To think that Prof Neil Ferguson doing paid talking gigs is a bit distasteful?

[hamstersarse]

This is my field of work and I got an email announcing a new headline speaker....none other than Prof. Neil Ferguson.

I know this circuit well, and he is most definitely a new speaker in this scene.

www.healthwellbeingwork.co.uk/

This will be a paid gig.

IMO, there is something extremely distasteful about this.

AIBU?

Speakers' agent here. Expert speaking at large /corporate events should be paid unless there is professional reasons they can't e.g. Current MPs etc. It is part of their work and we pay people to work

HTH

He has to pay his bills like all of us 🤷‍♀️

You really think people should offer their services as a speaker for free?

Or is your complaint that the org should have invited someone other than him?

I’d like to hear him. Sounds good

I don’t see why it’s distasteful?

Having listened to him last year he is not someone I'd be interested in hearing from again.

You what? Do you offer to do your job for free?

Fuck sake, people are finding the most utterly ridiculous things to get pissed off about. Just go outside or something, go walk off this weird energy.

I’d rather listen to JVT.

I don’t know what’s distasteful about “man gets paid for working.”

Are you the event organiser looking for trade?

Why? He’s not even in SAGE anymore (although I think members of SAGE are entitled to do paid gigs if they want to).

Given he had to resign for breaking lockdown rules and visiting his married lover I am a bit that he seems to be brought out constantly to comment on x and y and how things should be done in the way he first advised which, it seems, didn’t apply to him and makes him a complete hypocrit.

On the basis that after he advised re lockdown he broke the rules himself and had to resign as a result no, I don’t think that his is a talk which should be paid to hear.

Nothing to do with earning a living.

He broke the lockdown rules and resigned. Is that why you object? That a rule breaker is rewarded?

Or is it the idea of government advisers being paid?

He still has a lot of knowledge that people would like to hear, whether they agree with him or not. The organisers of the event obviously think this is the case. Take your argument up with them if you feel strongly about it.

Most people, if they were given a choice of do it for free or get paid would choose the latter. Why should he be different?

Unlike Professor Brian Cox, or Professor Alice Roberts etc. It's a job.

A friend pointed this thread out, so I thought I would reassure everyone that I am not being paid for the talk mentioned, nor have I received payment for any talk, media work or advisory work (government or otherwise) during this pandemic.

Neil Ferguson on Mumsnet?

But whoever has posted that has absolutely understood my concern about someone capitalising on the pandemic by becoming part of the ‘speakers circuit’

Can’t say that listening to a man who hasn’t got a sum right since primary school would be top of my list of things to do. But then I find listening to people talk incredibly boring anyway, they are seldom as interesting as they think they are.

Unless it was a comedy club I wouldn’t pay to see him.
Everything he’s done publicly is distasteful and that’s not confined to the pandemic