not be worried about bills, be able to have some nice things and a holiday.

    The problem for the Tories is that for so many people it doesn't matter how hard and for how long they work, they are broke. Not "I don't have enough money to pay for that new £3k pair of TSE-signature loafers" broke, I mean "I don't have enough money to have anything left at the end of the month" broke.

    Combine that with public services being broken and infrastructure crumbing around us, is it any wonder that people want to punish them?
    I think its both deluded about how hard they work and lots of unproductive busy work / lack of investment.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 13,938

    https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/cognitive-ability-mattered-in-the-uks-vote-for-brexit-research-shows/

    “New research from the University of Bath’s School of Management finds that higher cognitive ability was strongly linked to voting to Remain in the 2016 UK referendum on European Union Membership.

    “The study shows that cognitive skills including memory, verbal fluency, fluid reasoning and numerical reasoning, were correlated with how people decided to vote.”

    I have no idea what they make of this, though the implications are fairly clear. Suppose however that it was also discovered that voting Remain also was linked to, for example, having significant inherited wealth, being privately educated, owning several homes, having a high carbon footprint, using the word 'pleb' about the WWC, using IHT avoidance schemes, thinking that the opinions of White Van Man didn't count, and attending black tie dinners....I wonder what conclusions should be drawn.

    BTW the leaders of the Remain campaign may also have high cognitive skills, but they still ran a campaign of moral and political ineptitude that continues to beggar the imagination.
  • MightyAlexMightyAlex Posts: 1,753
    edited November 2023

    Of course GDP is important, but that does not mean humans can't attach too much (or too little) priority to it. The GDP obsession in Western politics combined with our (nearly all parties across Western "liberal" democracies) inability to deliver it for the last decade or two simply leads to lack of faith and trust in government, hence the rise of the populist right.

    If a party for example made their number one pledge as reducing obesity by 10% over the life of a parliament, I think that is perfectly achievable and then in the medium run it does also improve productivity, and in the long run reduces healthcare and social care costs.
    If the slimmer 10% can't replace the otherwise increase in health and social care costs doesn't GDP decline with their waistlines?
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,650

    Two slightly orthogonal things- creating wealth and turning that wealth into human thriving. It's hard to do the second without the first, which is why we don't have states run by hippies. It's possible to do the first without the second, but grim- worst bits of the USA, perhaps?

    Right now, I'm not convinced that the UK is doing that well at either. Though it could be worse. A lot worse.
    I reckon if government can do the business on Health, Schools, Transport and Housing, that will feed through to both aggregate wealth creation and a more equal distribution of it.

    So there's my submission for today's Easier Said Than Done award. Let's see if anybody can beat it.
  • To be fair to OmniConsumerProducts, one of their product lines in the Policing space *did* turn out to be World Beating.
    "My program will not allow me to act against an officer of this company."
  • Sandpit said:

    Ahem! https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45483/4
    UAE Parliament 3rd in the world for female representation.
    Yeah, alright. It was a *joke*.
  • Of course GDP is important, but that does not mean humans can't attach too much (or too little) priority to it. The GDP obsession in Western politics combined with our (nearly all parties across Western "liberal" democracies) inability to deliver it for the last decade or two simply leads to lack of faith and trust in government, hence the rise of the populist right.

    If a party for example made their number one pledge as reducing obesity by 10% over the life of a parliament, I think that is perfectly achievable and then in the medium run it does also improve productivity, and in the long run reduces healthcare and social care costs.
    I am not sure that GDP is the sole KPI. I prefer looking at median household disposable income for economics to focus on day to day money in the hands of the population. I would also look at a health measure - median healthiness (if such a thing exists).

    The allocation of GDP to different parts of the economy is just as important as the overall figure.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 24,148

    I actually think GDP is a close proxy for things we should care about. GDP is all the income in the economy - that is all of the wages and profits, so a higher GDP means households with more money to spend and businesses that are more profitable and so willing to hire and invest - and more potential tax revenue for the government too. GDP is all the spending in the economy, so it is all of the money households spend on stuff they need to live happy and convenient lives, all the money the government spends on health care, education and other public services, all the money businesses are investing to create future prosperity. And GDP is all the output in the economy, so it is everything we produce, all the goods and services we rely on here in the UK or we sell abroad. In other words, GDP is bloody important. And a big part of our problems right now is that GDP has stopped growing like it used to.
    Um, you might be wrong here. Spending is gross domestic expenditure. Value added is gross national product. The two are not equal. If a country's sole industry is slaves digging up diamonds and exporting them to the mine's foreign owners, then the gross domestic expenditure is the cost of the slaves' meals and the gross national product is the value of the diamonds.
  • MightyAlexMightyAlex Posts: 1,753
    Sandpit said:

    Ahem! https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45483/4
    UAE Parliament 3rd in the world for female representation.
    Not really a parliament if it has no powers.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,442
    @Fishing was asking about zoonotic disease emergence in India earlier today.

