Iain Duncan Smith says role models don't work hard

[Silurian]

The Nightingale in Wanstead, east London, does excellent Irish music on Wednesday’s please spare it from the onslaught.

 

[Cutlass]

Okay, I can't really comment on the rest of them, but Michael Jordan has a reputation as one of the hardest working players in Basketball.

While it may well be true that successful athletes work very hard. It is also true that top athletes are born with much more native ability than ordinary folks.

 

[RedRalph]

The Nightingale in Wanstead, east London, does excellent Irish music on Wednesday’s please spare it from the onslaught.

I'll take it into consideration.

 

[aelf]

Rioting during the Olympics would be far worse PR than the rioting this summer because it would be personnel to a lot more people. A Dallas TV station reporting Dallas athlete can see "London Burning from Olympic Village" when they can see a fire in Leyton will carry a lot more weight than this year’s pictures.

Yeah, and I'm saying that that could be a big enough stick.

 

[Cheetah]

While it may well be true that successful athletes work very hard. It is also true that top athletes are born with much more native ability than ordinary folks.

So what are we going for here? Equality of opportunity or equality of results?

Regardless, there does seem to me to be a strong culture these days for defining success as becoming famous for anything or nothing, really. You just need to be on a reality show and do something new and stupid and you'll be an instant C-level celebrity overnight...

Couple that with giving rewards to people who've done a terrible job, and increasing differences between the haves and the have-nots, then of course we're going to be in trouble.

 

[Cutlass]

So what are we going for here? Equality of opportunity or equality of results?

Regardless, there does seem to me to be a strong culture these days for defining success as becoming famous for anything or nothing, really. You just need to be on a reality show and do something new and stupid and you'll be an instant C-level celebrity overnight...

Couple that with giving rewards to people who've done a terrible job, and increasing differences between the haves and the have-nots, then of course we're going to be in trouble.

Somewhat equalized opportunities. You cannot get to equal results without preventing people from using their natural gifts or working harder than others. But what you can do is rig the system a bit so that some cannot simply take from others more than what they earned.

 

[Silurian]

Yeah, and I'm saying that that could be a big enough stick.

Big enough stick for what.

The people who will be hurt will be the rioters destroying their community.

The PR damage to the UK is too remote from the rioting for most people to link.
Say tourism was 10% lower in 2013 would people make the link.

The riots in the 80s did not get the Tories out.

 

[aelf]

Big enough stick to get this government out, for one, especially since it would come after a string of embarrassments.

 

[Silurian]

The government will not be kicked out until the people in the small towns realise that the government does not have the answers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD41YktmOH0

 

[aelf]

If the government is not out after such an embarrassment then I guess they truly deserve each other.

 

[Quackers]

The government will not be kicked out until the people in the small towns realise that the government does not have the answers.

UK economy broken

links broken

 

[Traitorfish]

Maybe it's a metaphor?

 

[Quackers]

it's broken britain =O

 

[Silurian]

links broken

Changed - Enjoy a little tale from Plymouth

 

[Quackers]

tried it again I just get a virgin media search on HTTP

 

[Defiant47]

Athletes work hard, but people who use their brains instead don't

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Athletes work hard, but people who use their brains instead don't

Has anyone said that?

EDIT: Silurian, Fray Bentos pies are unsafe if you forget to take the lid off before putting them in the oven.

 

[Cheetah]

Somewhat equalized opportunities. You cannot get to equal results without preventing people from using their natural gifts or working harder than others. But what you can do is rig the system a bit so that some cannot simply take from others more than what they earned.

I think we agree, but I'm losing you during the last sentence.

 

[Cutlass]

I think we agree, but I'm losing you during the last sentence.

What someone earns is not necessarily related to the value of what they produce. What someone earns depends on what their position, bargaining power, ect, allows them to take.

So, for example, labor of virtually all types in the US is much more productive now than it was 30 years ago. But 8 out of 10 people in the country have gained nothing in terms of income for all the increased productivity. On the other hand, the finance industry's share of national income is vastly larger now than it was 30 years ago, but they aren't really doing any additional work to earn it. They simply have the power and position to take it.

 

[ParkCungHee]

While it may well be true that successful athletes work very hard. It is also true that top athletes are born with much more native ability than ordinary folks.

Eh...sometimes, and it depends on the sport.