Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Stuart Broad is a shit bloke

Christ, not only does he not walk after nicking off, not only does he have the lack of common decency to notice that Saeed Ajmal was chucking the ball, but now he has gone ahead and said that earning minimum wage in the UK puts you in the top 10% of global earners. Has he no shame?

That Guardian article is a beaut by the way. Here's the tweet in all its glory:
I've heard if you earn minimum wage in England you're in the top 10% earners in the World. #stay #humble
And here's the headline in the Guardian.
Stuart Broad tells those on minimum wage to ‘stay humble’
The article goes on to complain about the level of school fees at the school Broad went to a decade ago. Trololol. Anyway, if mean-spirited point-missing isn't your bag, how about some de haut en bas condescension from someone with a proper economics background? Zoe Williams is on it:
The central mystery surrounding Stuart Broad’s sanctimonious Twitter activity (he has since apologised) is how he came to be a cricketer. You would think someone with poor numeracy would be better suited to a sport like football.
Two quick points on numeracy then. First, a fulltime job on the minimum wage pays £13,520 (on the basis of a 40 hour week). Net of tax that leaves you with £12,148.32. Using this tool, that puts you roughly in the top 7% of global earners. So Broad is, unarguably, right on the point he's making. Second (and cheaply):
The minimum wage in Gabon is £3,672, or a bit over a third of our £13,500.
 A third of £13,500 is £4,500. You know, while we're talking about numeracy.


Anyway, Zoe stampedes off to show that Broad is wrong, hopelessly vindictively wrong, on a series of points that he wasn't making (the impact of PPP; something to with unemployment etc) and concludes with this, which, if it's about Stuart Broad really does seem a bit of a stretch:
I suppose what I find astonishing is the centuries-old tenacity of this myth, that there are poor people out there, taking the piss, enjoying their leisure, scoffing at the world of work, laughing at the honest taxpayers who keep the wolf from their door.
It's a good effort to get all the way there from what was little more than a Christmas cracker "amazing facts" tweet from a right-arm fast medium bowler.

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