    Here's a recent example.
    https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/global-pandemic-bats-prevention/

    Economic development appears to be a factor, so India might well follow in China's footsteps.
    ..On the heels of so much development, bats are roosting in populated areas in extraordinary numbers, researchers say. They are attracted by fruit and nuts grown on farms and in home gardens, replacing the animals’ natural diet of flower nectar and wild fruit...

    Granted the differences in livestock husbandry (another potential risk factor) between the two countries are considerable:
    https://www.statista.com/statistics/263961/top-countries-worldwide-by-chicken-stock-2007/

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/263964/number-of-pigs-in-selected-countries/

    Keep an eye on Indonesia, too.

  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,243
    edited November 2023

    Here we go...



    (People climbing career ladders may well be better off, I rather doubt that is a majority.)
    Me:
    1. Looks at graph from 2010-2015
    2. Looks at 2015 election result
    3. Looks at graph from 2019-2024/5 (projected)
    4. Remortgages the house and puts it all on blue for next GE
    5. Profit?
    ETA: DYOR!
    ETA2: The effect of the LDs in government is clear to see :open_mouth: #neveragain
  • Sandpit said:

    Ahem! https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45483/4
    UAE Parliament 3rd in the world for female representation.
    https://freedomhouse.org/country/united-arab-emirates/freedom-world/2023
  • Despite the stats showing low productivity, most Brits think they work their tits off. So either we are all deluded, or we are being busy fools.

    For a large number of people their expectations of the economy aren't all that great. Have a job which isn't too dull, earn enough money to not be worried about bills, be able to have some nice things and a holiday.

    The problem for the Tories is that for so many people it doesn't matter how hard and for how long they work, they are broke. Not "I don't have enough money to pay for that new £3k pair of TSE-signature loafers" broke, I mean "I don't have enough money to have anything left at the end of the month" broke.

    Combine that with public services being broken and infrastructure crumbing around us, is it any wonder that people want to punish them?
    Indeed, some of us work so hard we limit ourselves to 20 pb posts a day. Imagine the self sacrifice for the good of the wider nation.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 18,582

    https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/cognitive-ability-mattered-in-the-uks-vote-for-brexit-research-shows/

    “New research from the University of Bath’s School of Management finds that higher cognitive ability was strongly linked to voting to Remain in the 2016 UK referendum on European Union Membership.

    “The study shows that cognitive skills including memory, verbal fluency, fluid reasoning and numerical reasoning, were correlated with how people decided to vote.”

    I don't doubt its true and a reliable study (I have to say that, its my employer, and they have just promoted me too), but it looks a little like confirmation bias by smug academic types too!
  • NerysHughesNerysHughes Posts: 3,375
    Sean_F said:

    19.2% of households were jobless in 2010, compared to 13.7% now, so that should explain the rise in real household incomes.
    So thats a 29% reduction in jobless households since Labour left office.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 13,938
    My absolutely favourite shop continues to test to destruction the issue of whether it is possible to go broke underestimating the taste of the British public. This is why I shop nowhere else.

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/nov/23/lidl-christmas-jumper-loan-scheme-nspcc
  • Is Geert Wilders still banned from the UK?
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,243

    I think its both deluded about how hard they work and lots of unproductive busy work / lack of investment.
    One thing in our university - not sure how widely this is replicated, NHS may be another example - is that bean counters have pushed to reduce numbers of 'unproductive' staff - e.g. administrators. After all, unlike academics, they don't teach students nor bring in research income. And the university doesn't seem to have fallen over with the reduced headcount. What it misses is people like me doing our own admin (badly, as we never really got training) for 2-3x the cost of an administrator. Even if I'm as good as the administrator, my productivity is lower per unit of pay on these tasks (reader: I'm not as good).

    It also serves to create extra snafus and reduce my time available to do things like pursue grants to build my team rather than just keep the status quo.

    Case in point, I've spent several days recently coordinating data agreements and transfers between data providers and ourselves, something that our recently retired administrator (not replaced) would have done better than me and more quickly due to not having to pester the remaining administrators on how to do it.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 51,113
    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2023/11/21/83717/1

    It does look as if Britons do actually understand what lower inflation means.
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,831
    First David Cameron donning ermine and returning to the political fray and now Girls Aloud reform for a new tour.

    This has turned into an epic November for @TheScreamingEagles 🙏
  • Indeed, some of us work so hard we limit ourselves to 20 pb posts a day. Imagine the self sacrifice for the good of the wider nation.
    If I was on an hourly rate I wouldn't post on here at all whilst working.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,650

    This is a deeply thick piece of research, conceived by, designed by, conducted by and appealing to deeply thick people. 'Those people who disagree with me are stooooopid, fnar fnar fnar' - the smell of *actual* stupid reeks off this. No nuance, no intellectual curiosity.
    Well no, it's been carried out by people of above average intelligence. However I question its value. Academic research is best when it's delving into the unknown.
  • Selebian said:

    One thing in our university - not sure how widely this is replicated, NHS may be another example - is that bean counters have pushed to reduce numbers of 'unproductive' staff - e.g. administrators. After all, unlike academics, they don't teach students nor bring in research income. And the university doesn't seem to have fallen over with the reduced headcount. What it misses is people like me doing our own admin (badly, as we never really got training) for 2-3x the cost of an administrator. Even if I'm as good as the administrator, my productivity is lower per unit of pay on these tasks (reader: I'm not as good).

