Coalition Tories say Brits are all lazy sods

KrytenIceCubeHead

According to Tory MPs.

So work harder you lot.

Note : does not apply to ex-pats.

Generali

KrytenIceCubeHead wrote: »

According to Tory MPs.

So work harder you lot.

Note : does not apply to ex-pats.

To be slightly more accurate, 4 out of 305 Tory MPs have written a book that appears to state that British people could work harder from a couple of sentences the BBC have quoted in an article.

I realise that doesn't fit the knee-jerk anti-Tory narrative beloved of so many Brits that would like to have their cake and the rich bloke down the road's cake and borrow cake from their children too and then scoff down the lot while criticising other people for wanting a bit of cake too but hey, this is the internet, why let such things as objectivity or the facts get in the way of a short rant?

torontoboy45

i wonder what they're up to. are they setting their stalls out, each of them wanting to be the new standard-bearer of the conservative Right?

they make some half reasonable points (lack of work ethic, etc), but then spoil it with:

"we must stop bailing out the reckless, avoiding all risk and rewarding laziness".

who was that aimed at? bankers? btl'ers? they don't say, but I'll put my neck on the line and guess that this little bunch won't be making commons speeches knocking 2nd homeowners or the banking sector anytime soon (and no, I don't vote for dave spart).

olly300

Generali wrote: »

To be slightly more accurate, 4 out of 305 Tory MPs have written a book that appears to state that British people could work harder from a couple of sentences the BBC have quoted in an article.

I wonder if the book actually generalises like the BBC report of it says? There are quite a few examples showing that while some people in Britain are have no get-up and go, others do.

I've read press releases over the years that have been interpreted by the press to say something different from what the actual press release said.

MacMickster

It seems that they want people to spend more of their time working, but for less pay.
They want to encourage risk taking but come down hard on the reckless.
They (unsurprisingly for Tories) want to remove job security to make life easier for employers.

I think that the whole premise of their book is that we are a nation of lazy gits, however it is relatively easy to find examples which demonstrate otherwise. Perhaps it is British management which is not up to scratch.

Productivity in the UK Car Industry
A good example of the differences in productivity between the UK and our European competitors is shown by the annual assessment of productivity in the automotive industry.
Nissan leads productivity in the European Car Manufacturing Sector
A British car plant was today named as the most productive in Europe for the seventh year running. Bosses praised the efforts of workers at the Nissan factory in Sunderland. Productivity at the Nissan plant was 99 units per employee, followed by Renault’s plant in Spain at 89 and Toyota Motor Corp's plant in France at 88. The UK's biggest car plant, Nissan in Sunderland, is also more than five per cent more productive than the most efficient car plant in North America according to a major international study. The Harbour Report measures the productivity of car plants on a labour hours/vehicle basis. It showed that in 2004 the average combined time it took Sunderland to build its three models (Micra, Almera and Primera) was a fraction over 15 hours per car. This is 5.1 per cent better than the top-ranked plant in North America, which averaged 15.85 hours per car.

Source: Adapted from news reports in 2005

michaels

I would comment but tbh I cba to follow the link....

grizzly1911

Does anyone know if these MPs have actually worked productively themselves. Have they worked and lived in reality?

As they want to to emulate Asia no doubt they will be happy to downgrade themselves to the quality of life in the east.

I appreciate some re-balance in west/east recognition and reward is required to enable the west to compete. It ignores the fact that the east will be rushing up as fast as we are rushing down.

Generali

michaels wrote: »

I would comment but tbh I cba to follow the link....

This is a job for Generali's Generalization Service (a wholly owned subsidiary of Generali's Translation Service).

4 Tory backbenchers have written a book. The writer of the article seems to think this can be summed up as: Most Britons would prefer a lie in to going to work, lots of foreigners are really hard working and would not.

A Trade Union person who feels able to speak for all British people that work said, Rubbish, most Britons are really hard workingand MPs are all rubbish although apparently wouldn't be drawn on the lie in issue.

The BBC added to this that while some foreign people are hard working the French aren't.

It's a prime sort of thing for the permanently outraged type to comment on during the quiet days of August before Europe returns from vacation and continues going bust.

Robert Peston is on holiday.

Graham_Devon

torontoboy45 wrote: »

i wonder what they're up to. are they setting their stalls out, each of them wanting to be the new standard-bearer of the conservative Right?

they make some half reasonable points (lack of work ethic, etc), but then spoil it with:

"we must stop bailing out the reckless, avoiding all risk and rewarding laziness".

who was that aimed at? bankers? btl'ers? they don't say, but I'll put my neck on the line and guess that this little bunch won't be making commons speeches knocking 2nd homeowners or the banking sector anytime soon (and no, I don't vote for dave spart).

Certainly won't be bankers or BTL'ers.

It will be the people who have been reckless with the debt given to them by the big business, and it's the peoples fault, nothing to do with the big business. Some tories are admitidley so pro capitalism and business they would be quite happy deregulating the whole of the business sector so that profit rules everything.

A lot of policies are currently going this way, focusing on the business and profits and less on the people at the other end, the families with kids to feed etc. It's happening all over Europe....just look at how Greece is being railroaded into poverty to keep things going.

It's the same in every party though. You always have those with their hard line beliefs. Look at labour with Harman and "equality"....

Sometimes the little man becomes the enemy, and it becomes a race to the bottom.

Jules22

Tory's playing the blame game again!!!

They need to look at their own management to see where things are going wrong and get off the backs of the hard working Brits who struggle to live, debts or not!!!

I'd like to see them do shift work and get low wages in a honest way.....they wouldnt survive!!!!

Generali

Jules22 wrote: »

Tory's playing the blame game again!!!

They need to look at their own management to see where things are going wrong and get off the backs of the hard working Brits who struggle to live, debts or not!!!

I'd like to see them do shift work and get low wages in a honest way.....they wouldnt survive!!!!

To be fair, you are judging the entire Conservative Party on the basis of 2 sentences chosen by a BBC reporter from a book written by 4 MPs.

It's a bit looking at the amputees ward of your local hospital and deciding that everyone only has one leg.