Slugger O'Toole

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Latest comments from leftofcentre (see all)

leftofcentre has commented 30 times (0 in the last month).

1. Comment on In the UK housing market it’s back to the 1970s
   on 3 February 2013 at 4:16 am

   Re ulick
   Well the story is from the uk daily mail, and I assume the data they are using only covers uk regions.

   Also I think it’s fair enough to compare a market with the same currency, same lenders etc

   I imagine the story in the south is similar. The Dublin area is probably worth more than the rest of the country combined.

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2. Comment on Where is the [working class] Protestant Community today? (panel discussion)
   on 19 October 2012 at 7:32 pm

   The topic of the debate was more accurately ‘Where is working class Protestant Community today’

   From this blog post title it might not have been clear that the discussion was focusing on the working class.

   I could be cruel and ask what do you call working class people that do not work, but that’s a whole new discussion…

   Once you break through all the complaining about parades etc it comes down to the simple fact that the devil makes work for idle hands, what these people primarily need is jobs. This is the same need as other underprivileged areas across NI, both catholic and protestant.

   In today’s society if you do not have qualifications or skills you are a bit screwed when it comes to getting a job.

   To me there is two obvious things the government could do:
   All these graduate teachers that can’t get jobs, the government could launch a massive public literacy campaign. That in the 21st century people leave school barely literate is shocking. Give the young teachers a basic salary so they get the experience and joey learns to read.

   Secondly why can they not have some form of public works for unemployed teenagers? Is there not buildings that need painted? parks tidied? etc. I know paternalism is out of fashion these days but a lot of kids are growing in in families were no one ever worked and they have zero work ethic.

   Spend the cash in the early years to give these kids a hand up, this will work out cheaper than the cost of jailing them down the line.

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3. Comment on Where is the [working class] Protestant Community today? (panel discussion)
   on 19 October 2012 at 4:18 pm

   I was at the event and enjoyed it. What I found interesting was that all the speakers where quite thoughtful and articulate. I would not agree with their politics but they put their points of view across well.

   If you give people time and space to have a reasoned discussion it can be very constructive. I am coming round to the view that the adversarial nature of political debate that for example the BBC normally does can do more harm that good.

   What the BBC claims as ‘balance’ by getting opposing view points just ends up as staged arguments.

   John Kyle is a very nice man indeed, at the next election he really should go independent as I think being under the PUP banner does him no favours at all.

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4. Comment on #Creationism to be included in the [#GiantsCauseway] exhibition, as a grant condition.
   on 16 October 2012 at 5:37 pm

   As Gerry Anderson often says, the creation of the world six thousand years ago must have been a pretty big shock to the Egyptians…

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5. Comment on Corporation tax: put us out of our misery
   on 16 October 2012 at 4:59 pm

   Is there any proof that Bombardier actually pay tax here? I would expect like most corporations they do all kinds of moves to pay the bare minimum.

   The simple fact is in today’s world multinational companies pay very little tax.

   Some sources:
   Starbucks ‘pays £8.6m tax on £3bn sales’
   http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/oct/15/starbucks-tax-uk-sales

   Amazon paid no corporation tax on profits generated by last year’s UK sales of £3.3bn
   http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/06/tim-waterstone-attacks-amazon-tax-avoidance

   Taxes are now for the little people.

   I have been self employed my whole life and I am completely against the lower tax rate for NI, it will do zero for investment for the simple fact that most big companies now pay zero tax never mind low taxes.

   Check out the Double Irish With a Dutch Sandwich:
   http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/04/28/business/Double-Irish-With-A-Dutch-Sandwich.html

   Our politicians know sod all about business so they cling to these catchy campaigns as its easier for them to get their heads around them.

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6. Comment on Philip Orr’s New Perspectives – Politics, Religion and Conflict in Mid-Antrim, 1911-1914: Book Review and Website Launch
   on 8 October 2012 at 10:17 pm

   @Dewi
   To quote from the site:

   “Named after the river that runs through Ballymena, the Braid weaves together history, arts and culture alongside contemporary conference, tourism and civic facilities on a site that has been for centuries the centre of local civic life.”

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7. Comment on We need technological talent more than corporate tax breaks…
   on 24 September 2012 at 4:23 pm

   @jagmaster
   Did Bro or anyone else state that they want everyone in NI to work in IT? This is not an either or situation.

   The point is that the man is saying he has jobs that he can not fill. The news is filled with stories of people losing their jobs, so the fact that a company says they have well paid jobs that can not be filled seems terrible to me.

   Not to get off the main issue I do agree with you that practical skills do get second class treatment in NI. A trade is seen as only an option if you can’t get into university, this is a terrible viewpoint.

   The guy who serviced my boiler was telling me the average salary for his job is 35k. The weird thing is his company had to stop taking on apprentices as the quality of them was shocking. Everytime he turned around the apprentice was texting on his phone, they would also not listen to the most basic instruction. Now the company hires in people from Eastern Europe who are only to keen to grab these well paid jobs.

   The fact that the NI school system can churn out kids so lacking in basic skills and a non existent work ethic is the topic for another post

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8. Comment on We need technological talent more than corporate tax breaks…
   on 24 September 2012 at 3:26 pm

   @Lionel Hutz
   Good for you for getting a job you like. Likewise fair play to any of the bakers, tour guides, nurses etc out there who love their jobs. You only have one life (budhists excluded) so you should do a job you enjoy.

   The point is students should be looking at what jobs are out there before committing to a university course, especially if it is going to cost you a big whack of cash. If there is a sector in NI that is crying out for talent then is seems obvious (if not remiss) to not point them in that direction.

   As for selling IT there is not a teenager in the land that is does not spend half their life playing with their phone, hanging out on facebook, reading slugger playing games etc.

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9. Comment on We need technological talent more than corporate tax breaks…
   on 24 September 2012 at 1:56 pm

   I agree with Bro that NI needs more IT skilled people, but if he is waiting on the executive to do something construction he will be waiting a long time. It seems to be there are several options they can look at:

   Allstate could pay the students fees for anyone studying computer science. In return students would agree to work for All State for a few years after they graduate. Maybe the executive could underwrite the fees in some way to reduce the risk from students who default, do not graduate etc.

   I have worked in IT for over 15 years now. What I know if that a huge part of it is self taught, technologies change so quickly that you are continuously learning new things. I can appreciate that universities may give students a good grounding in the principles of programming etc but really you could teach this to people in less than a year.

   Allstate could just teach the skills themselves. If I was an 18 year old and had a choice of either going to university and coming out with a 20 grand debt after 3 years or joining all state, doing a year of training then getting a 20 grand job I know what I would pick.

   I had a great time at queens, I got free education, a grant that let me drink in the union 3 nights a week and time to lay around and do sod all. I would encourage anyone to go to university for the experience, but would I have paid 20 grand for that experience? I don’t think I would.

   You can test for programming aptitude (google it) All 18 year old’s should be encouraged to take these tests as good programmers are not always your stereotypical geeks.

   IT is great, you will always get well paid work, you get to work at home or a nice comfy office – it sure beats digging a ditch in the rain. Sure not everything wants to sit in front of a screen all day, but NI needs more solicitors and teachers like a hole in the head.

   As other commentators have said we need to break out of the attitude that all grammar school kids are only a success if they do medicine, law etc

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10. Comment on “A spokesperson for the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure said…”
    on 22 August 2012 at 7:32 am

    Well the executive only has 200 or so media staff so obviously they have no one around who can advise them.

    They need a external pr company to help them spin it into a good news story. “a heart warming tale of how these men overcame their disabilities to become full members of the sex offenders community…”

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