The IT contractor is the embodiment of Thatcherism as it was supposed to be:
IT contractors enjoy their personal freedom and independence from mainstream "employment" and from corporate/unionised politics. At the same they take their own responsibility for their pensions, their health and the welfare of their families. They are not public school toffs born with silver spoons in their mouths, they instead come from a wide variety of backgrounds. They have taken their education seriously and acknowledge that they are of value to others in society.
Nor are contractors greedy and selfish (as I have often accused them of -usually as a joke ). They work hard and for example according to statistics, take far fewer days off work than any other type of employee.
IT contractors have been handed the opportunity to flourish (no coincidence that the market kicked off in the early eighties) by the deregulation of the banking and electricity/power markets and the freeing of business (the printing industry in particular) from the clutches of the trade unions. They have been handed on a plate the opportunity to work as freelance limited companies and they have been incentivised by the reforms to tax introduced by Thatchers government.- The sale of council houses was part of Thatchers strategy to free the working classes from the clutches of Union only labour and state provided housing.
Now I know that a good number of you hate and vilify her (which suggests that she represents something that touches a raw nerve, rathere than logic or reason) but those of you who like to think that she represents all the worse aspects of a free society, might like to take a look at yourselves.
In my view the excesses of capitalism are represented more by the opportunism of recruitment agents and board level ruthlessness. The difference now is that these power excesses were exploited by the socialists and the Unions in a way that killed off enterprise. Today the same power is in different hands, but at least contractors are free (unless labour gets back in) to ply their trade, and the rest of us can create almost any business that we like.
Thank you Maggie.
IT contractors enjoy their personal freedom and independence from mainstream "employment" and from corporate/unionised politics. At the same they take their own responsibility for their pensions, their health and the welfare of their families. They are not public school toffs born with silver spoons in their mouths, they instead come from a wide variety of backgrounds. They have taken their education seriously and acknowledge that they are of value to others in society.
Nor are contractors greedy and selfish (as I have often accused them of -usually as a joke ). They work hard and for example according to statistics, take far fewer days off work than any other type of employee.
IT contractors have been handed the opportunity to flourish (no coincidence that the market kicked off in the early eighties) by the deregulation of the banking and electricity/power markets and the freeing of business (the printing industry in particular) from the clutches of the trade unions. They have been handed on a plate the opportunity to work as freelance limited companies and they have been incentivised by the reforms to tax introduced by Thatchers government.- The sale of council houses was part of Thatchers strategy to free the working classes from the clutches of Union only labour and state provided housing.
Now I know that a good number of you hate and vilify her (which suggests that she represents something that touches a raw nerve, rathere than logic or reason) but those of you who like to think that she represents all the worse aspects of a free society, might like to take a look at yourselves.
In my view the excesses of capitalism are represented more by the opportunism of recruitment agents and board level ruthlessness. The difference now is that these power excesses were exploited by the socialists and the Unions in a way that killed off enterprise. Today the same power is in different hands, but at least contractors are free (unless labour gets back in) to ply their trade, and the rest of us can create almost any business that we like.
Thank you Maggie.
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