Journalism lecturer at University of Limerick, Dr Henry Silke, above, writes about online site Lovin Dublin, the Luas dispute and French Marxist philosophy and what ties them altogether.
Dr Silke writes:
The ideological state apparatus has many forms; the anti-working class hipster wing are the most annoying.
So what is this ideological state apparatus? It isn’t, as the name might suggest, simply some sort of State-run propaganda machine a la RTÉ, although that is part of the process – rather the ISA acts as a much deeper and insidious level of ideological thought running through the entire superstructures of society from family to religion, education and even entertainment.
Louis Althusser was a French Marxist philosopher concerned with the reproduction of class and the power structures. He developed the idea of the ‘ideological state apparatus’ (ISA) as a key tool in class structure and in how classes reproduce themselves.
In fact another dogged old marxist called Ralph Miliband (yes, the rather disappointed father of Ed and Dave…) theorised that the majority of the ideological structures are actually run in the private sphere or by private enterprise.
That includes things like entertainment and advertising and even relationships between workers and their bosses who, unlike their staff, are free to indoctrinate as they choose.
Sometimes the ISA is more obvious.
For example if we recall 2008, when the private housing market and banking sector collapsed and the sheer scale of the gambling of the private banking and financial markets was beginning to appear we were treated to an onslaught of attacks against ‘the public sector’.
So, while banks were being bailed out to the cost of billions nurses, firemen and low-paid civil servants became the main focus of media debate.
And, to a huge degree, it worked.
The ‘private sector’ workforce felt put upon. It was ‘unfair’ that their public sector counterparts should have better conditions and this, rather than the billions being siphoned out of the economy by the extremely wealthy, became the focus.
Meanwhile, the public sector workforce saw wages and standards stripped and they were closely followed by their colleagues in the so-called private sector.
One of the more ironic factors of the Luas dispute is seeing the very people who called for the stripping of public sector workers conditions now complain that the Luas drivers are paid more than nurses and teachers.
A more recent example of ISA was the media onslaught against the so called ‘rent freeze’, or anytime anyone dare mentions raising corporation tax.
Althusser didn’t see ideology as the only aspect to power, ideology after all is constantly a site of struggle and doesn’t always work from the point of view of the Elite.
Look at the water charge protests, no matter how long it was ignored, how much it was demonized and how often it was written off as finished, it carried on regardless.
Althusser described people who didn’t bend the knee to the ISA as ‘bad subjects’.
He theorised that when the ideological state apparatus fails the ‘repressive state apparatus’ steps in. The RSA are our old friends in the police, judiciary and prison service.
Gramsci, the Italian communist leader, had earlier termed this ‘hegemony in an iron fist’.
So what does this all have to do with online magazines such as Lovin Dublin, surely simply a sort of slightly edgy hipster restaurant review website?
Funded by ‘native advertising’ the site is filled with generic reviews, events and clickbait content. Native advertising for the uninitiated is a hipsterish term that means advertorial content except, unlike traditional advertorial content, it doesn’t necessarily tell the reader that it is paid for.
However when you strip away the ‘edgy’ reviews and commentary from time to time a deep layer of class prejudice reveals itself.
A couple of years ago Harbo, the publisher of the site, infamously wrote:
“When the sun shines there are certain places that you just know will be packed. The Barge is probably the most obvious place to head but for years it was Ocean Bar. 100s of people would sit outside happily supping pints and watching knackers play their favourite sport of bridge jumping wearing wet suits. It really is amazing how long the little bastards can keep themselves entertained jumping into water and how the local crime rates plunge when they are ALL BUSY having their annual wash.”
The lines above seem to have been retroactively edited out of the site now, but this classic line remains:
“My risotto with peas and bacon was delightful although the scallops could have been a little bigger and felt like small cut offs. Tasty though.”
Locals seemingly an embarrassment to the silicon valley macho culture moving into the tax haven based around the Grand Canal docks.
Harbison apologized for the remarks later, but the pure visceral nature of the comment is there to be seen.
This classist viewpoint runs through the website, articles welcoming the return of the celtic tiger, what type of property €500,000 will buy you, sprinkled with a little faux shock and petit bourgeois guilt about the homeless crisis, but absolutely no critique of the landlords putting people out on the streets, these after all are Harbison’s fellow diners and part of the ‘recovery’ which Harbo claims ‘has to start somewhere’.
The site’s recent lifting of a month-old Tory meme on the London tube strike and slapdashing it against Luas drivers shows us where their sympathies lie.
The Luas drivers themselves are a good example of Althusser’s ‘bad subject’s’ unwilling to be defined by the media circus around them.
The class nature of the reaction is interesting. People like Lovin Dublin are little concerned with the details of the issue, nor the fact that Transdev are a massive multinational corporation who are a classic middle management that don’t seem to serve much purpose outside of removing responsibility from the state.
The State own the tracks, the drivers and other staff do the work. Transdev‘s sole purpose seems to be the outsourcing of workplace discipline, and even this they are obviously not very good at.
One of the key issues annoying the petit bourgeois of South Dublin (much of which the Luas Green line serves) is that these drivers dare to have a decent wage, that they dare to use their collective power to win more of the company’s profits for the people who actually do the work.
