One of my more ‘precious’ souvenirs of a civil service career is a letter from Inland Revenue explaining their definition of a ‘self-employed construction worker’
It came about because of moves to abolish ‘The Lump’ (no, I cannot remember either). It would have been considered too extreme by the scriptwriters for Sir Humphrey
But at least I have a glimmer of insight into the kinds of problem, the variations between different national customs & practice regarding employment in the construction industry, the application of European directives & their interpretation by the judges, which are bound to cause difficulties at the best of times, never mind in a recession
So I have a lot of sympathy with the current protestors, & wish that some of the news reports & comments were less finger pointing & condemnatory. Listen to these men, really listen, & it is unfair to call them xenophobic
I wish Gordon Brown would do the same, instead of just muttering about educating the workers so they have the skills which they will need to get jobs in the future
These men are highly skilled. Or if not, if they are deluding themselves, then shame on us, for failing over & over & over again to give proper education & proper respect to technical skills
Things have really not changed all that much for the better since Henry Gustav Simon, refugee & industrialist, wrote regularly to complain to the headmaster of Rugby that the school was failing to give its boys, & in particular his son, Ernest Simon, 1st Baron Simon of Wythenshawe, a decent scientific & technical grounding
