YOP a flop?
Sir: It was horribly depressing to • find the Spectator publishing Lord Kilmarnock's ar- ticle on the House of Lords report on unemployment (19 June). I've been at the • sharp end of the stick providing jobs since 1968, and I cannot believe that make-work schemes still command crossbench support. Since 1977, I have made it a rule not to employ any applicant who has ever par- ticipated in any programme such as the YOP, for the simple reason that their `workers' are only trained to think they have a right to a job, and hence they will never make a profit for themselves or anyone else.
Inevitably, the Select Committee's recommendations, if implemented, will prove far more expensive than the original estimate, and the resultant increases in taxa- tion will only force more employers of real workers to throw in the towel. To a large extent, I already have. I am now enjoying a 14 per cent return on US government securities without expending the least ef- fort. I'd dearly love to invest more money in UK ventures, but even the current level of taxation is too daunting.
R. D. MacKenzie
23 Constance Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham
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