Comments for The Story

Comment on Minimum wage and unemployment by Conan Drumm

Conan Drumm — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:53:10 +0000

Data may be value neutral, but there has been a strong ideological argument around comparative minimum wage rates in Ireland and elsewhere which deliberately ignores data in, for instance, the area of social housing provision, private sector rent pricing and tenancy rights, public transport provision etc. In other words, the availability of low cost public/social services which can be availed of by those on minimum wages.

Data are meaningless without context, and the context – when invoking comparative figures – is increasingly complex. The very act of comparing data from different countries implies that one is comparing like with like, but that is not really the case.

Comment on Minimum wage and unemployment by Gavin Sheridan

Gavin Sheridan — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:09:11 +0000

Your comment is appreciated cymorg, but if I had made a claim *about* the data it would be another matter. The Google datasets are limited thus far – but I will add in HICP data in a third video.

Comment on Minimum wage and unemployment by cymorg

cymorg — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:07:38 +0000

Granted the data is the data. I just wish to point out that looking at data in isolation is rarely helpful. For example if I were to count the number of plankton in the sea I may believe there was no danger to fish stocks but if I try and count fish I can’t find any. I’ve looked for, but can’t find, a visualisation on CPI across the eurozone for the same time period. The best I could find was an article on Eurostat website titled “HICP – all items – annual average inflation rate – [tsieb060]“. This clearly shows that Ireland’s rate of inflation during the period in question was well above average.

Comment on Minimum wage and unemployment by Gavin Sheridan

Gavin Sheridan — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:52:18 +0000

Nonsense. The datasets are the datasets are the datasets. It is meaningful in and of itself. We are in no way purveying any balanced or unbalanced, leading or misleading position. If you want to visualise relational data go ahead, we will publish it here. To argue the data itself is biased is itself biased. Data is data is data.

Comment on Minimum wage and unemployment by cymorg

cymorg — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:56:21 +0000

These would be more meaningful if more graphs were included, specifically cost of living, taxation etc. By omitting these other graphs The Story are purveying an unbalanced and misleading position.

Comment on The Grade Inflation Whirlwind by Martin

Martin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:29:58 +0000

Aoife, I agree that grade inflation is a side-issue, but it could actually be driven by improved student quality (i.e. more motivated students). As well as different institutional structures and improvements in technology:

http://gearybehaviourcenter.blogspot.com/2010/03/grades.html

Comment on The Grade Inflation Whirlwind by Conan

Conan — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:41:09 +0000

Much of the talk has been about second level and primary degrees but I’ve seen little mention of the post graduate area. I taught for a few years at post graduate level in the Arts/Humanities and the standard of MA candidates was incredibly poor, despite most of them having achieved 2.2 or better in their primary degree. The writing/composition ability of 75% of the students wouldn’t have earned them honours in English in the Leaving Cert. pre 1980.
The attitude of the university seemed to be ‘they’ve paid their fees so they’re getting their MA.’ As a result the good students were getting a debased qualification.

Comment on “These policies are weakening the economy’s ability to cope with growing debt levels. Without a strong recovery, tax revenues will fail to rise and future budgets will simply embed that deficit into the economy.” by rubensni

rubensni — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:21:29 +0000

Strange they’re coming out with this now as the decision to ride down the Phillips Curve was made 18 months ago.
The debate has moved on.

Comment on “These policies are weakening the economy’s ability to cope with growing debt levels. Without a strong recovery, tax revenues will fail to rise and future budgets will simply embed that deficit into the economy.” by Billy Waters

Billy Waters — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:13:18 +0000

I was just wondering why the leftyness was highlighted. It seemed to me to have been, here is advice, but be careful its from the Left.

The funny thing is I am probably as Lefty as you are gonna get myself.

Comment on “These policies are weakening the economy’s ability to cope with growing debt levels. Without a strong recovery, tax revenues will fail to rise and future budgets will simply embed that deficit into the economy.” by Mark Coughlan

Mark Coughlan — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:22:47 +0000

Odd comment there Billy. It was a contextual note to give those who’d be unaware as to who the witers were an idea of their background.

Most of the signatories would be little-known (unfortunately) compared to the faces we see most days in the media thus some will think “where are these people coming from?” I added that note.

I’d be perceived to be of the Left. I never said there was anything wrong with it, that was your incorrect interpretation.

You infer there’s something wrong with being a communist. What’s wrong with being a communist, Billy?