Strike Me Pink

Wildcat strikes at Lindsey, Grangemouth and Sellafield and over the use of foreign labour; The Good Childhood Inquiry announcing that ‘the aggressive pursuit of personal success by adults is now the greatest threat to British children’ and the Prime Minister railing against the rise of neo-protectionism in Davos… Was it just the bottle of Grenache I downed last night or are these disparate events symptomatic of something?

Namely: Fear.

Fear of losing one’s job; fear of not being able to pay the mortgage or put food on the table; fear of not being able to keep up with the Joneses – fear is plaguing the British psyche at every turn. Fuelled by a tabloid media diet of unadulterated gloom, more than just the temperature seems to have turned sub-Arctic here on our little island these past days.

I’m hoping that Total’s subcontractor agreements are indeed meeting minimum UK employment conditions and that the strikers’ response is a knee-jerk one. Either way, this situation needs to be resolved ASAP as the world is watching. GB’s standard ‘when the going gets tough, the tough go on strike’ predilection just won’t cut it in the new, post-credit crunch world, I’m afraid.

As for our kids… At the risk of sounding like an old softy, it kills me to think we’re impairing the potential of the next generation by straight-jacketing them with a success-at-all-costs mentality which is utter nonsense. Where will it get them? Just ask Bernard Madoff.

I like the perks of success as much as the next CEO, but we all need to foster a greater sense of community if we’re to get through the current market mire. So good on you Gordon for trying to put the best spin on our prospects for the world’s financial elite in Davos over the weekend. But from the look on CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour’s face I saw in one news clip, methinks the economic dynamism you’re speaking of needs a hell of a lot of further nurturing.