How quickly a word can become a term of abuse! It seems only yesterday that an ‘Internship’ conjured up a picture of a medical student gaining valuable experience in a busy hospital ward. Today it is a term of unmitigated venom that drips from the lips of every journalist worth his salt, or at least, the salt passed up from the left of the table.

It is said that Nick Clegg obtained his first internship in a Finnish bank because his Father knew someone who worked there. Young Nick was able to volunteer his time and learn something of the banking business purely because his Father knew one of the banking employees! The left wing is appalled – hoist on his own petard.

A hasty press release from Lib-Dem headquarters followed saying that in future they would be paying all their interns – you can’t be caught promoting the latest fashionable word of abuse.

Internship has an honourable background. Particularly amongst the ‘working class’, when they still existed. A quiet word in the ear of the mine foreman in the working man’s club might persuade him to give a younger son a chance to join the men. A lorry driver might take a mate’s son to work with him for a few days – a hand with the unloading in return for seeing whether it really was the life for him. There cannot be a farmer in the land who hasn’t taken a friend’s son under his wing and shared his knowledge of lambing with the son of a family who are really struggling with wheat production. Last time I had a carpet laid in England, I was astonished to see the son of the local plasterer helping to lug in the carpet. A bright lad, very bright, he had won a position in the Foreign Office after leaving High School, scored well in the old Civil Service exam – he hated it, didn’t want to do plastering, and so a quiet word in the ear of a colleague, and there he was, seeing whether carpet fitting was the life for him.

Quite immoral of course, why should these kids have got a chance to see whether they might like a different job from their Father purely because their Father ‘knew someone’ in the game? It should be banned. Unless that carpet fitter was prepared to pay the minimum wage for someone who didn’t know one end of a carpet from the other, had never handled a tape measure, and wasn’t even sure he wanted the job, then he was surely taking advantage of a ‘free and eager young worker’.

Incidentally, did you know that if you are registered for ‘job seekers’ allowance, you can continue to claim it if you take an internship?

This morning I received, propitiously, an e-mail from someone who has just finished a media studies course at University. (I know, but let it rest for the moment) Her Mother reads my web site and suggested she write to me. She has seen that I have advertising on the site, and asks whether ‘it is possibly to make a living from blogging’ – there are few journalistic jobs available, and she wonders whether she might write for this site in return for learning the ropes….what do I say to her? (Knowing that Mum reads the site – would you please be cautious with your comments…)

It set me thinking. Should blogging be unpaid? Are we not all learning the ropes in our own way? Do not some of us go on to paid employment in the field of writing? If you use guest authors, should you be paying them the minimum wage, if you carry advertising? (Do pipe down Gildas).

I volunteered to moderate for Guido long ago. I learnt a huge amount. I can almost, no, I can, guarantee you that if Guido had been forced to pay me the minimum wage – I had set hours, a set task to perform, allegedly the criteria for deciding that this was ‘work’ – that experience would not have been available to me. Had I wanted to go onto paid employment in the moderation field – it is available! – I would have had an advantage over other candidates. I had experience.

Is that so unfair that it should be outlawed? Is the crime that some parents are more prepared to have the gumption to phone a friend and arrange an internship? Is it only a crime if the friend is titled? If the job is in a bank, or the House of Commons?

Social Mobility is the new buzzword. Particularly in the House of Commons. It made me look at how Social Mobility has fared – in the House of Commons. There is a perception that parliament is comprised entirely of lawyers these days. I was surprised to find that over the last 30 years, the number of Barristers in the House has halved! On the other hand, the number of teachers has gone up by 50%. The number of miners has halved also; but the number of ‘professional politicians’ – those PPE students who take internships, has quadrupled. Internships would appear to be doing wonders for social mobility in parliament.

How should I reply to that e-mail? Should I check on her social background? Perhaps Mum is herself a blogger, maybe someone I know – does that count against the daughter? She may prove to be totally useless at writing the sort of thing you like to read, she may be a pain in the neck – on the other hand, she may turn out to be a worthy rival to Gildas, I may end up teaching someone the ropes who wipes me off the face of the blogosphere?

So if I don’t help her, I could be denying a brilliant person a chance simply because I can’t afford to pay her the minimum wage?

What to do?

Daedalus X. Parrot April 8, 2011 at 06:55

RE: Backdated pay for Daedalus’s Internship

With regard to the impending pay packet that Cleggie says you owe me for my
recent internmentship at Maison Raccoon, I have carefully assessed the many
hours I selflessly spent churning out mindless and offensive drivel on your
pages.

I hereby present my fair and (according to Cleggie) sanctimoniously correct
demand for backpay:

283 hours at a rate of twopence and 3 farthings

——————————-
£3, 4 shillings and 10 pence
Total
——————————-

or a couple of bottles of Guinness will do.