The idea that working class people could earn anything more than poverty wages seems to offend. Here the drivers don’t deserve to be paid well, and certainly don’t deserve to be paid more than Tristan and Fiachra who both went to Trinity, (after repeating the Leaving in the ‘Institute’), did a Masters in an expensive private college and are now ‘interning’ in an exciting start up on the docklands tax haven.
Not unlike the attacks on striking tube drivers in London, the offended petit-bourgeois have been attacking drivers with insults and even calling on Transdev to sack them.
The most ironic and laughable, if it were not so serious, is the offence taken that Luas drivers would dare strike during the anniversary of an armed insurrection as it was ‘inconvenient’, and these ‘nationalists’ have been scrambling to denounce the drivers and other workers and offer support to the multi-national across websites like the Journal.ie.
Lovin Dublin’s meme is a good example of this petit-bourgeois mentality, where so called ‘fairness’ is about doing down working class wages and conditions, which are undeserved, and need to be kept in check.
The profits of multinationals or landlords never face the same level of scrutiny or bile.
Dr Henry Silke writes on Critical Media Review.
On The Problem Of The Hipster Bourgeoisie (Rabble)
Thanks Rabble
Lovin Dublin’s hardly the worst offender here, is it? Or maybe it is. I don’t know.
Yeah it’s pretty sneery alright. I unsubscribed from it a long time ago.
It’s self pleasuring nonsense.
It looks a bit like the journal.ie to me
I unsubscribed a long time ago due to their overuse of the word epic. Everything is epic or a big ridebag.
It’s drivel.
Harbo publishes his mostly questionable opinions as factual information, this odd way of writing seems to have filtered down through his staff.
So you thought you’d hang around here and subscribe to the endless headline puns?
Yes, I did. I enjoy the cynicism here.
The headline puns are generally excellent tbf.
Well said.
I love this guy….more Silke please…
can you arrange a duel between him and Mercille ….?
Me too. He writes what I know to be true in a more elegant form than I could. Sick of these beggars on horseback.
+1
This is actually an interesting piece but I still don’t bite the poor Luas drivers bit… It doesn’t matter if Transdev is making huge profits. The people driving the trams should be paid in accordance with the skills required for their jobs in the market in which they operate. If they want their pay to be 100% linked to the performance of the company they work for then they should have gone the more exposed, self-employed route and then you also have to swallow the big pay cut or indeed no pay issue when the flip of the coin is true. You can’t have it both ways.
Rubbish
So you know how you can have it both ways then do you? Enlighten me…. as opposed to just throwing out a one-word post that doesn’t show that much/any thought has gone into it.
“The people driving the trams should be paid in accordance with the skills required for their jobs in the market in which they operate.”
They operate in a market in which their employer makes massive profits.
Their employer invested a lot of capital that enabled them to do so.
If all of the doctors quit a hospital on the same day, the hospital would be in a lot of trouble, as it would take 7+ years to train new staff to replace them; for this reason, doctors earn a lot of money.
If all of the Luas drivers quit tomorrow, it would take 7 weeks to train up their replacements; that’s why they are paid less money.
Oil companies are some of the most profitable companies in the world; people who work in petrol stations get paid comparatively little, as they are quite easy to replace.
What do you think of the growing wealth gap by the way? Good thing?
Which ‘growing wealth gap’ where?
The “growing wealth gap” is highlighted on a frequent basis by many and varied publications from Financial journals to International charity reports – and yet you’ve never heard of it? Some snug little cocoon you must live in.
Really?
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/ireland-at-risk-of-reaching-us-levels-of-income-inequality-says-study-1.2105125
I thought maybe you meant on a global scale, or something.
From the article:
“The research says Ireland is now the most unequal country in the EU when it comes to how the economy distributes income, before taxes and social welfare payments are included.”
However:
“Our income inequality is reduced to close to the EU average when these factors are included. ”
– Ireland has a very progressive taxation system and a good system of social protection; I fail to see the link between this and Luas drivers.
I see. So you’re denying the wealth gap exists? And we also have no right wing in this country I think you said? It’s an interesting strategy. Anyway, you seem to be defending the practice of paying low wages. I’m just pointing out that your attitude is contributing toward that wealth gap. But that’s ok because it doesn’t exist.
Did you actually read the article that you linked?
Sigh. Yep.
You seemed to have failed to understand parts of it
“The research says Ireland is now the most unequal country in the EU when it comes to how the economy distributes income, before taxes and social welfare payments are included. Our income inequality is reduced to close to the EU average when these factors are included.”
I’m not sure what your comments re: right wing are referring to, and Luas drivers could not be described as ‘low-paid’, so I’m sure of the relevance of that, either.
Marginally better than “rubbish” but still not good enough. I’m going to slip down to nearer your level of debate and just not bother…. I can see where this is going. Is there an emoticon for “I have better things to do”?
“You seemed to have failed to understand parts of it”
Like I said, your strategy of denying things exist is odd but interesting.
“I’m not sure what your comments re: right wing”
I’m pointing out that you have a history of denying reality to fit a narrative. We’ve both right wing and no wealth gap either apparently.
“Luas drivers could not be described as ‘low-paid’, so I’m sure of the relevance of that, either.”
Low is relatively. You’re the one that equated them with petrol station staff.
