Job Security in the 21st Century

Because I’m a bit of a political junkie, it always puzzles me when a respected presenter of factual, ‘serious’ programming chooses to move to what seems to me a less worthy form of broadcasting, such as playing records on the radio. It always seems like a demotion.

Jeremy Vine was demoted from Newsnight to Radio 2 more than six years ago now, and in the long gap between my last blog post and this (of which more later), I finally came across his show on Radio 2. I can’t remember the exact circumstances, but I must have been either driving or baking cakes (I don’t normally put the radio on otherwise), and there must surely have been some dire stuff on Radios 4, 5 and LBC.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to find that he still talks to the occasional politician, and still makes the odd political comment. On the day in question, the political topic of the day was the threatened closure of Tata Steel’s Redcar plant. One of this country’s last big steelworks was about to close, and Vine’s response was to play XTC’s 1979 song Making Plans for Nigel.

XTC were the first band I ever went to see live. The Damned were the second. This dates me somewhat. But anyway, why did Jeremy Vine play that particular sound of my teenage years? Because it contains a line that goes:

We’re only making plans for Nigel
He has his future in British Steel.

In other words, back in 1979, having a job in British Steel was a metaphor for steady, boring, dependable employment. Those who joined, like Nigel, in the late 70s or early 80s, would no doubt have been made redundant years ago, or fairly recently if they’d had the good fortune to have been posted to Redcar.

Well, Jeremy, I still don’t approve of your own career decision (the one which involved swapping Newsnight for a spot of disc-spinning), but you made your point well.

Meanwhile at Ascot Business Training…

Recent publicity for our Mini-MBA programme has led to a great deal of new work. No complaints here, but it means we’ve had to (temporarily) close our books to new students. For details of this suspension and of the publicity in question, feel free to browse the website. You can even join our mailing list, which will ensure you’re the first to know when we’re in a position to re-open the course to new applicants.


Meanwhile on the Markets…

To my eyes, two very weak teams are playing two very strong ones in this weekend’s Heineken Cup quarter finals. Ospreys have to travel to Biarritz, and Northampton to Munster. Given that over 90% of Heineken Cup quarters and semis are won by the home side, and given the relative strength of both Biarritz and Munster, I was surprised to find Ladbrokes offering even money for the competition tie. This means a payout not just if they both lose, but also if they both go out in the semi-finals. Unlikely, I know, but it slightly enhances the attractions of this bet as opposed to a double on Biarritz and Munster.

If you click below you can take advantage of this bet and also receive a free bet when you join.

A Deep Frozen Tipping Point?

When Americans watch a televised game of football in the UK, they’re always mystified when the commentator refers to a “Mexican Wave”.  To Americans, it’s not a Mexican Wave, it’s just a wave, and it’s been the favoured pastime of bored sports crowds for several decades.  But in Britain and most of the soccer-loving world, people were only vaguely aware of the phenomenon until the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, where most of the games were particularly boring, forcing audiences to make their own entertainment.  Hence the Mexican Wave.  Pretty soon after that, you could hardly attend a major game in this country without at some point being obliged to stand up and stick your arms in the air – and that’s still true today.

The Mexican Wave may seem an inconsequential thing, but the story illustrates something much more important which I think may be about to happen.  The 1986 World Cup is a good example of a tipping point.  It brought about a quick change in behaviour, and something which probably would have caught on slowly and late, happened quickly and immediately.  Lovers of synchronised standing up and sitting down again have been happy ever since. 

As I look out of my office window today, this is what I see.

We’re currently in the middle of the most prolonged cold snap since 1982.  The date is significant because it means that this is the first long series of “snow days” since it became easy for most office workers to work from home.  In 1982 there was no WWW, no VPN and darn few other TLAs.  If you couldn’t make it into work, the company lost your services and you lost pay. 

Although the technology has existed for several years, the take-up of remote access for work purposes has been lamentably slow in this country, and indeed in most countries.  Although the idea has been around long enough for the term “telecommuting” to have been coined back in the 1970s, most people still regard working from home as something of a novelty – despite both the ever-improving technology, and the environmental arguments for saving fuel use and reducing congestion.

Perhaps this cold snap will be the moment when employers rethink the need for their office workers to drive into the office every day.  I hope in hindsight the snows of 2009-2010 will be a very positive tipping point which will benefit the planet.  Am I being naïve, or just hopelessly optimistic?

Meanwhile on the markets...
Making money on I'm a Celebrity and Celebrity Big Brother is a great excuse to watch some guilt-free trash TV.  And as the bookies put so little effort into the markets they dismiss as "specials", you can sometimes catch them out.  If you've been watching CBB since it started last week, you will have noticed that most of the female contestants are complete non-starters.  One's known only as a homewrecker and provider of services to old men, one's a model with zero charm, and one's a brothelkeeper who seems quite pleasant but is hardly likely to build up a following.  The only two with a chance in the "Top Female" market are Lady Sovereign and Stephanie Beacham.  You can bet on Lady Sov at 7/4 with William Hill and Stephanie at 6/4 with Bet365 for an almost guaranteed profit.

If you don't already have an account with William Hill, you can even have the Lady Sov bet for free by clicking on the link.