Anna
Raccoon April 8, 2011 at 07:24

Empty bottles? I might be able to manage that!

Dave H April 7, 2011 at 17:58

Sounds a bit like the idea that competition is bad because in order to have
winners you have to have losers.

I win because I’ve shown that I’m better than the rest, by whatever
criteria are used for evaluation. If it’s a job interview then perhaps I took
more trouble to research the company, perhaps I’ve better previous
opportunities to learn and so can answer technical questions. Perhaps, horror!
I know someone at the company that recommended me, either by soliciting a CV
or noticing that I’d applied and put in a word in my favour because they know
I can do the job. Given that I haven’t been offered every job for which I’ve
applied, no doubt I’ve also been on the losing end of such heinous activities.
Yes, it’s disappointing to be rejected (but not always, if they say no I don’t
have to turn them down) but life is like that.

Richard B April 7,
2011 at 12:06

Woodsy, Bob The Builder isn’t the problem. It’s when rich people do it that
it becomes immoral.

Letting a black kid from a council estate have a bit of work experience for
free is progressive. Letting a rich kid from Surrey have it is perpetuating
outdated class stereotypes and should be stamped out.

Anna
Raccoon April 7, 2011 at 13:23

*Sound of hammer hitting nail squarely on head*

woodsy42 April 7,
2011 at 11:54

Surely there are other issues here. They haven’t thought it through at
all.
Personal freedom: If Bob the Builder is asked by young Fred’s dad over
a pint if he would mind taking young Fred with him for a few days to see what
was entailed in the building job why shouldn’t he?
What about schools and
college sending older pupils out for work experience to see how a job looks,
the pupils don’t have a choice. Should they be paid?
And what about someone
like a trainee schoolteacher, they are (or I was when I trained) sent out on
periods of teaching practice to get classroom experience, learn about the job
and have a basis for course work, should they get paid?
Nobody will want to
pay so the training and experience opportunities will be lost. Or is this
another step towards banning any form of private tuition or training?

Richard B April 7,
2011 at 11:49

“And I thought that anyone that wanted to be a blogger just opened a free
account and started writing…”

It’s what I did. A glance at the title of my blog tells you how successful
it’s been.

Richard B April 7,
2011 at 11:47

“The idea that you could be getting something out of it other than filthy
lucre is somehow considered immoral.”

That’s a weird thing, isn’t it? At one time, it was filthy capitalists who
saw money as the only reason for doing anything, and the Left were the
volunteerist, communitarian, from-each-according-to-his-abilities types. Now
it’s the reverse: Tories preaching on doing things for the benefit of the
community, and the Left saying ‘not unless you pay me’. Strange times we live
in.

JimS April 7, 2011 at 11:44

And I thought that anyone that wanted to be a blogger just opened a free
account and started writing…

…Internships? Next thing it will be mandatory to have an honours degree and
three years experience supervised by a registered and certified blogger!

Engineer April 7, 2011 at 11:43

“Doing something for free is being exploited”. Are the lifeboatmen of the
RNLI being exploited?

Most craftsmen of my aquintance want to pass on the skills, but find new
apprentices can be a real pain. The enthusiastic ones can be worse – they keep
asking daft qustions, won’t let you get on with your own work, and try to fly
before they can crawl. On the other hand, we were all young once, and they’re
the future…

I found much the same in the drawing office. Some find quite quickly that
it’s not for them, others take to it like ducks to water. For the hard-pressed
and hassled engineers, the additional burden of being an unpaid teacher is
offset by the reward of passing on knowledge of a demanding and complex field
of human endeavour. We used to get occasional work experience placements from
a local school, which we thought an excellent arrangement – they got
experience of a workplace doing real business, we got far more in-depth
knowledge of potential future employees.

Unpaid internships/work experience/call-it-what-you-will is great in
moderation, provided it isn’t exploited as long-term cheap labour. When you’re
at that stage of life, any experience is valuable, and we all remember having
to start somewhere.

Get the young lady to submit a couple of articles, Anna. If they really
aren’t good enough, you don’t have to embarrass her by publishing them; if
they are, most commenters (the pub regulars) are polite and worldly-wise
enough to offer temperate constructive criticism. If it doesn’t work out,
neither you nor she has lost much, and she’s gained a bit of life experience.

As for making a living from blogging, few do at present. However, it’s an
ever-changing world, so who knows what the future holds?

Richard B April 7,
2011 at 11:41

Give her a topic, a word limit and 24 hours. If you like what you see, take
her on. If you don’t, let her down gently.

