Some Stereotypes

Some strong contenders for the most logic-defying news stories lately. One comes from America. A certain Curtis Gorkey, clearly one to uphold national stereotypes, is suing himself. As an employee of the City of Lodi, Gorkey smashed a civic lorry into his own pickup. As a private citizen, he then tried suing the city for damages to the truck. The lawyers laughed the case out before it even got as far as court. I think this a shame; there aren't enough old-fashioned farces around these days. I would have liked to hear about Gorkey rushing between plaintiff and defendent benches, perhaps adopting a different hat and voice for each role.

The winner, though, is supplied by the French. They are on the streets again, this time not to demand the EC give them even more subsidies but to protest about a new employment law. This will make it far easier for employers to sack anyone under 26 within the first two years of their job. The government have introduced it on the basis that it will cut the staggeringly high youth employment levels.

You need to be a special kind of politician to follow this logic. The idea, I suppose, is to make young people more attractive to prospective employers. But aren't they so alluring because quite a lot of them will get sacked very quickly and become unemployed again? Never mind, some more might get hired, then sacked - and so it goes on. The RSPCA might as well praise abertoirs for housing large numbers of animals. They don't house them for long, admittedly, but there's always a fresh batch coming along and that's what will show on the statistics.

I said you need to be a special kind of politician. 'Special' because this is the kind running every country in the industrialised world nowadays.