“Our income inequality is reduced to close to the EU average”
That doesn’t really mean all that much in terms of there being more equality here.
It basically mean there’s inequality also throughout Europe, and the inequality here is around average as there’s worse inequality in parts of Europe.
It means fupp all in real terms.
“before taxes and social welfare payments are included. ” – this is the function of social transfers.
I never said that there was no right wing in Ireland, but do continue to throw in non-sequitors to distract from your non-argument.
Fair enough. Point being that you’re ok with paying “replaceable” staff low wages and you deny this attitude contributes toward the wealth gap because it apparently doesn’t exist. Probably not much point continuing from there really.
If by ‘wealth gap’ you mean some people have more money than other people, it’s not that don’t acknowledge that it exists, its just that I don’t see it as a problem.
That’s insane but ok.
Ok so. I recommend you try living in one of the countries where everyone gets paid the same money, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
Right because if you think a CEO earning 1000 times the salary of staff, as is the case in some places, is morally wrong, you should go live in North Korea. Solid reasoning there.
Moyestie
which country is it where u think the Waltons own 40% of all wealth?
“If by ‘wealth gap’ you mean some people have more money than other people, it’s not that don’t acknowledge that it exists, its just that I don’t see it as a problem.”
It isn’t a problem that some people have more money than other people.. it’s that a small cohort own so much of the wealth.. that is a problem.. for everyone.
Here, just give it a watch –
https://youtu.be/uZsGDIfeqUM?t=387
@ Owen
– I noticed he didn’t respond to that one, unlike all the others…
@Rob_G
Those figs are based on bad figs. The inequality is there when ALL the income of the rich is taken into account. The figs you use to show less inequality only deals with income like salaries. There are lots of other ‘income’ streams not measured.
OK, @Rob_G I see you state that the wealth gap is not a problem.
You are happy with the way things are going then… so when services collapse due to a lack of funding because the rich don’t pay tax, you’ll just nod your head to your loved one after a month on a hospital trolley and say, ‘it’s OK, it’s only a small gap’… is that it, because that is what you are supporting by saying there is nothing wrong with a wealth gap.
Simple solution, pay the doctors, nurses etc. more than the Luas drivers. Job done.
I’m available for consultancy work too you know.
Harbo and Coughlan paid for this post. Don’t tell anyone though.
They are box office for BS I tell you. Every post related to them gets a ton of comments. Bodger should just post one a day
The ONLY reason to have any sympathy for the luas drivers is that they will all be obselete in about 15 years.
they’ll all be dead
spar breakfast rolls catch up on the best of us
Why? Do you reckon we’ll have self driving trams. No doubt colliding with all the self driving cars.
Yes we will. It’s only a matter of time and most of that time will be spent on changing perceptions.
The luas drivers will be the least of the countries worries.
It’s all a big conspiracy to disagree with your viewpoint Dr. Silke
Preposterous notion. The wealthy elite using their power and influence to propagate narratives that protect their status? The very idea. They’re all saintly philanthropists who just want what’s best for all of us.
Preposterous. What a word.
what time does the simpleton lad get here?
the badgermemes fellow…
LOL :)
“The idea that working class people could earn anything more than poverty wages seems to offend. Here the drivers don’t deserve to be paid well, and certainly don’t deserve to be paid more than Tristan and Fiachra who both went to Trinity” – there’s the crux
+1 Also there’s begrudgery from other working class folks.
it shows quite a bit of snobbery on the doctors part… It’s funny that these class warriors are the only ones who are obsessed with class.
The rest of us try to judge people on merit.
And the only people concerned with race are the people who call out racism, right?
“The rest of us try to judge people on merit.”
No doesn’t happen like that. The middle class who are of private schooling tend to “keep it close” as love saying. They hire among their narrow group, often overlooking much more capable candidates because it’s all about keeping influence within a small group. They are very class obsessed.
You do of course have plenty of studies showing this to be the case in Irish life and it’s not just your crippling class envy/self loathing talking right/
Again the famous BS line proof/links or doesn’t happen. We all know it happens and no not everyone from “snobby” areas are snobs, but a lot are.
‘the famous BS line proof/links or doesn’t happen’
This isn’t a Broadsheet talking point. Is evidence-based policy such a ridiculous notion to you?
That’s a load of horse, a perception that people like you would have. I have worked in, and currently work in, a company that you believe to have such hiring practices.
But it ain’t the case, why would it be? Everyone’s llives are a lot easier when the best candidates are hired and this is apparent when you look around you. Bog warriors like myself, normal joes from all over the country, and yes quite a few from private schools. I’ve even seen a guy work his way up from the coffee dock.
In the real world, success comes from little other than hard work and merit bar the most exceptional circumstances.
It’s also telling that you have an issue with “the middle class”, they make up most of society.
What a load of horse.
*thinks*
Shoe…
POO!
I have this rhyming slang all figured gout.
+1
No Rotide, I am OF that class, hence I know.
Class, class, class. Give it a rest
You’d swear were in Downtown Abbey ffs.
(maybe there are other reasons that companies don’t want to hire you in particular)
The rest of us try to judge people on merit
… Who’s standard is that merit based on ? Your’s ? mine ? They might be and probably are a very different thing. I merit that worker’s earn a decent, liveable wage. Other’s merit poverty wages – try living on minimum wage for a while. If you think class obsession is the sole preserve of class warriors (whatever they might be) you live in a different country to the one I know.
