European links

[erudito]

Mapping wine, beer and spirits belts in Europe.

Life imitating Art Garfunkel: political scandal in Ulster involving Mrs Robinson and much younger lover.

An employer in Britain told that she could not advertise for reliable workers because it discriminated against unreliable workers. Yes, it does: precisely the point, surely?

Norway does not seem

Comments

The Norway thing.

[korgmeister]

I already asked a friend of mine about it. He says that Rita appears to have only bothered to read the first half of the article she quotes and thus doesn't grasp the context.

The whole "criminals qualifying for welfare" thing isn't intentional, it's a legal loophole someone discovered and the discussion is about how to close this loophole without screwing over law-abiding Norwegians living abroad.

Re: The Norway thing.

[erudito]

I did not really think it was intentional, just dysfunctional. But unintended consequences, that I am happy to run with.

[korgmeister]

The "reliable workers" case seems more like "bureaucracy run amok" than "political correctness run amok".

I've been in bureaucratic organisations and said things equally at odds with common sense in my time, simply because they are terrified of bad PR to an extent that would be considered dysfunctionally neurotic in a flesh and blood person.

Some people can and will make a massive scene over something most people would consider ridiculous.

As a result, many organisations are quite happy to let their policy be effectively dictated by anyone they interact with who is inclined to make a fuss over something. No matter what it is.

Fuss

[erudito]

Which is why it is often worth writing to your local MP. They act as sort of "elected ombudspersons" that way.

Re: Fuss

[korgmeister]

I've tried, fruitlessly, to explain to some of my friends that this is how conservatives get shit done without clogging up the streets.

I think protesting is sort of like their equivalent of Church, so they don't really want to give it up.

[notebuyer]

You reminded me of a friend of mine who refers to Muslims as "Presbyterians" consistently, to great hilarity, since that's the only substitution he makes.

Quite

[erudito]

Tim Blair often uses that rhetorical device on his blog.