LETTERS Really rich!
Sir: I am regularly dumbfounded by the chutzpah of those earning more in a day than millions of low-paid workers do in a week, as they patiently explain why Britain cannot possibly afford a minimum wage. Tellingly, Martin Vander Weyer's extrapo- lation on this theme (`One flexible econo- my coming up', 11 May) landed on my doormat in the same bundle of newspapers as last Friday's Financial Times, which revealed that British manufacturing is now back in recession. Output remains below the level of six years ago.
Mr Vander Weyer quotes a northern businessman in support of his contentions. Perhaps he should talk instead to the Tyne- side shipbuilder who was recently forced to turn down an order because of a shortage of skilled steelworkers.
An economic prospectus based on accep- tance of continued mass unemployment, ameliorated by McJobs, screwdriver assem- bly plants and zero hour contracts, is surely cause for condemnation rather than cele- bration.
Those who glorify the Burger King econ- omy have probably consumed too many of its products in the recent past.
David Osler
9 Hayhurst, Dibden Street, London N2
Previous page
