They say that a pleasure delayed is a pleasure enhanced ...
Now the pond doesn't want to get all high falutin' and grand about the notion of delayed gratification ... that's best done by others ...
If anything, the pleasure of reading the Caterist has tended over time to devolve into the tedious fog of bore ...
And the points are always the same, how a tedious wretch graduated with a degree in sociology from a minor university and then drove laundry vans before heading off to work in a public broadcaster ... and so developed a chip on shoulder for life, of the kind cultivated by agitated provincials certain of their capacity to rule the world and eternally frustrated, and yet with a cunning understanding, developed over the years, of how to loot the system ... you know, by making a documentary comparing the Tyne and Sydney Harbour Bridges as a certain way to beguile and mislead the masses (all this Greg Hunted here).
No wonder the mass gets tedious and predictable, a fog of snore ...
Oh sure there's the usual chanting, and the outrage at the waste of public money, and the pond joins in the ritual outrage and feigns some kind of excitement and interest...
But by now everyone knows the ritual, as traditional as burning incense and chanting Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem ... or at least angus dei, grant us a decent government grant ...
Oh but wait, it's unfair of the pond to spoil the service, and recite the lines best left to the high priest, in vigilant pursuit of public waste ...
Just don't forget to put alongside it in the bookcase, comrades, "grants awarded by the Department of Finance" as part of your would-be revolutionary reading ... remember it's better to suck on the government teat so that others might have to seek another teat on which to suck, than to suck on the teat of hard work ...
And so with the mass done, the ritual consummated, the congregation can drift off to a Rowe cartoon, with more Rowe for the faithful here ...
Goosebumps Cater: "Take higher education, for example, a sector that has expanded rapidly due to Labor's promise of a university education on demand.
ReplyDeleteAre our degree factories delivering value for money ?"
Well, what can one say to that question. Maybe this:
" Australia's education exports at record high
Australia’s excellent reputation for high-quality university education, our proximity to Asia and a lower Australian dollar helped to propel education export earnings to a record $21.8 billion in 2016.
The latest trade figures reveal that income from education grew by an impressive 17 per cent on 2015.
This is the strongest annual growth since 2010."
https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/Media-and-Events/media-releases/Australia-s-education-exports-at-record-high#.WffpzHZx200
So what if we have to offer Uni entrance to a few unsuitable and unsuccessful locals ?
Maybe one should also note that 'Education' is Australia's fourth highest export earner after Iron ore and concentrates, Coal and Tourism, but ahead of Gold, Natural Gas, Personal travel, Beef Aluminium ores and Wheat (etc):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_exports_of_Australia
Strange to note that for a nation which once "Rode on the sheep's back" that 'Wool & other animal hair' comes in at only 21st accounting for just over Au$3 billion in 2016. We once used to get 144 pence per pound (around 260 cents per kilo) for finest Aussi merino. And wool classifier was a highly sought after, non university job.
Just to note, GB, "Tourism" as defined by your link includes our Education exports.
ReplyDeleteie. entry 3 on that table is made up of most of entries 4 + 7 + 14.
Education is our 3rd largest export industry.
Not the way I read it, Nick. Could you be more explicit as to the linkages you've indicated ?
Deletehttp://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/trade-investment/australias-trade-in-goods-and-services/Documents/cy2016/cy2016-goods-services-top-25-exports.pdf
Deletehttp://www.abs.gov.au//ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/5249.0Explanatory+Notes12015-16
"11 The term 'tourism' in the international standards is not restricted to leisure activity. It also includes travel for business or other reasons, such as education, provided the destination is outside the person's usual environment."
etc.
Thanks for that Nick. Interesting to see that the Wikipedia table I linked to is really the same as the ABS based DFAT table you linked to but with tourism (TSA) moved into the main table.
DeleteAnyway, the export value of 'education' is confirmed as high, which was my main contention.
Yep, wasn't trying to disagree with you as such GB. I found that interesting as well.
DeleteProbably also worth noting that Cater is the kind of hypocrite who received a free university education in the UK back in the late 70s, and now wants to deny that to everyone else.
I doubt he would he have amounted to much more than a file clerk without one.
Though Australia apparently had about 8.247 million 'tourist' (ie "short term") visitors in calendar 2016 (more than twice as many as the almost 3.5 million visitors to NZ), so clearly the 'export' contribution of tourism is high.
DeleteHowever, re the Cater, it's worth remembering a contribution of Sheldon's in 'Big Bang Theory' (Season 3 Episode 15 The large Hadron Collision):
Sheldon: "There’s an economic concept known as a positional good in which an object is only valued by the possessor because it’s not possessed by others. The term was coined in 1976 by economist Fred Hirsch to replace the more colloquial, but less precise neener-neener."
Yep, Goosebumps Cater is big on neener-neeners.