Comments on: The humble Drone.

By: Gloria Smudd

Gloria Smudd — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:29:04 +0000

I’m not waving but droning.

By: Hysteria

Hysteria — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:16:03 +0000

what did Wat Tyler call this ?- a Standard Peasant Year? – something like that – anyway – I think it could be a really useful measure against which to calibrate all our state expenditure. We could also have an ADY – Average Drone Year – recognising that most of the work force is not on minimum wage.

Would certainly put things in perspective and allow us average Joes to tackle our so-called representatives.

By: Morgan

Morgan — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:04:26 +0000

And ITV’s Opportunity Knocks ripoff – New Faces … was it?

Utter trash then, and the latest incarnation is, I reckon, utter trash now.

But massively hyped.

By: Morgan

Morgan — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:01:53 +0000

John:

As I will not have a lobotomy box in my house, I’ve never actually seen X-Factor. I’ve read a bit about it though, here and there, and the overwhelming impression I have is of a revamped and much hyped (and paid) version of Hughie Green’s Opportunity Knocks … which we so derided all of forty years ago.

Does my impression require amendment?

I did actually once, a few years ago, watch an episode of Big Brother (at my sister’s house – my lobotomy box refusal is of many years standing). At the end of it, I was left puzzled – the question I asked myself was: what was I supposed to get out of that trash? Maybe I’m just thick?

By: Sabot

Sabot — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:32:03 +0000

Xcuse Me, I’d just like to say a few words for Wasps. They are very useful creatures. If people didn’t go around bumping them off everytime they have a little get together, then Farmers wouldn’t have to spend so much money on pesticides, which cause illnesses and another drain on the already defunct Health Service. This would, of course, release more Drones, therby devalueing the value of a Drone.

But we can’t have that now, can we.

By: richard

richard — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:23:24 +0000

excellent analogy, and deeply shocking – plant pots as toil? makes you think. makes me fucking cross.
mr John Ward, the wasp and bee analogy needs revising.
european honey-bees are domesticated livestock – they get a hive built by their “government” – the bee-keeper, who plunders most of their hard-earned wealth. that’s the average UK citizen, of a Statist frame of mind. he takes the shafting for the imagined benefits.
the wasp, however, is not domesticated; she kills other insects to support her young, stings more painfully and readily than the honey-bee, and doesn’t produce honey. she is not therefore bribed or bribeable with free housing and services, then turned into a slave.
but the wasp does indeed have a function -she kills pests such as caterpillars (the Wayne Slobs of the garden) . she won’t sting unless provoked, but then does so, fearlessly and with great effect. a lesson is quickly learnt, by (take note!) anyone she perceives as a potential thief!
so then – what would you rather our politicians received? honey, or the undivided attention of wasps?
Berlosconi found out the hard way that people aren’t all drones.

By: SlowLife

SlowLife — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:07:50 +0000

I do believe that you may need something like 1,211,327,009 worker serf drones.

By: Nick2

Nick2 — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:17:44 +0000

Thanks for the article – it’s informative to see how much effort is used to fund individual items of public expenditure.

However I thought that the Mars Bar index had been replaced by the Economist’s ‘Big Mac index’ – as the latter are pretty much identical throughout most of the world, and are eaten in many countries whose residents have never heard of a Mars Bar.

By: Clarinda

Clarinda — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:52:59 +0000

How much of all this money actually exists in real terms?
Isn’t most of it based on empty toxic promises and agreements, unless some little chap in a Swiss vault is colouring in an endless supply of notes? So when we drones see our ‘money’ getting filtched in taxes etc. all that happens is that there are less black marks on our P6Os than we would have hoped for.

Before I go to meet the Grand Aardvark in the sky – I’m stocking up on Mars Bars – they might turn out to be the only currency to allow me to work, rest and play for the forseeable future when we realise money doesn’t actually exist.

By: ivan

ivan — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:18:47 +0000

Like Old Holborn, I too call a ‘bankers’ billion one thousand million which is the correct way of saying it, after all we scientists and engineers were the first to use such numbers. The Americans like to be seen as bigger and better than everyone else so they degraded the billion from a million million to a thousand million which immediately made them look three orders of magnitude better off.

I still find myself having to remember to reduce the numbers given in ‘bankers figures’ to real world numbers to make what little sense there is in them.

By: Ed P

Ed P — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:12:48 +0000

What about the (EU) hornets’ share? If you add that gross theft, it must add another 2 million drones.

By: bofl

bofl — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:47:41 +0000

blimey.people waking up?

i put this on my web page ages ago……….

Somebody pinch me please!

I have to wake up!
I am stuck in a nightmare where a mad Scots Communist working for an enemy state is systematically destroying the u.k and as we are all so timid he is getting away with it.

A Billion here- a Billion there…..thrown around like confetti….
So how much is a Billion Pounds?
Well we now seem to use the American version of One thousand million .

So nothing to worry about then.

A Million Pounds………
Is that a lot of money?
Over the last few years it would seem not.Some people i know bought

By: Alan

Alan — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:42:46 +0000

Any measurement can be gamed. To fiddle the worth of a Drone all Government need do is tax us more, reducing the number of Drones per value of spending. Mars bars have got smaller. To combant obesity you understand…

By: Old Holborn

Old Holborn — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:39:49 +0000

I no longer call a billion, a billion.

It is MUCH more fun to call it one thousand million

By: Billy Blofeld

Billy Blofeld — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:20:10 +0000

Anna, I've done a calculation in Drones for the level of Debt Interest the country will be paying next year. I make that nearly 2.5 million drones in harness.

By: Billy Blofeld

Billy Blofeld — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:50:36 +0000

Anna,

Fabulous article.

I have long been angered that we are numbed by the millions, billions and trillions – so that we are no longer shocked by what should be seen as inexcusable waste or failure.

By: john ward

john ward — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:39:29 +0000

Exellent anger, and great analogy.
My ire is however redoubled by the knowledge that drones don’t think and conclude – they work. That’s what drones do.
The X-Factor and a pint in the pub and a set of wheels….that’s it.
The two mistakes in this piece (for me) are:
1. The description of drones – far too noble and working class. Most of the drones wear white collars these days and are bullied by their section heads – so-called because their heads should be sectioned.
2. The calculation based on people doing work: as well as the government and its honey bees, there are also the wasps. Just like real wasps, they serve no purpose – and do nothing except scavenge off everyone else. This group includes everyone from Wayne Slob to your average hedge-fund manager.
A close friend runs a successful decorating business. Its success is based on hiring drones for