In my day
job I try and play a positive role in maintaining the competence of workers in
a pretty straightforward field. Electrical installation work isn’t exactly rocket-surgery[sic]
and since the first days of the Wiring Regulations (1882 - 130 years) testing has been a necessary
component of the job, yet most practicing sparkies have only a rudimentary
grasp of the principles.
Last night I
was assessing a supposedly experienced tester. Once the test rig had been
safely isolated I left him for ten minutes to get on with it and returned to
find nuts and bolts, springs and things, popping and fizzing round the exam
room while he wrestled with deadly killer croc-clips and test leads. It was like a kitten with a ball of wool… and a stick of Semtex.
Given that an absolute minimum of dismantling should have been involved, this
was like Armageddon; Electricalypse.
Once the fires
broke out, I decided to terminate the assessment, enough is enough. His blackened eyebrows still
sparked and sizzled slightly and a wisp of smoke rose from his new Afro hairstyle... “How did I do?” he asked, hopefully.
Cut the red wire... NO! The blue!
When you
hire an electrician you’d like to think they know what they’re doing, wouldn’t
you? Most of them have an impressive sounding list of qualifications but the
simplicity of Ohm’s Law is lost as they struggle with the deep and complex
relationship between Volts and Amps and Ohms. Yet, it’s easy enough to
remember:
Villa = Is x Rubbish
The truth about electricity
If few of
these trained professionals can really tell their amp from their elbow, how can they be expected to tell a talented politician
from a mere chancer? Or distinguish between a plan for economic doom versus commercial boom? These are the people who choose, once in a blue moon, who gets to make the important decisions as to just exactly how much more money we're going to piss down the European drain. Or to what extent we will continue to emasculate our armed forces. Or how much more of the third world's population we plan to crowd into our precious little island home.
One-man-one-vote democracy doesn't seem such a
good idea now, does it?
An interesting view and a tricky dilemma! Do we go back to the era when only the rich or intelligent or powerful have the vote? Is the ordinary man or woman on the street not capable of making such an important decision?. Is it a decision that many people now don't want to make? Many Labour voters vote Labour because their great grandfather voted Labour and that's the way it will always be. Tories were seen as the Toff party and got the support of the toffs and the aspiring upper middle classes, Liberals were seen as the wishy washy ineffectual in-between party! Now there is not much to choose between them. Many many voters have given up on politics and politicians, the internet has given us an overall view of a group of people we used to look up to and respect - not anymore,they can thieve and lie just like the rest of us. People are now apathetic and think whats the point in voting for a bunch of thieves and liars! Parties are now similar in their policies and policies. Big political beasts with integrity and who gain respect are rare. It doesn't seem to matter if the ordinary person on the street doesn't have the brains to know what they want in a political party,policies or leader. More and more of us are disillusioned and disappointed in our political representatives and chose not to vote and in the end it doesn't seem to make much difference anyway. With the EU we appear to have lost our destiny and our hope and become a mere satellite to an increasingly over-powerful and greedy set of bureaucrats in Brussels.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting view and a tricky dilemma! Do we go back to the era when only the rich or intelligent or powerful have the vote? Is the ordinary man or woman on the street not capable of making such an important decision?. Is it a decision that many people now don't want to make? Many Labour voters vote Labour because their great grandfather voted Labour and that's the way it will always be. Tories were seen as the Toff party and got the support of the toffs and the aspiring upper middle classes, Liberals were seen as the ineffectual in-between party! Now there is not much to choose between them. Many many voters have given up on politics and politicians, the internet has given us disappointing view of a group of people (politicians) we used to look up to and respect - not anymore they can thieve and lie just like the rest of us. Voting numbers continue to decline, along with our apathetic attitude! Also parties are now very similar in their policies and policies. Big political beasts with integrity, who gain our respect are rare these days. It doesn't seem to matter if the ordinary person on the street doesn't have the brains to know what they want in a political party,policies or leader. It doesn't take much brains to realise you are being taken for a mug and people are disillusioned with our political representatives! In the end it doesn't seem to make much difference anyway, with the EU we appear to have lost our destiny and our future and become a mere satellite to an increasingly over-powerful and greedy set of bureaucrats in Brussels. Do people really have enough faith in our system to want to vote en mass in future, whatever their academic abilities?
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