February 28, 2010
Listen up, Barbara
I long ago gave up reading Barbara Ellen’s weekly column. Her eternal whining about how hard it is to bring up teenagers, or her inability to understand that feminism is not the same as worshipping Cheryl Cole, are frankly tedious, and I’ve never understood why she’s been allowed to go on for so long.
However I’ve had my attention drawn to her latest ignorant, smug and (as usual) point-missing comments which (once again) look like they were churned-out late last night to meet the final deadline.
Ellen is complaining about interns. Specifically, she’s complaining about the website Interns Anonymous, for which I’ve written a few times. She seems to think that IA is simply a place where interns go to whine. Without doubt, there’s an element of venting that goes on there. But above all the website is a campaigning one, run by two dedicated individuals who have recognised that something is rotten with modern career opportunities and – despite themselves being able to deal with the rot – think it’s unfair and wrong. Accordingly, they are taking a stand on behalf of those less fortunate than themselves.
As I previously argued for The Guardian website, unpaid internships are wrong because they exclude those who cannot afford to live and work for free for lengthy periods, usually in London (the nations’ most expensive city). In short, they exclude all but the upper middle classes and above. Yet as unpaid internships are now a pre-requisite of most well-paid professional careers this is an enormous block to genuine social mobility and equality of opportunity. In short, unpaid internships make a mockery of the idea that in Britain so long as you are talented and work hard you can make it. In truth, you need rich parents as well.
This isn’t how Babs sees it. She thinks that interns’ complaints are simple self-interested whining, and that anyway exploitation of unpaid labour is OK because, y’know, it’s always been around. Oh, and non-interns are suffering too, so interns should just shut up and make the coffee:
“Maybe the new generation don’t realise this – they think intern-abuse, the brutal siphoning off of youth and energy by ruthless tea-demanding overlords, is a terrible new thing that just happened, probably because of the economy. They’re seething at the photocopier (or in front of their laptop in Caffé Nero, as unpaid “virtual interns”), blaming Gordon Brown. Perhaps they could take comfort in the fact that interns always got the brown smelly end of the stick. If anything has changed, it is that there are now far fewer opportunities for people who want to be treated quite this badly.”
This is offensive enough in itself. But it’s topped-off by Babs’ complete failure to grasp the very issue that Interns Anonymous are campaigning on:
“There lies the real scandal of internships – they are gold dust, and therefore pretty much exclusive to the well off.
[...]
Indeed, the vast majority of internships are only doable by middle-class children with what are politely termed “connections’, or at least financial support, and some form of parental roof over their heads. And while no one begrudges these kids, with their poorer contemporaries probably prepared to chew their own arms off at the elbow for a tenth of their opportunities, one draws the line at feeling sorry for them.”
Now listen carefully, Barbara. This is precisely the point Interns Anonymous are making. They are not asking you to feel sorry for them. They are campaigning that the law be changed so that fair opportunities are available to all.
Oh wait, there’s more:
“If anything, one feels rather bemused by them. We seem to have bred a new generation who sincerely expect the world of work to be Hollyoaks crossed with The Apprentice. Non-stop glamour, excitement, great salary, posh flat, cars, all arriving pretty much instantly. Little wonder that these spoiled, deluded innocents find the unwritten laws of the internship, the traditional exchange of slave labour for the holy grail of experience, a strange and chilling concept.”
No, Babara. You have bred a generation that demands social justice and equal opportunity, regardless of class background and family connections. In short, a generation with a better sense of right and wrong than you evidently possess.
Dave Semple said,
February 28, 2010 at 6:50 pm
Yeah I read this today myself; I was going to write something slagging it off in exactly the way you have, but since you have, I won’t bother.
Seriously, how thick does someone have to be not to understand that if interns were better treated and better paid, that people with high formal qualifications but low “connections” and low finances could apply for them?
It won’t fix the elitist nature of the system, but at the least it would ameliorate it.
Paul Sagar said,
February 28, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Cheers Dave,
she really is a prize clown.
Feel free to link to me.
You know, it’s the last day of February.
So I need all the links I can to climb up the wikio table until I finally suplant Dale as KING OF THE BLOGGERS!!!!
Paul Sagar said,
February 28, 2010 at 7:37 pm
Sorry, feeling silly today.
Sunday reading and something to look forward to « Though Cowards Flinch said,
February 28, 2010 at 8:38 pm
[...] demonstrating the ignorance of various parts of the commentariat. Paul Sagar has good stuff on Barbara Ellen, who has written the most patronising and ignorant article ever on the subject of interns who want [...]
London Fashion Intern said,
March 1, 2010 at 6:41 am
I also doubt that she was happy to be exploited and ill-treated when she started. And Internet wasn’t what it is now, meaning people had less possibilities to start campaigns. If they had, may be we wouldn’t be in the situation we are now.
Jamie said,
March 1, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Same point made, rather less eloquently, here
http://www.tvwatercooler.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=579
John Q. Wagonwheel said,
March 2, 2010 at 10:10 pm
“her inability to understand that feminism is not the same as worshipping Cheryl Cole”
Give that man a coconut!
I’m currently in the planning stages for a campaign to get employers in London to certify that they pay all interns. Another prong will be lobbying to have Parliamentary interns paid.
To avoid paying the minimum wage, employers have to agree that technically an intern doesn’t have to do a single hour’s work, and is just there to hobnob with the boss’s chums. But how long do you think an intern would keep their position if they said ‘sorry mate, not doing that filing, now how’s about you take me for a pint with the CEO?’.
The Parliamentary side is much more clear-cut – if we want these internships to be fairly issued, they have to be able to provide for an intern’s lodging and transport in London and enough extra cash to enable them to at least survive by eating raw potatoes. As taxpayer-financed roles already (in-London travel is standard), it is deeply dodgy that they are only available for the relatively well-off to pursue.
Look out for petitions and campaign stunts over the next few months.
Adam Gillett
Co-Chair, London Liberal Youth
Here comes the future « Bad Conscience said,
May 18, 2010 at 11:56 am
[...] defend or establish such basic tenets of fairness. Accordingly, I’ve previously explained my objections to the present unwaged system of intern exploitation. It is an anathema to social mobility (one [...]