“McJob; MacJob” : Alternative Meanings

I gather that former Confederation of British Industry chief, Sir Digby Jones, has proposed that there should be a campaign against the word “McJob” being included in the English dictionary. There has also been a flurry (or should that be “McFlurry”) of correspondence in the Financial Times newspaper on the subject of  the “McJob”. I do not have the dictionary definition of this to hand, but gather a “McJob” refers to a low-paid, low-skilled job, probably in the service sector, of which the economy has produced a great many in recent years. Oh, and the term may have something to do with a well-known fast food chain brand too (no”McLibel” intended, of course).

For my part, however, I had laboured under the misapprehension (I’m sure the current Deputy Prime Minister would know what I mean) that a “McJob” was something entirely different (as different as New Labour from Labour, in fact). I thought that a “McJob” was a well-paid position in an English quango, non-departmental public body, or other “Jobs 4 The Boyz R Us” organisation, occupied by someone from Scotland with close connections to the New Labour Government. The new super-quango, Communities England, is a case in point. This amalgamation of  the Housing Corporation and English Partnerships will be headed by the current chair of the latter quango, not surprisingly a Scotswoman.

This brings me back to Sir Digby Jones, an inspiration for the character of Sir Digby de B’rm in my E-Pantomime “Carry on Communities” (see E-Pantomime @ www.janetmackinnon.blogspot.com). In this, Sir Digby is charged with the creation of an English Parliament in Birmingham, after the Midlands is cleansed of quangos by, amongst others, the Witch of Worcester. Now there’s a MacJob for me ! Meanwhile, in the real world, Scottish voters have shown what they think of New Labour and the prospect of its  Chancellor Gordon “McJob” Brown becoming British Prime Minister, and given the “MacJob” of governing their country to the Scottish National Party. 

Encounters with Some of Worcester’s Big Fish

A few weeks ago I was cycling through Worcester’s Diglis Canal Basin, the site of major re-development, when a large fish popped up from the water. I thought it was an old carp, possibly hoping that I might be the bearer of some tasty tit-bit. However, not having seen such a big fish in those parts before, I was impressed by this sighting. A subsequent conversation with a man walking his dog confirmed the likelihood that the fish was almost certainly a carp, who apparently used to hang out near the Albion Mill, now a Berkeley Homes development, along with the majority of the site formerly occupied by Royal Worcester (Porcelain).

On the occasion of my encounter with this big fish, it is probable that I was returning from a “Pre-examination Meeting” at Worcester’s Guildhall concerned with a proposed part of the housing component of the Local Development Framework (LDF), or the “Balanced Housing Market” Development Plan Document (DPD). At this meeting, it was unclear to me why Worcester City Council had chosen to pursue a rather fragmented approach to the LDF, although it seems that pressure from house-builders partly accounts for this.

It should be explained that, through my consultancy business EPONA, I have objections to the “Balanced Housing Market” DPD on the grounds that this does not fulfil the requirements of Sustainability Appraisal/Strategic Environmental Assessment (SA/SEA), on the one hand, nor the economic reality of the housing market, on the other. The Environment Agency are also arguing that the DPD may be “unsound” in regard to SEA, and notably with reference  to the requirement for a Strategic Flood Risk Assessment. The “sustainability” (in economic and social terms) of the housing market, is  also now increasingly open to question.

For instance, the Financial Times carried an article on 2 May 2007 entitled “Urban rebuilding at risk from buy-to-let”, which focused on speaker contributions, described as “development experts”, to London’s “Think” conference on sustainability. The message of this conference, according to the FT article (sub-headed : “Flats left empty for capital growth”, and; “Difficulty creating community spirit”) is that :

“Attempts to rebuild Britain’s city centres are being jeopardised by absentee landlords buying up swathes of new flats…”

Even English Partnerships, the Government’s national “regeneration agency” (although in reality a “development agency”), with which I rarely find myself concurring, accepted that :

“Buy-to-let is one of the biggest issues facing us in the regeneration world at the moment.”

This brings me nicely back to Worcester’s Diglis Basin and another encounter with a gentleman who, I think he would be amongst the first to acknowledge, also enjoys a good carp on the subject of development. Having mentioned the FT article to him, he responded to me that the majority of Albion Mill was indeed empty and that someone had just “bought ten” of the flats adjoing the Canal Basin. So much for a “balanced housing market”, but grist to the mill of my case to the DPD Examination, I think, and thanks to those carps !