At 00:26 28/12/01 +0100, you wrote: >Keith Hudson, >I`am getting a bit bored by your economistic way of looking at workers life and work....you don`t seem to remember the stories of child labour, also mentioned in Marx`Capital. If you want to look at the real quality of life, you have to see the real difference in time invested in wage-labour and time free for playing...if you are a child. > >John Graversgaard >labour inspector >Denmark
Of course I know of these! There were thousands -- tens of thousands -- of instances at any one time during the Industrial Revolution! Recently a BBC Radio investigative team revealed that there were at least 10,000 cases of what is, in effect, child slavery in this country right now! Even in this wonderful welfare state with more social workers than ever before! The authorities immediately denied it vociferously, of course. Then the BBC team replied that there were probably more than 10,000. The authorities have been quiet ever since. People in this country are buying children of 4 or 5 years old from former British colonies in West Africa, bringing them into the country as "relatives", and obtaining �50+ a week in child benefits for years thereafter. The children, of course, are cowed and threatened by the "guardians" and never talk at school about conditions at "home". In fact, many of them think that theirs is a normal childhood in England even though they are treated in most instances without affection. Are you sure that there are no such cases in Denmark? I sincerely hope not. But even though I think that the economics of a society is a fundamental on which everything else depends, it doesn't make me oblivious as to the human condition. Keith Hudson __________________________________________________________ �Writers used to write because they had something to say; now they write in order to discover if they have something to say.� John D. Barrow _________________________________________________ Keith Hudson, Bath, England; e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________
