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In Defence of the Minimum Wage
This is not normally the kind of thing I would write about, but my colleague James Stanley wrote about his opinions on the minimum wage and how he perceives it to be economically unsound. I am very much of the opposite opinion to this, and said I would write a response—there’s only so far bickering on Slack can get you, after all.
You should read James’ article for a full explanation of his views, but his argument is simple—it’s what I learnt in the first few weeks of A Level Economics: setting a minimum wage causes forces employers to pay unskilled workers more than the market believes they are worth (above the equilibrium point), which leads to excess supply and higher unemployment. It makes sense.
However, I think this is too simplistic, and doesn’t take into account the more socio-economic side of the discussion. Higher wages make employees...
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Project Desk
Moving house is a good opportunity to get rid of stuff you don’t like. I have been meaning to replace my desk for some time, because it was a crappy bit of MDF from IKEA, that I bought for about £20 in university. Having a new found taste for DIY (and a gradiose sense of my own ability), I decided that I would construct it myself as opposed to buying an overpriced one from a shop.
I came up with some requirements for what I wanted out of my desk. They are as follows:
- Be big;
- Be made of solid wood, not crappy MDF;
- Have storage on the sides for various things;
- Look nice (ish);
- Not break.
So, let’s get on with it. My desk contains the following ingredients:
- 5 planks of treated spruce from Wickes - about £25;
- 2 cabinets from B&Q, out of their “Konnect”...
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Catching Up
It’s been a while since I’ve written anything, mainly due to laziness and busyness. I was out on my long run on Sunday morning (more on that later) and I was thinking that it would be good to write a little about what’s gone down over the last few weeks.
Frome 10k
The Frome 10k (along with the 5k and Half Marathon) was a couple of weekends ago. Going into the race I was thinking that a PB would be possible – the last few months have been the largest block of sustained running I’ve ever done, and I was injury free. I had checked out the course on Strava beforehand and thought it looked fairly flat. Strava lied! The course was very hilly, not so much in terms of actual elevation gained, but the hills were very steep in places.
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New Watch - Garmin Forerunner 235
Yay for running materialism!
My trusty Garmin Forerunner 10 has served me pretty well over the past couple of years, but it has never quite been the same since I smashed it up after my dramatic Cardiff Half 2015 wipeout – both the strap and the usb connector have been a bit suspect ever since.
I’ve been on the lookout for a replacement for a while, and finally settled on the Garmin Forerunner 235. I went for it primarily for the in-built heart rate monitor on the wrist, and also because of the larger screen allowing me to see more information on the go at once. I asked Anna to buy it for me for my birthday, and now it is in my possession!
Bask in the glory of my arty photosMy first impressions are excellent. The GPS...
Tags: running garmin watch forerunner 235 review