On reflection, that was a good thing. Like stopping sending small boys down chimneys was a good thing. But due to some of the byproducts of socialism (class struggle) miners connected their way of life with their jobs and fought the closures.

Tube drivers are doing it the right way around. They will only do their job for more money, and good conditions. They don’t want their kids to do the same labour. Eventually they will get replaced by the next level of Eastern Europeans before the whole of the tube is automated. I’m sure Bob Crow recognises this – and it is not his fault that London transport is so poorly run it is easy to hold it to ransom.

It was very kind of James to use my item, and it was all rather last-minute.

Had it not been for the iminent launch of the libel reform campaign, I am sure he would not have used it. I am very grateful for his flexibilty on this.

It is a real pity it did not work out as one would have hoped.

Again, very sorry.

Best wishes, Jack

A further question to ask is why does it appear necessary to be able to disrupt millions of peoples lives in order to get decent working conditions?

Underground drivers earn £40k, get 43 days’ holiday and 100% pension at age 60. And then they go on strike for better conditions? That to me looks like taking unfair advantage of Londoners, and Bob Crow deserved the ribbing he got on HIGNFY.

And DE, the “cheap mass labour” you refer to are human beings, and if you address them as such then you are unlikely to get support from them for any of your positions on either politics of skepticism.

Regarding what people are ‘worth’ in their workplace, I’ve seen this report recently that should be of interest: http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/bit-rich

If there were no jobs in Liverpool but tonnes in London, free markets would dictate that people move to London – though this in reality obviously isn’t practical for real people with social/familial/etc ties, not to mention the sheer logistical difficulties and all that.

Without unions it’d be a ‘race to the bottom’ as companies can slash wages – indeed, the fact we have unions is to maintain a standard of living for it’s members by standing up to the few in power (indeed, its curious how you characterise the people in unions as the few…). This is already happening in an international context as we see corporations move around the world to produce goods at the cheapest possible price, with no accounting for basic human rights and standards of living.

Also worth bearing in mind, for lower-skilled jobs especially, the work is commoditised in that you don’t need a PhD in astrophysics to work a checkout in a supermarket – the only thing that’s keeping employees working and paid to a decent standard of living is the unions – without them it’d be easy to replace people at the drop of the hat and employ even lower paid people instead.

Obviously I’ve no real idea how this applies to the Tube, though.

Central pay bargaining is good for employers essential but low skill labour. Otherwise they would have to risk paying market prices that are unpredictable. For cheap mass labour you obviously don’t want unions to drive up prices – for a low number of high skilled jobs you bargain per person.

I realise that I’m probably in a minority within the skeptical community being a fan of free markets but I find it a little strange given that mainstream economics is a broad follower of the scientific method – if not quite so mature as traditional science.

I agree with Pete to the extent that Bob Crow is disliked because he is good at his job – or at least he appears to be. The problem I have with Trade Unions is that they don’t fight for the rights of ‘the workers’ they protect the few; and they largely do this by holding employers to ransom.

In a healthy labour market there is no need for unions because employers have to compete to recruit the best workers and theories like efficiency wages state that employers should pay above the market wage especially where it is difficult to monitor employees.

By demanding higher wages Trade Unions choke off recruitment at best, and worst actively cause unemployment, all under the auspices of protecting the worker.

Take for example the London Bus strikes headed by Unite – for a professional driver in London there are a plethora of potential jobs, even for a bus driver there are a choice of 8 different companies. The Union led strike action for a centrally bargained wage because of the discovery that wages varied (quite widely) among the bus companies. Why would a driver work for company X paying less than company Y? Maybe company Y have less favourable conditions, company X more convenient or provide better training opportunities. The central point is that why do the union want to bargain a central wage? For the benefit of the workers? They could work for the better paying companies now if they wanted (and crucially if they were recruiting) but they chose not to. The union aren’t fighting for the workers they are attempting to justify their own existence.

The only things he was booed and ripped on for on HIGNFY, and the only reasons given in these comments for ‘hating’ him, are that he appears to do his job well. So essentially, you are attacking the concept of organised labour and not the man who is implementing it. This is a bit surprising for the audience of this podcast (who are generally, I’m told, leaning to the left).

I’m also surprised to be described as a ‘libertarian’ and being accused of being a snob (I came from a council estate as well). Regarding the minaret issue, I can’t help but think it would be a total non-issue if minarets were not religious structures. How would you feel if the Tory party erected towers with loudspeakers broadcasting their ideology all the time?

I realised when I made the piece I might touch a few nerves, but I think that elitism is a real problem, and the reason why, despite the spectacular failure of our government with regard to the war in Iraq, and the economy, there hasn’t been a mass movement against them. There were a couple of protests by the regular lot, but most of the population just shrugged, because the people who go to marches in London are totally alien to them.