There was novel use of the expression in The Soaraway Sun recently, when they speculated about a cabinet reshuffle, and listed Chris Grayling as a potential winner on the grounds that he "has pushed through one of the Coalition's most ambitious projects - the Work Programme."
The phrase "push through" makes you think of achieving something difficult against a certain amount of resistance, doesn't it?* So heck knows what The Sun is playing at here. According to the Department of Work & Pensions, the Work Programme amounts to little more that politicians and senior civil servants passing large piles of taxpayer cash to privately owned companies (with whom no doubt the same politicians and senior civil servants will turn out have "close links" in due course) for very little in return.
* It is possible I suppose that they mean it in the VIZ sense, i.e. the Work Programme is a load of shit and Grayling has his fingers in it.
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7 hours ago
6 comments:
I would have thought that "push through" in this context meant, "implemented despite the resistance of various people who had an ounce of common sense or political propriety". It's a very appropriate expression for most gov't initiatives.
The Work Programme is based on a paradigm which won't wash - the figures don't add up and people can't be made to do things while a] there are no jobs b] those there are are at 10 hours a week c] to take one of those temporary jobs puts those people hundreds in debt each month, whereas now they're a tenner in debt or whatever.
The whole structure of the UK must change before this thing is solved.
I'm not sure I agree that "push through" has such a limited meaning.
It could mean restricting Parliamentary debate thereby being pushed through even though it might well have been passed had full debate been allowed.
It could mean that it got a slot in the legislative programme while other proposed absurd new laws were made to wait.
It could mean it was heavily whipped to a degree that would have been unthinkable for such a light-weight measure thirty years ago.
Or it could mean what you suggest.
I don't know how it was used in The Sun because I'm far too pompous to read The Sun. (Does it still have breasts every day?)
B, those with integrity are in the minority, they can't put up much resistance.
JH, correct. It's a very expensive gimmick.
TFB, good point, perhaps the "pushing" means using Parliamentary sleight of hand. And yes, The Sun very much has Page Three Girls showing their breasts. It's a celebration of womanhood.
Wether pushed through or not this transfer of fuding from public to private is highlighted in Private eye almost evry other week. Companies turnovers rise from some £2 million, which is peanuts, to £150 million , which isn't, almost overnight.
Yet the results are paltry.9% of uemployed found a job.
{And that's found a job that lasts more than 'x' weeks.}
I expect that if Mr W,of Wadsworth International Personnel Embracing Outreach Umbrella Togetherness ltd {WIPEOUT}was given the resources of Job Centre + and a cheque for salary of £150m quid, he would do considerably better than 9%, which must surely be the below the usual amount of people finding work by themselves?
BQ, somebody emailed me something most interesting, which is completely off the scale.
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