November 29, 2007
Guru realises that the House of Lords is not the most dynamic of places at the best of times. In fact there is probably less faffing, muddled thinking and postponed action on a wet Wednesday afternoon at the Women’s Institute Philosophy Society.
But even in the dusty world of Parliament’s upper tier, the House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs must have wished it had never invited the opinion of its great rival in dullness the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
CIPD chief economist John Philpott wrote to the House giving his written evidence to the select committee’s inquiry into the economic impact of immigration. His letter, I am sure disciples will agree, clears up once and for all the issue of whether immigration has been good for the economy.
“The recent high level of immigration to the UK is a mixed blessing,” wrote Philpott, presumably using a feather dipped in ink.
“Employers have gained and there has been a clear positive economic impact. But there are costs as well as benefits, losers as well as winners.”
After nodding off for a while, Guru went off to watch some slow-dry paint he had purposefully plastered all over his bathroom wall to liven him up in just this eventuality.
After half an hour’s relative excitement he returned to Philpott’s letter. It had not got any more decisive.
“The acid test of any policy for managing migration is that it meets reasonable and legitimate employer need without detriment to the common good,” apparently.
“In the long run, however, the best way to minimise the cost of immigration is to improve the employability of our least able people. But in doing so, the government should avoid talk of ‘British jobs for British workers’, which runs the risk of being heard as a political ‘dog whistle’ by some of the worst elements in our society.”
Guru has never heard a dog whistle, but he reckons it would be preferably to sit next to a cocker spaniel for the next three weeks in the hope that it produces the tune from the Great Escape than to read any more letters from the CIPD. ENDS
Comments (1)
Chanced upon your amusing remarks about the boring John Philpott. I've come across this individual before, and nearly died of boredom. But there has always been and always will be a number of individuals in academia and the public sector who are devoid of ideas, and who spend their time exuding hot air in order to justify their salaries.
Posted by Ralph Musgrave | December 17, 2007 4:29 PM
Posted on December 17, 2007 16:29