You’re distinguishing people by this concept of ‘class’. It’s silly and outdated and belongs in the dustbin with colonial times.
I’m suggesting people are judged by merit, their value to society, which can obviously be proven in many many ways, but is certainly not down to an accident of birth, a concept some of you guys seem to be trying desperately to perpetuate.
Why is that?
This concept of class that is so outdated is the exact reason why people are so exercised that LUAS drivers would have the temerity to seek better pay and conditions. Don’t they know they are nothing more than unskilled louts who should be paid a wage more fitting to their station ?
well the job is unskilled yes but I know nothing of their class
So if the staff of all the major banks went on strike for a 20% pay rise, you’d be right behind them supporting too?
Right … ‘cos all the bank clerks in AIB on €22k caused the financial crisis themselves and not their ‘betters’ on multiple times that ?
I want to start a revolution
1. get save secure job in state university ✔
2. grow beard and hair.✔
3. write stuff.✔
4. take long summer break because the summers too nice to riot in.✔
Pathetic attempt. Try harder.
rejected beatle’s lyrics?
Public sector workforce wages and standards stripped. Lol. Spare me.
I came straight out of college into the public sector at AO level in 2008. Worked there right through the bad times up until 2014. I’d agree the public sector was demonised during that time but who cares what the media were saying. water off a ducks back as long as the back pocket was alright.The pension levy was annoying but then again the 7% increment I was getting every year wasn’t. I can tell ye now that my mates in the private sector, same age starting out etc., didnt see 7% pay rises every uear
fair comment
Nor did a lot of your colleagues – who were at the top of their scales with an embargo in place.
So your pocket may have been alright but there are many who saw a REAL decrease in their standard of living.
I guess you just prove the point of the article.
not true jack, even if people in the public sector stayed on the same the cost of living went down for a few years
They DIDN’T stay on the same – Pension levy/ increase of hours/ less annual leave.
Are you a public servant ? I am and I earned more 10 years ago than I do now.
All your really doing is proving the guys point !
* you’re
@jack sorry with all the crap going on in the economy at the time, with emigration etc I didnt have much time for my colleagues who were complaining about topping out at their pay grade and having the pension levy. Even the EO level back in 2010 was topping out at about €48k. Again – spare me. And as for my colleagues who were AP and topping out at €76k….FFS. And even at the height of the recession I could walk into a bank and bicker for a mortgage and get one eventually. My mates in the private sector….nah mate we will put you on the long finger.
You’re in the public sector for 10 years??? I’d say you have moved up a grade or two in that time. Probably around the 65k mark are we??
So no – I’m completely invalidating this c@&p broadsheet post by this class warrior.
Oh and my annual leave in my last year was 29 days.
It actually increased during the recession.
Your talking crap. I’m in public sector 9 years from this month and I’m on less than when I started.
Yes I’m fully aware that taxes for all, public and private, have increased in the 10 years since the halcyon era of Bertie
No. My pay rate is less and your trying to make it sound the whole public sector are graded officers. Which leads me to think your talking crap. You don’t even know how the increments work. So i doubt you work any where near the public service.
@Steve – you seem to be of the view that everyone in the public service is on the same level of income as you were. The majority are on sums vastly below the €65k you attributed to me – I must check that payslip again.
Steve, you left the civil service?! Were you still an AO?!
Your talking poo. I started my job in the public sector in 2007 and I’m on less now than when I started. And how you talk about your increments let’s me know your talking bollix. What did you work getting 7% incrementals even year.
‘while banks were being bailed out to the cost of billions nurses, firemen and low-paid civil servants became the main focus of media debate’
I don’t know why we have to always choose sides in these debates.
Bailing out the banks was a disgrace but so too was the fact that public sector salaries during the recession were significantly higher than their equivalents round Europe & relative to our tax take.
petit bourgeois of South Dublin…that’s bang-on imo
the negative commentary about the Luas workers has been flowing for weeks now, barely a word spoken about the actual issues going on, just a very generalised “Luas drivers are greedy and bad” noise
my eldest fella came in from school the other day, he’s just started on getting more interested in current affairs as he should be by now he asks/states: jasus dad isn’t it mad that those Luas workers are looking to be paid the same as doctors, like what’s the story there, that’s really bad isn’t it??
that got me interested as it was an odd thing for him to say (I’ve always encouraged him to use “assume nothing, question everything” logic) …..turns out it was was a statement of attributable to a teacher who’d been hosting a class discussion, ffs
They haven’t got a leg to stand on and you know it.
I think you might be missing the point here, try again please
I was the first to call them wasters blah blah and so on. Then i found our about 90% of the reports on the “demands” they looked for are complete crap.
The stench of perceived class envy in this is suffocating.
“Here the drivers don’t deserve to be paid well, and certainly don’t deserve to be paid more than Tristan and Fiachra who both went to Trinity, (after repeating the Leaving in the ‘Institute’), did a Masters in an expensive private college and are now ‘interning’ in an exciting start up on the docklands tax haven.”
You should start touring with this original stand up act. The bit about the scallops and bacon is worth the admission fee alone. Is it satire or indignancy at the heart of this article? Difficult to tell.
