Vacations in America

Posted by on

It’s well known that people in the United States on average don’t receive as much holiday time as their European counterparts. Studies show 25% of Americans do not receive any paid leave at all (!), and those who do rank behind their European counterparts.

But what may be surprising is that US workers are also less likely to use the holiday time they do receive.  This year four in 10 Americans intended to take all of their holiday time, partly in fear of losing their job or because it isn’t encouraged by their employer.  ( Source: NPR 2015)

My slightly unusual perch as a dual citizen, spending ample time in both the US and the UK, allows me to attest, with first hand knowledge, that having very little time off (if any at all) does not make for greater efficiency.  On the contrary, it does nothing for creative thought,  clutters the mind and makes you weary and stale, relying  on rules and copious written instructions (Macdonalds is notorious) to get you through the day. Initiative not welcome!  The bosses, some of whom display signs of high-functioning aspergers, would no doubt prefer to employ  machines, not flesh and blood people.  They will in due course buy robots to serve customers.  I’m sure the robots will be programmed to smile.  Studies will have shown that customers spend more, faced with smiling robots, rather than exhausted humans.

Many Europeans get four to six weeks of vacation. They are more effective for it, more energetic, and are better tempered.  The GNP rises, the GNP falls, all of it having little or nothing to do with making employees  work inordinate hours.  The wise (Epicurean) employer insists that employees get a proper break.

 

 

The EU – leaking like a sieve

Posted by on

“We now know you can reside anywhere within the EU by purchasing a passport from the Maltese government. We also know that the route into the EU for Moldovans is an easily acquired Romanian passport. Ditto for Bosnian Croats, via Zagreb. Then there is the amnesty granted by the Spanish government to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, the first step towards Spanish citizenship and the right to EU-wide residence. Spain snd Italy also freely hand out citizenship to Latin Americans of Spanish or Italian descent.  Then there are the EU states most geographically exposed to illegal immigrants. They demand EU-wide burden-sharing”. (Part of a letter from Yugo Kovach, Winterborne Houghton, Dorset, England)

You’ve seen nothing yet.  The current  problem of migrants is bound to increase exponentially as the effects of climate change and ever-growing population become more pressing. Politicians won’t even talk about the rate of population growth, partly because it suits business interests and because it is literally an article of faith, christian and muslim.   So we are destined to live with desperate people fleeing joblessness, tribalism, civil strife and lack of food and water.  It has been inevitable since climate change became a factual reality. The good news is that the migrants are enterprising.

If this is all so, I can see no alternative but to build decent, civilized “villages” in which to to put the migrants, placing these proportionately throughout the EU ( burden sharing), offering security, food and water, education and language skills in return for some form of paid work, such as making clothing, which already mostly comes from overseas.  This is intended to be humane and Epicurean. But is it fair, reasonable and practical, and do we have time to do it?   It’s a huge undertaking, but  No one else seems to have any ideas.  Keeping them all out is not going to work.  What would you do were you an EU politician?

 

 

Good stuff! Almost Shakespearean

Posted by on

“Don’t speak to me about your religion ; first show it to me in how you treat other people.

Don’t tell me how much you love your God; show me in how much you love all His children.

Don’t preach to me your passion for your faith; teach me through your compassion for your neighbors.

In the end, I’m not as interested in what you have to tell or sell as in how you choose to live and give”.

(Sen. Cory Booker, addressing  a group of American right-wing christians

Empty churches in France

Posted by on

A row has broken out in France over a proposal to convert empty, unused churches into mosques.  There are not enough mosques for the five million moslems, and in some places congregations overflow onto the streets.

The right wing is up in arms at the idea, but they fuss about nothing, really. French churches aren’t in danger:  only four have ever been rededicated as mosques. In fact religious structures built before 1905 are state property and  are maintained at state expense (those built later are paid for by the congregation).  France is meant to guarantee freedom of worship, yet in this way subsidises French Catholics while forcing French Muslims to pray outdoors.

Some people think the government should free up some of the empty churches and turn them into mosques as gesture to the minority. “If we are to treat our citizens equally, we must offer unused churches to our Muslim compatriots”.  It might mollify discontented moslems and make them feel more welcome in a very unwelcoming environment.

What would you do?

The young and alcohol

Posted by on

19% of British 16 to 24-year-olds do not drink at all.  66% say alcohol is not important to their social life, and just 3% say it’s an essential part of it. 66% think young people are drinking less because of alcohol’s health risks; 42% think the internet has given them better things to do with their time.
(Demos/The Independent)

Good for them!  So much for demonizing the young!  Now we can turn our sttention to getting them to watch where they are going while texting in the street ( just joking).