Grumpy Old Man
April 7, 2011 at 11:21

The best blogs,such as this one, showcase a wide knowledge of the world and
it’s ways, a defendable philosophy, nit-pickingly intensive research and
strongly held views intelligently argued. Writing ability is the bit of the o
blogging iceberg which is visible to the audience. Demonstrating just how much
bloody hard work is involved in keeping and maintaining a blog like this one
to a young would-be blogger is and excellent thing to do. For a start, one can
pass on all one’s mistakes, thereby giving the intern a flying start to make
their own without repeating yours. There is also a benefit to the Blogger.
Explaining how a blog works to a tryo forces the blogger to re-evaluate what
it is they actually want from the process of laying themselves bare to a
critical audience – sometimes on an hourly basis.
Go for it Anna. If taking
on an intern proves to be too much, you can always break the committment at a
moment’s notice.

Ed P April 7, 2011 at 11:13

The Coagulation are surely pulling both ways with this. Free internships
vs. the “Big Society” unpaid community help doesn’t seem a clear
division.
People will always help family & friends to obtain
employment, and no legislation will ever stop that. What’s the problem, as
long as there’s no bribery & corruption involved?

JuliaM April 7,
2011 at 10:43

“It set me thinking. Should blogging be unpaid?”

Blogging should, surely, be whatever you want it to be?

Some people would be happy to make a living at it. I wouldn’t – for me,
it’s a hobby. Getting paid would turn it into a job.

Anna
Raccoon April 7, 2011 at 11:00

I agree Julia, I wouldn’t want to be paid either – too much stress for
one thing!

However, listening to the main stream – left wing – press, doing anything
free of charge is apparently ‘being exploited’. The idea that you could be
getting something out of it other than filthy lucre is somehow considered
immoral. I was merely trying to illustrate that some people work for free –
blogging – for a period until they turn their hand to earning a living,
having learnt the ropes. Surely no different to an internship?

Kingbingo
April 8, 2011 at 14:29

Is it the money that’s the point? Or the fact that it’s well outside
officialdom. If you make it paid and regulated it ends up closer to the
control of those who have the proper (by that I mean progressive) views.
The Guardian tried to get a similar thing going recently against charity,
the ones not dependant on public money anyway.

On the left there is always a constant pressure to move towards a
system where before any man may produce, he must first seek the permission
of men who produce nothing.

Kingbingo
April 8, 2011 at 14:30

or ‘woman’ and ‘women’

JuliaM April 8, 2011 at 14:35

I think you’re onto something here. The left are, after all,
notorious control-freaks.

Livewire April 7, 2011 at 10:27

You can quickly tell if someone is genuinely enthusiastic in a job, and
hasn’t just followed the classic advice and tailored their CV to suit a
particular company or organisation.
I’d take the intern on, but with an
agreed probationary period. It’ll certainly toughen them up for life, I
sometimes think we libertarians will fight our own reflections in the
mirror,
particularly if they write about Scouseland or MLK… If the
arguments are about free speech, whether the editorial line has been crap or
not (quickly says, on here!!?) there’ll be plenty of knight and knightess
errants to defend her in the comments.

Caedmon’s
Cat April 7, 2011 at 10:08

In view of the slobber that is currently (and copiously) dribbled about the
Caedmeron Big Society – where starry-eyed volunteers are encouraged to make up
the shortfall in the axed jobs of pigeon psychiatrists, diversity
administrators, fish quota accountants and the like – shouldn’t Clegge and his
Liberationist brethren encourage the use of free interns among their ranks?
Just a thought..

Gildas theMonk
April 7, 2011 at 09:50

Take the intern on. She may learn that she hates blogging. She may open the
door to a whole career and a fantastic life.

electro-kevin
April 7, 2011 at 09:48

‘Social mobility’ is how we get more ethnic minorities into the top
jobs.

I’d not fancy my boy’s chances of getting an internship at Mr Patel’s
Chapatti emporeum. There is now more chance of Mr Patel Jnr getting an
internship in Nick Clegg’s office, actually.

The subject has become hot because both PM and DPM are both so privileged.

Those devious socialists – having laid all those economic and political
time bombs – are now cleverly using the Clegg/Cameron public school/internship
advantage against them.

I don’t mind. Neither of them are up to the job. We’re all buggered
anyway.

The biggest issue about social mobility (and which is not being addressed)
is that much of it is about people trying to escape a burgeonning and newly
empowered underclass rather than them trying to get into the middle class.

JuliaM April 7,
2011 at 10:44

Spot on!

Simon Cooke April
7, 2011 at 09:37

Give the girl a go! This whole debate is daft – as if banning interns will
stop the well-connected using those connections to advance!

Gildas theMonk
April 7, 2011 at 09:27

Hey! What have I done to deserve that!

Anna
Raccoon April 7, 2011 at 10:09

You wrote such a brilliant piece yesterday, that it has taken me three
cups of coffee before I had the nerve to put a single word on the piece of
paper I share with you…..

Sister Eva
Longoria April 7, 2011 at 10:28

Don’t flatter him Anna. He’ll only go round whistling and looking smug
and then get all uppity when it comes to doing chores!