Spot on
Great article, it brings out all the thatcherite pond-life who want workers to earn next to nothing so executives can earn more.
A conveyor belt of +1
So the Luas workers are on next-to-nothing? Maybe we should set up a charity.
Is there any point at which you would say, ‘I think the Luas drivers’ demands are excessive’?
Is there any point at which those who think so are no longer ‘thatcherite pond-life’?
Excellent article and so, so very accurate. Unfortunately.
It’s all about Divide and Conquer. The wealthy who have the most to lose will set various sectors of society against each other to distract the plebs from focussing on the source of their oppression.
Pointless self adoring sites like Lovin’ Dublin which are just glorified local gazettes are a prime example of the shallow flakey nonsense hipsters lap up.
Hilarious! :)
Apparently it’s the ‘wealthy’ (read those who work and pay tax) who are setting sectors of society against each other – tell to your heroes in SF and AAA and their class warfare.
Lots of people who work and pay taxes are far from wealthy – you may be but not everyone is as fortunate ( read those who didn’t have the same privilege as you)
For someone who rails against the snobbery of the “anti-working class hipster wing”, he has no problem with snobbery himself. I guess snobbery is only bad when it is aimed down though.
Rabble is as up its own hole as LovinDublin is.
Precisely.
Yep, brilliant piece.
“The ‘private sector’ workforce felt put upon.”
I felt what now?
i assume that references the few hundred thousand of your private sector colleagues who involuntarily lost their jobs. Like, there’s no way he wouldn’t mention that, in the interests of balance, right?
Exactly, what I felt was glad to have dodged a bullet in that I kept a job. That was it, dunno about this ‘put upon’ thing.
I did like the piece though.
Loved this…. “Tristan and Fiachra who both went to Trinity, (after repeating the Leaving in the ‘Institute’), did a Masters in an expensive private college and are now ‘interning’ in an exciting start up on the docklands tax haven.”
…some small truth to it on its’ own :)
Obviously truth to it too, in its’ original context, me thinks.
Could you imagine going out with someone called Fiachra?
You’re a fine fella Fiachra… fupp me Fiachra. Go on Fiachra. That’s child abuse really.
No problem with Irish first names. Its the gaelgoir-induced surnames where i draw the line.
I never cease to be amazed how the dogged champions of the working class, such as Mr Silke and Broadsheet’s very own dreamy Julien Mercille, all seem to espouse proletariat views whilst enjoying distinctly middle upper class salaries. Very much a case of hunting with the hounds, etc.
Working class and middle class distinction actually has little to do with money.
You don’t ‘become’ middle class by earning more money and you don’t ‘become’ working class through losing your job and going on the dole.
Class is from birth and stays with you. It’s your children who move up or down the scale depending on how you rear them.
how can you stay on one level of class, but your kids can’t? Didn’t you have parents too?
oh wow, where to start..
Social mobility is fixed from birth?
Really, why?
Biggest determining factor in social mobility is education, early childhood education at that.
You don’t understand the meaning of class if you think can class-shift during your life.
You said: “It’s your children who move up or down the scale depending on how you rear them.”
So can you class shift or not?
No, I obviously don’t understand your definition of class.
Happy to be enlightened.
well you can assign permanent labels to people if you want but most of us try to look for a little more substance in a person.
such a snob…
I’m critical of those who don’t. That’s kind of my point.
A working class neighbour will always call me ‘posh’ because of my accent. But he could have more money than me for all I know. He owns a house in France. But HE considers himself working class.
You can see how posh you are here –
http://www.dailyedge.ie/what-percent-posh-are-you-2686717-Apr2016/
You’re given pictures of things and you’re asked what you would call them –
i.e
Toilet roll,
Bog Roll,
Toilet paper
or
Loo Roll..
You’re then given a percentage of how posho you are. Only way to find out for sure.
so class is simply down to accent now? I genuinely don’t think you have a clue what you are talking about re ability to shift class.
That’s a really good metric Anne.
I bet Mr Mahorey fails the all important toilet roll test.
I disagree with his pronouncements.
Class on the other hand is nothing to do with breeding.
It is everything to do with how one comports themselves irrespective of economic status or origin. But then I wouldn’t expect Mr Mahorey to know that based on his vile and embittered denunciations on this site daily.
Thanks for that, know I know where I am.
Precisely in the middle!
“You’re half and half. You’ve got a posh side, but you can be a commoner when it suits.”
74 percent aparantly, now I can sleep at night
I’m 74% posho.. it must be a fix, coz i’m way posher than the likes of ye. Just sayin’ Janet. :)
I’m 100% posho according to that – who’d have thunk it ? But given my views on the working conditions of the proles I must be a class warrior too
Ah, I took the test again and chose different footwear – now I’m only 50%.
Amazing how a pair of converse can dash your posh appeal in a swoop.
He’s right about hipsters.
Before all those circle jerking scrap ‘repurposing’ phone starting gimps were even born we had Rock, Punk, Ska, Mods, Goths, Heavy Metal which all had a rebellious message.
All we have now are twee little infanitalised boys and girls with nice melodies, hollow lyrics or ruining good songs by making them sound all sexy in French. Yeah Nouvelle Vague is crap.
Where’s all the wild kids gone?
