Fiona Bruce

Caporegime
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Most jobs are low skill, in fact i'd say a solid majority of the workforce could be replaced with a machine right now, instantly reduce the cost of production (ergo increase everyone's quality of life) through a massive rise in productivity and incentivise creative industries, invention and business start-ups in a single swoop.

But no, there's perverse incentives to stop this obviously beneficial act for politicians addicted to pumping up employment.
 
Soldato
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Maybe i've been living in a cave. Don't watch much tv apart from comedy and documentaries and don't go on Twitter... Fiona Bruce??

But I do agree with her that low skill workers are, well, low skilled :confused:

She's been on BBC News at Six / News at Ten since the 90s along with various other things like Crimewatch and Question Time
 
Soldato
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There must be welders, who are payed more than fiona bruce ... structural welding on ships/reactors when they are x-raying joints etc. ? (too much of the discovery channel)

Doesn't it depend how she said this anyway - perjorative ? if you listen to john snow sometimes it just exudes self-righteous arrogance

welders on off shore rigs can be highly paid but I’m guessing nowhere near Fiona Bruce’s wage!
 
Soldato
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... yes looks like she's in the 300k+ level


I thought the discussion, this comment was part of , 'susceptibility to covid infection' was flawed anyway -

they were saying nhs infection/mortality was only consistant with their proportion of the overall population ...

but you would expect them/nhs to be more aware/educated in infection control in their day to day lives, versus general population, so less represented in the illness,
putting PPE, clearly, as the elephant in the room (there maybe more women in the nhs with younger children though)
 
Man of Honour
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A lot depends on what age you start.

Remember in the last century or so, a carpenter's son would be learning carpentry from the time they could hold a chisel :p

And a concert pianist probably started playing the piano at age 4 or 5. Pushed all the way by their parents. And the best concert pianists not only started at age 4, but they had the best music tutors money could buy.

I don't believe that mastery of a skill depends on genetics or aptitude at all. Or any other factor beyond our control.

Because to believe that is to (almost) say that you believe in fate. That not everybody can be x,y,z no matter how hard they try or how much time they put in. For a lot of professions I just don't believe this is true at all.

No, it's saying that I think different humans are different. Which brings a scene from a Monty Python scene into my head. I'm almost sure it was Life of Brian. Brian tells his band of unwanted followers that they are all individuals and they reply as one, saying (in a way that's disturbing in context) "We are all individuals". Being Monty Python, an individual voice then pipes up saying "I'm not".

But anyway, back to topic...saying that there are some inherent differences between different individuals is not the same as believing in fate. Different people who put the same amount of time into something will not necessarily all be exactly as good at it as each other. Humans are not identical and interchangeable copies and people who aren't at the top of a field haven't all just failed to put the time in. I find your position highly disturbing and I sure as hell hope you're wrong. Otherwise everyone who isn't a reknowned expert in something is just a lazy bugger who couldn't be bothered to put the time in and thus deserves to be poor.
 
Soldato
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There must be welders, who are payed more than fiona bruce ... structural welding on ships/reactors when they are x-raying joints etc. ? (too much of the discovery channel)

Doesn't it depend how she said this anyway - perjorative ? if you listen to john snow sometimes it just exudes self-righteous arrogance

Those aren't low skilled jobs.
 
Soldato
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Skills are rewarded by demand and scarcity. Most people could be a care worker if push came to shove.

Fiona Bruce has skills 99.9% of care workers don’t. I include reading from an autocue to an adequate standard.

welders on off shore rigs can be highly paid but I’m guessing nowhere near Fiona Bruce’s wage!

The first thing the welders I’ve met like to tell you is how much they earn.
 
Soldato
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It seems to me like she's just stating a fact, but thinking about it the lowest skilled workers are probably the most important. My thoughts were if a surgeon quits only a small number of people are affected, if shelves aren't stacked it affects far more people. (cue angry skilled workers:p).
 
Man of Honour
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The issue is one that no-one seems to have mentioned: the difference between low-skilled jobs and low-skilled people. While there is certainly an overlap, the two are not congruent. To point out one obvious example: bar staff are frequently students studying for a degree, but it's a low skill job. What Bruce is saying is that if you do a low skill job then you are a low skill person. And this being Britain, she is also saying that you are a pleb.
 
Soldato
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It seems to me like she's just stating a fact, but thinking about it the lowest skilled workers are probably the most important. My thoughts were if a surgeon quits only a small number of people are affected, if shelves aren't stacked it affects far more people. (cue angry skilled workers:p).


There has long been an observation that there is typically an inverse relationship between how much those working in any individual role are paid and how much wider society would miss them if they disappeared! :p
 
Caporegime
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29 Jan 2008
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It’s a basic description yet people take it as an insult. Yes I’m sure security guards build up great "people skills" and burger flippers work hard and have to remember some stuff from a handbook etc.. etc... fact is it doesn’t take much in the way of skills or qualifications to land those sorts of roles.

It's like fat people no longer wanting to be called fat... they've got a "dad bod" or are a "real woman" etc...
 
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