Winners and losers ~ May 10, 2011

Today’s winner is David Willetts for seeing an opportunity and seizing it. His proposal for good Universities and Colleges to charge those who can “afford” to pay thus freeing up more aided spaces for those who can’t makes perfect logic for those of us who see and employ common sense. Of course true to form there are those, mainly on the left, who will only see this move as rich kids being allowed to receive the best education money can buy!! Fact is they do and if the UK does not take their money, guess what, other countries will. So why don’t we then benefit our own pupils from it, and use the money to subside those bright sparks who need it.

All this talking about going back to a time when “breeding not brains” mattered is frankly nauseating to say the least and juvenile at best.

My personal opinion on tattoos is very old fashioned, but then I am a Conservative. However, many people like tattoos and have them, and as long as they are not too large or visible they rarely lose their owners their job, or stop them from gaining employment. Nevertheless, in certain industries and profession sporting one can be a problem.

So when I read Jobcentre staff can at their discretion allow tattooed jobseekers to receive taxpayer – funded removal treatment, initially I had mixed feelings, but came to the conclusion that it was a bad idea. It seems, as hard as we try to move away from the nanny state and as hard as we try to reeducate ourselves about personal responsibility – we still keep slipping back into the bosoms of the state. After 13 years of socialist rule and total dependency on the kingdom it is proving to be very, very difficult to wean ourselves form it!

And, although the idea of helping people back to work, by all means possible, is admirable not to mention practical – and I’ll be the first to point out the psychological benefits of both – yet still belief we are sending the wrong message.

I would rather see our teens and young people better informed and prepared for the life before them and teach them responsibility of their actions and how to think long term. There is nothing wrong with having body art but where and what size dictates many things – I rather they are better equipped to take and make the right decision than not – because if they made the wrong one or need be government will sort it.