Nouvelle Vague were a thing about 15 years ago
And spawned a load of others..
Fupp it, I like Nouvelle Vague… I guess I’m not rebellious now. I’ll have to put on some Sex Pistols..
…or staying a bit closer to home Anne some Radiators or SLF maybe?
Thanks for posting the Inequality for All Video Anne (can’t reply under it for some reason). great watch – I’d heard about it but hadn’t seen it.
The wild kids are buyin’ wet suits Ted
To paraphrase you, Tish, ‘Why won’t the kids rebel the way I want them to rebel?’
Hmmm…
Hilarous parody of BS hipster left-wing drivel. More please, I’m cracking up.
Excellent points here unfortunately let down by the paragraph on Tristan, Fiachra etc.
I have to agree. It diminishes a piece on class discimination when there’s some of your own in there.
Oh come on. A little levity never goes amiss even if a little mistimed here and there.
Its not levity. It displays the same kind of attitude to others that he decries – just he has chosen a different tribe.
Even if it weren’t sneery nonsense, it’s at about the same tired, endlessly repeated level as jokes about airline food.
All those oblivious idiots walking along looking at their phones instead of at where they are walking – yeah they’re all on Lovin’ Dublin.
*like*
*share*
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*trips over homeless person*
*instagram*
*tweets*
– coming from a man who comments on social media posts several dozen times per day
When I’m walking, I’m walking.
Dit dit dit dit
Dit dit dit dit
One of these days Tish’s boots gonna walk all over you !
( Plse forgive my ‘dit dit dit dit’ for a trumpet sound :) )
More of a barp sound? no?
this could be a good and interesting piece, but it is poorly constructed, has no coherence and simply descends into class hatred. BS, can you edit this sort of thing? or at least read it back to them.
Completely agree.
I don’t care how long it takes to train up to be a Luas driver.. transporting the public around is a stressful job.
There’s very little available on the details of what they’re looking for. They are being very much demonised by the media.
Taxi drivers and Bus drivers not only transport the public around but have direct contact with the public which luas drivers don’t. I don’t remember seeing reports of them having stress levels comparable to guards and surgeons
Would you need a report of it to believe they have a stressful job also.
You don’t think driving a bus is stressful?
That depends, are there any bombs that will be armed if the bus exceeds 50mph and then will detonate if it decelerates back below that speed? In that case yes.
And who had to fix that problem? A non union bus driver obviously. Sandra Bullock would have been pillorised for being scab labour if that had happened over here.
I would definitely pillorise Sandra Bullock, even now in her more mature years.
jesus rotide, you sound a lot like that teacher in my kids school (see above) again with the surgeon comparative tossology….wtf??
They earn less than truck drivers & private bus drivers
Right on man…. glad to hear someone call out the sneering invective being levelled at Luas workers and others looking for a raise. the politics of envy at its best.
If you ask me both the rich and the poor have both gotten way to big for their boots lately. A good war would smarten them up! WW3. Poor people put down your iPhones, you rich guys stop looking at those off shore account statements, now both of you off to fight the common enemy together! Who’s the common enemy?? Oh I don’t know, try the Russians, devilish bunch they are.
What is wrong with doing a job and getting paid for it?
Putting a roof over your head, paying your bills and OMG! having some money over at the end to have a life and savings.
Can’t have working people wanting to be, gasp, prosperous.
The nerve of the proles wanting work to pay – like it used to.
+1
Who said anything about not paying people?
Most of the arguments center around what peoples perception of what a luas driver is worth.
Of what a Luas driver’s work is worth..
How about we discuss, what we think the CEO’s and bosses work in transderf is ‘worth’? What exactly are they doing that they deserve to rake in the profits for themselves?
+1 Madden proposed finding the money they wanted by taking it away from new hires. Did he offer to take a drop in his wages? Did any of the little lapdogs here call for him to do it?
Exactly. Not agreeing 100% means you completely agree with everything the CEO, FG and DOB want. Everything is completely black and white.
Do you know his salary by any chance? Is it worth the work he puts in I wonder?
Let’s discuss.. :)
It’s worth what it costs to retain him, shouldthey think he’s worth it. There’s probably dew roles where you’ll et the can as quick as a CEO if the shareholders so desire.
Yeah. Except it should be about what Luas drivesr ought to be paid. Taking about their worth is just dehumanising enough to suggest that they have a place and they should stay there.
how does the worker get paid? by the general public? why should the general public pay more than what is justifiable for the level of service received?
I don’t think the fares need to go up to pay the Luas drivers what they’re looking for.
Plenty of mula there..
” how does the CEO get paid? why should the general public pay more than what is justifiable for the level of service received?” Fixed there for you.
We’re talking about 172 drivers, most of whom are looking for 10% spread over 3 years so they’re actually looking for less than a 4% raise this year. How much will this cost on total. 200k? They had a profit of over 800k in 2014. They won a contract for 150 million since. But blah 50% blah levers blah doctors.
(1) 172 drivers. Currently paid around an average of 38k. 4% of that total pay packet is 261k. Another 6% on top of that is an additional 391k. So thats 652k total over 3 years. Plus their bonus, which we’ll assume is a % of salary. So 700k or so over the next three years.
