What She Said

John Campbell's piece on the Starbucks strike was very good, and justified my on-going love for him (I have sneaking suspicion that this love would be unsustainable if I was home to watch Campbell live on a regular basis, but until I am he remains the person who interviewed Noam Chomsky and John Pilger on National Radio immediately after September 11). But it also showed that it's been a long time since the Minister of Labour had a real job. This was her coment on youth rates (probably slightly paraphrased but not much):

This is just the minimum. If a 17 year old was working at the same level of productivity as a 25 year old, then they'd have a good case to make, with a good employer, to be paid at the same pay-rate

Maria Von Trapp did a really good job of showing what a moronic argument this is - so what she said.

(except the bit about being a Young Labour member - am not now, have never been, and will never be a member of the Labour party).