"Andrew McKay" wrote
| "Owain" wrote:
| The level of training, qualification and basic intelligence of most
| labourers on British building sites is abysmal. And on spec developments
| many labourers will be contracted to a labour hire contractor and not
even
| working directly for the main contractor.
| Part of the problem has been Gordon Browns attack on the building
| trade. You can't work on a building site these days without having
| some certification or other, which basically forces the workman to pay
| tax at the appropriate rate on all earnings.

This may sound rather reactionary, but I blame the totally inadequate
investment in vocational training 16+ combined with the fad for all and
sundry to go to university for four years getting their BA Sociology With
Macrame before working as a Human Resources Manager in a call centre.

In "the good old days" (which I don't remember) those who failed the 11+
were sent to a secondary modern and taught Useful Things before being put
into apprenticeships. Now, nobody wants to do anything which sounds like
hard work.

Owain