Public Sector Myths

There seems to be a lot of misinformation in the media at the moment about life in the public sector so I thought I would take 5 minutes to answer a few of these.

1. Public Sector Pensions are Non Contributory - Not true. Don't know the exact figure but I am guessing we pay about 3% of our wages. I've no doubt that our pensions may be better than in the private sector but it seems to me we have this argument the wrong way around.

Shouldn't we be talking about how to make private sector pensions better. The notion of governments trying to improve the lives of the people who elect them seems to be gone forever. Which is a bit of a shame I think. Anyway on to myth number 2.

2. Public Sector Workers don't pay Council/Income tax - It seems incredible somebody would think that but it has been said to me in the past. Let's be clear. We do, exactly as everybody else does.

3. The Public Sector is Inefficient/workers are Lazy etc. - The truth is in all large organisations there is inefficiency. Increasingly the public sector is run on a pretty ruthless business model complete with call centres and vehicle trackers.

I've no doubt there are cushy areas of the organisations. But again this is true of big organisations as a whole. I guarantee there are corners of ICI and Monsanto where the employees are on a good screw. All I am saying is in both cases this is the exception and by no means the rule.

The final myth comes in the way public sector workers are portrayed as being 'other' than people in the private sector. We aren't. It's mostly a matter of accident which of us work in the public sector and which the private.

We're ordinary people the same as everyone else. Not radical left wing militants. Just people going to work, paying taxes and trying to get on with our lives. 

We're also not the people who caused the deficit, despite all the government propaganda blaming us. We accept we have a role in bringing it down. And a pay freeze for a few years is a price I'm willing to pay. we can only bend so far before we say enough. That's what we're doing now.

Five People I'm Happy to be Sharing the Planet With

This post is a result of a Facebook update where i said that David Simon is one of the premiere artists in this world. I then went on to say that Danny Baker was a genius and I am glad I am alive at the same time as him and this set me to thinking which five people I am glad to be alive at the same moment as them. So here is my list.

David Simon

For those who don't know him David Simon is the creator of The Wire. In my opinion, and many other people's, the greatest TV show ever. This itself would secure him a place on my list. But to add to this I have started watching Treme. A drama about post Katrina New Orleans. It is not overstating it to say that Treme is almost as good as The Wire.

I also admire him for the statement he made following the arrest of Felicia 'Snoop' Pearson, the brilliant but troubled star of The Wire. The statement here proves what an exceptional man he is.

Danny Baker


People saying 'the word genius is banded about too much' has become a cliche in it's own right but in Danny's case it is true. His wonderful style of broadcasting is a gift few are touched with. He mixes the wonderfully absurd with a depth of knowledge and understanding of what is funny that is simply breathtaking every week. I've included one of his finest moments here but just put Danny baker into Youtube, take your pick and you'll get a winner every time.



Stephen Fry


Where to begin. The most articulate, witty raconteur of his generation. He is one of the people who whenever I see he is on something I think 'brilliant'. He is always interesting and challenging and wonderful. The wonderful thing about being alive at the same time as him is to hear his comments on things that drive me to distraction hence the clip here of him calling out the journalists on the expenses brouhaha



Shane Warne

I adore cricket. There have been many great batsmen in the times I've watched cricket. I've seen Brian Lara, Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar and Andy Moles in that time. I've also seen Curtley Ambrose, Allan Donald and Tim Munton. But as good as these players were none of them could compare with the genius of Shane Warne. He did things that I did not know could exist in cricket before he came along. He was also good value off the field to.

My Dad

He's brilliant.

I love Reddit

Reddit is a really cool site where all the cool stuff on the internet is gathered. Every day there are at least a dozen things on there that make me laugh out loud. Perhaps my favourite ones are the rage comics. Examples of which are below.

Incidentally the caption for the last image in the last comic is 'Seriously?'

Anyway if you like them there are tons more here