(2) they were originally looking for well in excess of 10%. I thought the company had actually offered them up to an 18% pay increase over the next three years, and they had turned this down (albeit citing other reasons)? Why would they suddenly accept a 10% pay increase?
Anne, great theorising there. I’m dealing with the reality of the situation from my commuting perspective – this pay increase will almost certainly lead to a fare increase well above the general cost of living change. If you can get the CEO to pay for it out of his pocket, more power to you, but i deal in reality, not fantasy. Do you deny the likely outcome of any pay increase for the general worker, which thus far has not been justified in any way, shape, or form?
Fares were already increased well above the inflation rate.
http://www.newstalk.com/GRAPH:-How-do-Dublin-transport-fare-increases-compare-to-average-inflation
You weren’t blaming the workers then were you?
What percentage of the profits would you be happy for them to receive Owen?
What salary are you happy for the CEO to receive? Do you think his massive wage increase was justified? Did he do anything to justify it in any way shape or form?
You keep on telling us that they made huge profits, so yes. he justified it.
that link is for Dublin Bus and Irish Rail fares? If the fare increases went to increased worker pay, above and beyond inflation, in those companies, then i think its ridiculous.
here you go then..
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/commuters-forced-to-pay-fare-hikes-out-of-line-with-inflation-30975374.html
Thousands of bus, rail and Luas commuter passengers in the greater Dublin area have been “screwed” by fare increases of 42pc since 2009 – way above cost of living and inflation increases.
You’ll be well aware of the increases in Luas fares, if you use it.
” If the fare increases went to increased worker pay, above and beyond inflation, in those companies, then i think its ridiculous.”
So the increases are only ridiculous when they’re going to the workers? Why are the increases not ridiculous when people other than the workers are reaping the rewards of increased fares?
who else is reaping the rewards? As far as I’m aware, Dublin Bus and Irish Rail are state owned, and Transdev is running at a loss as of 2015?
I’m sure the managers will all take a pay cut if the drivers get a pay rise Owen to ensure you’re not personally inconvenienced.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/business/luas-operator-profits-slide-despite-more-passengers-363215.html
Profits slide despite more passengers.. How can it be you might be saying to yourself Owen C? Where’s the money going to, you might be asking ?
“According to returns just made to the Companies Office, Transdev Dublin Light Rail Ltd sustained the drop in profits from the structure of its new five-year €150m contract with the Rail Procurement Agency.
As a result of the new billing structures in place in the contract, which commenced last year, revenues at Transdev decreased by 15% to €48.8m in 2014.”
150m – billing structures. Rail Procurement Agency – Our boys.
There’s plenty of mula there.. pay the fupping workers what they were promised.
You well know companies can make profits disappear. Didn’t Clerys charge themselves huge rents.
Here’s another one..
Do you know how they make their profits disappear? Charging themselves huge interest rates on money they get at practically 0, is how.
http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/time-to-wrestle-mysterious-cerberus-out-into-the-light-1.2564860
“It uses a series of Dublin-registered subsidiary companies to hold property loans that it bought in Ireland, Britain and other European countries. They are in turn controlled by another set of Dutch-based Cerberus subsidiaries. These lent the Irish firms money at high interest rates to buy the debts. The repayments are so high that they eat up most of the profits.
Tax affairs
Their figures show that six of those companies generated income of about €350 million in 2014 and repaid €245 million in interest.
After taking out their costs, they paid a total of €15,500 in tax,”
15 smelly grand Owen.
More passengers but profits down…. how can it be? Where’s the money going?
Lovin Dublin is a working class hating piece of crap from my reading of it. Harbo sits in the ivory tower munching on his skinny mocha green tea lattes bathing in a warm sea of pretentiousness undercut with his monocole staring down the rim of the working classes. The article cuts to the point. Its a critique of the vegan munching hipster crowd who vote Labour and are bourgoise liberals, liberal on social justice issues but centre right on economic ones.
F*** the whole lot of them
*clinks pint in Toners*
When did not agreeing with Luas drivers become some sort of a class warfare?
Did I miss something here?
just around here it is, they’re obsessed with class and quite angry about various things :)
Left-wing politics in Ireland.
No acceptance of the need to make public service work efficiently.
Certain, small pool of workers overly-protected & the costs of this imposed on most ordinary people.
Opposition to property taxes.
“One of the more ironic factors of the Luas dispute is seeing the very people who called for the stripping of public sector workers conditions now complain that the Luas drivers are paid more than nurses and teachers.”
Hey Alanis !
That’s not ironic but it is consistent.
+1
People calling out unfairness no matter where they see it.
This is a superb article – really well-written, humorous and insightful.
I don’t agree with it all but fair fupping play.
As for the Luas drivers I’ve learned that industrial relations at the company are dreadful in practice and that this is at the heart of the dispute. Of course you never get that sort of context in the dreadful pondlife media here.
Broadsheet – why not do a piece on this to highlight the issue?
The guy at the top of Luas seems quite scary when interviewed, the one without the tie?
I haven’t seen him, please provide a link?
Google Gerry Madden Luas and you’ll be there.
PK’s mate?
