Here’s your starter for ten in our weekend slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate…
During the week Foreign Secretary William Hague talked of having a network of diplomats who are past their retirement age of 60 but can be called on to help out at times of international crisis. However Labour MP Frank Roy attacked the idea saying that the Foreign Office instead should be “nurturing young talent”.
What’s your view on this and more generally – should we do more to keep on the skills of people beyond 60, or should people be promptly moved out of the way so as to make way for younger people?
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9 Comments
They are not mutually exclusive. William Hague never ruled out nuturing younger talent.
Simple.
My view is that a network of retired politicians is a good one, but they should be used to mentor newer politicians and act as ambassadors to schools and universities to get even younger generations to take an interest and engage with politics.
My view on whether they should be called on in times of international crisis is a bit ambivalent, but I kind of feel that’s what we vote, and pay, our non-retired politicians to do.
I agree they are not mutually exclusive – tthis seems an ideal field for young and old to be working together.
Just as the young and inexperienced thave a nasty tendency to make lousy drivers, killing inordinate numbers of people on the roads, young and inexperienced ‘diplomats’ risk making lousy decisions without the support and guidance of an older, wiser head.
There are old pilots and bold pilots – but no old. bold pilots.
I know retired ex MI5 who provide consultancy pretty regularly, let alone in crisis.
The obvious answer is that the Foreign Office should do both, the wisdom of age and the enthusiam of youth should always be combined, what ever the service delivery.
I think the mentoring idea is great and I am a great believer that age in iteself should never be a bar to continuing to work.
The problem with bringing back people that have retured in the diplomatic field is that a lot of their expertise can go fairly quickly as their contacts move on, retire and indeed die. So I’m not sure just how useful they might be in a suddenly emerging international crisis as by the time they were back up to speed it would probably be too late.
Much better to have a well-trained group of diplomats from a wide age range able to hit the ground running at a moment’s notice who personally know and have dealt with current movers and shakers in a foreign country.
In the Middle East I think we can see a lot of rulers and civil servants who will be well-known to older, longer-serving diplomats who may have retired in recent years. But whether these diplomats have any connection with the new people coming through is very doubtful I reckon.
Both, obviously. The key advantage older diplomats have is experience, and by working together you get the advantage of both experience and youthful energy.
On the more general point, we currently have record numbers of people working beyond normal retirement age, and record numbers of youth unemployed. The government (as was the last one) is encouraging this by raising the retirement age.
On the face of it, this is all completely crazy.
@ Stuart Mitchell
That sounds rather like the argument that was used in the 1930s (and in some place into the 1960s) to bar the employment of married women. They were said to be taking the scarce jobs which should have gone to men with families to support! (See ‘Gaudy Night’ by Dorothy L. Sayers for the arguments.)
There are people who should retire from their present job at fifty or below, but ideally continue to work in a less taxing job; however our system of esteem and status works against this. There are also people like one of my uncles, who dissolved his city centre accountancy partnership when he was about 70 (his junior partner was going blind) but still had some clients bringing work to his home when he died at 92.
Both young and old have qualities to offer, especially in the international arena – or a political party – or a local council – or a government. Ruling out one or the other would be denying our country the best options. I think what William Hague may have meant is that retired diplomats have a lot of expertise to offer and could be turned to as consultants. This would not deny employment to younger people and thus would be ideal. Labour’s Frank Roy has just reacted by a jerk of the knee that is not helpful: “The other side has thought of it so it must be wrong.” Er, piffle.