    It also serves to create extra snafus and reduce my time available to do things like pursue grants to build my team rather than just keep the status quo.

    Case in point, I've spent several days recently coordinating data agreements and transfers between data providers and ourselves, something that our recently retired administrator (not replaced) would have done better than me and more quickly due to not having to pester the remaining administrators on how to do it.
    40 years ago I remember computer science academics wondering if the influx of unix on minicomputers was turning them from researchers to overpaid computer operators (a job that has disappeared).
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 38,450
    edited November 2023
    algarkirk said:

    I have no idea what they make of this, though the implications are fairly clear. Suppose however that it was also discovered that voting Remain also was linked to, for example, having significant inherited wealth, being privately educated, owning several homes, having a high carbon footprint, using the word 'pleb' about the WWC, using IHT avoidance schemes, thinking that the opinions of White Van Man didn't count, and attending black tie dinners....I wonder what conclusions should be drawn.

    BTW the leaders of the Remain campaign may also have high cognitive skills, but they still ran a campaign of moral and political ineptitude that continues to beggar the imagination.
    Leave voters were, on average, less wealthy, older, and less likely to have been to university than Remain voters, so, they ought on average, to have lower cognitive ability (although as the small print of the report notes, there is a huge overlap).

    At any point prior to 2015, one would have found a similar gap in cognitive ability, on average, between Conservative and Labour voters, but I expect the researchers might have drawn different conclusions.

  • kjhkjh Posts: 12,477

    https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/cognitive-ability-mattered-in-the-uks-vote-for-brexit-research-shows/

    “New research from the University of Bath’s School of Management finds that higher cognitive ability was strongly linked to voting to Remain in the 2016 UK referendum on European Union Membership.

    “The study shows that cognitive skills including memory, verbal fluency, fluid reasoning and numerical reasoning, were correlated with how people decided to vote.”

    For goodness sake don't tell Leon. What with his views on Brexit, his self perceived IQ and views on the wisdom of the crowd the multiple contradictions will have him posting here with lots of capitals and insults.
  • CatManCatMan Posts: 3,185
    This thread has described Radiohead as a s***hole
  • New thread.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 18,582
    Selebian said:

    One thing in our university - not sure how widely this is replicated, NHS may be another example - is that bean counters have pushed to reduce numbers of 'unproductive' staff - e.g. administrators. After all, unlike academics, they don't teach students nor bring in research income. And the university doesn't seem to have fallen over with the reduced headcount. What it misses is people like me doing our own admin (badly, as we never really got training) for 2-3x the cost of an administrator. Even if I'm as good as the administrator, my productivity is lower per unit of pay on these tasks (reader: I'm not as good).

    It also serves to create extra snafus and reduce my time available to do things like pursue grants to build my team rather than just keep the status quo.

    Case in point, I've spent several days recently coordinating data agreements and transfers between data providers and ourselves, something that our recently retired administrator (not replaced) would have done better than me and more quickly due to not having to pester the remaining administrators on how to do it.
    Totally agree. We are under constant pressure to increase grant income and yet our time is savaged by the death of a thousand cuts doing endless admin tasks (badly) that actual admin staff would do much more efficiently.

    And I've just had an email about a recruitment 'chill' (note, not a freeze!) because of a budget shortfall...
  • Foxy said:

    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2023/11/21/83717/1

    It does look as if Britons do actually understand what lower inflation means.

    Looking at their other polls government approval is at just 13%!!!

    https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/government-approval

    Hence, why I suggest politicians follow a national version of the serenity prayer, stop trying to do things beyond their control and capability, and focus on what they could change positively instead.
  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 3,252
    Off topic, but it is Thanksgiving here: Megan McArdle thinks Americans have much to be thankful for.
    "In 1900, about 44 man hours — or rather, lady hours — were needed each week to make the meals for a typical middle-class household and then clean up afterward.
    . . .
    "From your great-great-grandmother’s point of view, you live in a fairy story where an army of magical mechanical servants helps prepare the feast.

    Your meal is also easier on the wallet. In 1915, Chicago grocers were advertising turkeys as low as 28 cents a pound, or about $8.35 a pound in today’s dollars — compared with the average $1.14 Americans pay today for a frozen bird ($2.05 for a fresh one). This is even more striking as a percentage of wages, which averaged $687 for a man in 1915, or about $20,500 in today’s dollars, and for a much longer workweek. Nor is this just some anomaly about turkeys; in that era, food consumed more than one-third of household budgets, compared with about 13 percent today."
    source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/22/thanksgiving-food-costs-delicacies-history/

    Her argument would be even stronger had she mentioned that a much larger proportion of American families were then living on farms, and raising much of their own food.

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