Everyone should be paid according to their needs, not their output. Human dignity does not need to be earned.
then why be a doctor? Why put it all on the line to design a world changing product we all enjoy? for the love of it? Certainly to an extent but we progress as a species by trying to better our situations, it’s in the genes my man, don’t try to fight it :)
“then why be a doctor? Why put it all on the line to design a world changing product we all enjoy? for the love of it?”
Of course it’s for the love of it. Would you want to be operated on by a surgeon who hates his job, for example?
That’s why I said to an extent chief. Your attention must have drifted off. Don’t worry about it, ain’t no thang
Or maybe it’s not hugely relevant to the point I was making?
But hey, just throw random insults out there instead of engaging in discussion. I’ve been informed it’s both big and clever.
it’s absence in your response was completely relevant
In most of the places that they tried that, people did not end up very happy.
Everyone should be paid according to their needs, not their output
How about you go and live in the flourishing vibrant Soviet Union.
Oh wait, that doesn’t exist anymore because that mindset is ridiculous.
– Communism is based on human maturity. There is no money in that system and no government either. And communism is a utopia if you haven’t guessed already. Never existed as economic system anywhere. Soviets never claimed to have such system and it was explicit in the name USSR.
– Soviets tried to operate on principle of ‘contribution – by abilities, compensation – by contribution’. That system was called “socialism”. And Soviets claimed to have it. And you right, it didn’t work for them, but you’re wrong on distribution principle.
If you’ve worked/had business long enough you’d know there is no meritocracy, competition or “self-correction” in capitalism. If there were – why would the world need tax heavens OR why would DoB kiss Lawry’s ‘place where the sun is shining from’ for digifon license?
Christian Brothers should really stay away from teaching children, I am telling ya.
There is some ‘meritocracy, competition or “self-correction” in capitalism’ just it is not perfect & it is distorted by all sorts of other parameters.
finally! someones said what we were all thinkin … a few years ago.
but yea, lovindublin is like if they got a bunch of characters from Ross O’Carrol-Kellys world to write an online.. whatever it is .. review site.. or whatever. its really lame and their ideals and stand-points are dated, as well as being insensitive and wrong.
I agree with the Luas workers’ demands.
However this Henry Silke character is a right knob. You do you know he’s middle class himself. One who can afford to do a PHD. This article was on Rabble yesterday. It still reads as a bitter diatribe today.
Check out his Facebook page and see the roll call of SJWs on his friends list.
That’s some painfully bad writing. It’s undergraduate politics stuff. It’s like reading David McWilliams’ mirror image on a bad day when he’s really stretching for his daily metaphor.
This ‘class’ rubbish is just the usual ego-strokers having a righteous wank about how amazingly right-on they are.
But can someone PLEASE clear this up for me once and for all. Why are there such conflicting stories about what our Luas drivers are looking for? Is it fuppin’ 10% or 53%? Where did both figures come from? (Personal opinion: give it to them. It’ll be you next, soon enough.)
We tried that policy of just awarding pay rises to everybody all the time.
It didn’t work. We ending up inflating a property bubble to try keep it going.
As I recall, Louis Althusser murdered his wife.
That said, the article is spot on with that Harbo tool and his Dublin 8 gentrification acolytes.
Grown men going to work on scooters – work that is the processing of invoices for Google Adwords in German, – give me a break. It’s time that the vile hip and happenin’ “tech” brigade were taken on.
Lovin’ Dublin? They hate real Dubliners.
The collapse of PornDog on Montague Street in Dublin 8 is a start to the rot I hope sets into the world of those hip boys and girls and transgendered supremacists that like to flash their plastic personalities…
‘Grown men going to work on scooters – work that is the processing of invoices for Google Adwords in German’
You give this description as if it is self-evidently contemptible. Can you explain why?
Who are ‘real Dubliners’? And who f***ing put you in charge of deciding?
In fact, the full quote is:
“When the sun shines there are certain places that you just know will be packed. The Barge is probably the most obvious place to head but for years it was Ocean Bar. 100s of people would sit outside happily supping pints and watching knackers play their favourite sport of bridge jumping wearing wet suits. It really is amazing how long the little bästards can keep themselves entertained jumping into water and how the local crime rates plunge when they are ALL BUSY having their annual wash.”
I totally agree with the LUAS driver demands. Mostly because I hope the LUAS tracks in Harcourt Street will derail one of those hipster creeps around Portobello off her fixie.
Superb article about Lovin’ Dublin as an ISA and the appalling mediocrity and nastiness it represents. There is no difference between a Lovin’ Dublin reader and her parents who read the Sunday Independent.
Remember the puke-promptingly pathetic interview with geebag Harbison on the serially vile Miriam O’Callaghan Saturday night TV show?
“Oh, roysh, Harbo, just tell us about what riiiiiiiilly inspires yow, yeah?” PFOAD.
You see this same kind of gentrificiation and sectarian cüntology everywhere, always engendered by the tech crowd. Except in Dublin, they don’t work in tech, just around it (processing AdWords, answering support calls, taking deal details). Look at what’s happening in San Francisco..
Death by gentrification: the killing that shamed San Francisco:
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/21/death-by-gentrification-the-killing-that-shamed-san-francisco
I’ll just leave this here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kC2XCiSdEE&feature=youtu.be
Have a happy weekend all
maybe you should write a column here Harbo? you’d want a thick skin around here….
I am sure Harbo’s got a very thick foreskin.