It's a shame that David Vance did not get a chance to try his luck under the old Soviet system. Along with all the heroic coal-shovellers, tractor-assemblers and steel-shapers, he'd be standing proudly with the Order of Lenin (Unbelievable Feats Of Hard Physical Labour: Class 2) around his neck.
For a marketing man, an aspiring author and a self-satisfiedly non-liberal paterfamilias, Mr Vance still achieves a Stakhanovite work rate at the blog face, and manages to pay non-stop homage to Elvis Costello, all at the same time. Journey with us on the dizzying ride through one day of Mr Vance's output on Biased BBC and his Irish orifice A Tangled Web:
08:09: (ATW) David starts his blogging day by congratulating a poster who gives the right answer to a pop music conundrum. Elvis Costello, apparently.
08:10: (ATW) David's all for banking's bonus system - the heart of capitalism - and can't stand the Government's attacks on it. Shares this with us.
08:25: (ATW) Gadaffi, Chavez, Mugabe and Zuma get together in Venezuela. David doesn't like the cut of their jib. Shares with us.
08:42: (ATW) Something about Iranian missiles. Obama well dodgy. Shares with us.
08:47: (ATW) Doesn't want public sector employees to enjoy such good pensions. Shares with us.
09:14: (BBBC) The Met Office indulges in lurid eco-fantasy, he offers in that unbiased way of his. Apparently, so does the BBC. Elvis Costello provides the title, for the second time in 24 hours: Waiting For The End Of The World.
09:27: (BBBC) Doesn't like a couple of BBC interviews about Iran. Shares with us.
10:19: (ATW) David is very concerned about young Americans who are unemployed. Shares with us.
12:30: (BBBC) Silently removes posting from Scott M disagreeing with the Vance line on the Met Office.
12:31: (BBBC) Somewhat confusingly posts reply to Scott M anyway. Which now sits in eerie isolation.
12:58: (BBBC) Thanks someone for praising his new comments system. (Scott M's mistake - he didn't grovel)
13:16: (BBBC) Berates BBC for reporting Obama's support for the Chicago Olympic bid. BBC slobbering over the Pres. Shares this with us, though mistakenly accuses the BBC of burying a non-existent story.
13:28: (BBBC) Offers a personal e-mail IT support service to a poster confused about new comments system. Replies to question about missing Scott M posts by announcing that SM is a figment of someone elses imagination. Odd, because SM one of the few posters to make his full identity known, complete with photo.
14:35: (ATW) David fully understands a poster who points out that most public service pensions are nothing special. The problem apparently is with the bosses and with people in non-jobs.
15:12: (ATW) Why would Obama lie? Shares with us.
15:17: (BBBC) He didn't see yesterday's Andrew Marr interview but he is considering a thread on it.
15:19: (BBBC) Follows through….for once he supports the BBC, but only because Marr put pill-popping to the PM. Brown a basket-case. Shares with us.
19:19: (ATW) List of scary nuclear headlines and stuff about Iran. Apparently Obama shouldn't travel to Copenhagen until he's dealt with Iran first. Shares with us.
20:29: (ATW) David can't stand an agency called Invest NI. Shares with us.
20:39: (ATW) Even the BBC cannot save the Prime Mentalist apparently. Shares with us.
20:53: (ATW) Posts hilarious cartoon of Mr Burns from The Simpsons to illustrate the assumed incompetence of Obama's dealings with Iran.
21:29: (ATW) Posts hilarious cartoon of a leprechaun giving a two-fingered salute to the EU. Ireland should reject the Lisbon Treaty, but won't. Shares with us.
21:35: (ATW) His local MP has let him down by agreeing to govern with Sinn Fein after campaigning against doing so. Happened some time ago, but shares with us anyway because someone else has mentioned it.
21:46: (ATW) He dislikes the UN. And likes Israel. Illustrates with Swastika tastefully superimposed on UN logo. Shares with us.
21:56: (ATW) Posts hilarious video of Barry Manilow singing Mandy, to commemorate Lord Mandleson's conference speech.
22:03: (BBBC) BBC slobbering again, this time over, erm, Mandy. Shares with us.
22:10: (ATW) Would he stand again for Parliament? Quotes Costello: I'm A Man Out Of Time.
He's a Man Who Works Beyond Time:
22:10: (BBBC) Simultaneously starts off a new discussion thread, with a touch of Rorke's Drift: Take aim, and fire!
22:11: (ATW) Breathless now: Then again… should he stand for election? He could debate the incumbent in my sleep.
22:19: (ATW) He might invite various local politicos to contribute to his Irish blog at the next election. (Sinn Fein's invite might take a while.)
22:26: (ATW) More musical comedy….Perhaps It's Over should be Brown's theme song.
22:42: (BBBC) Still chortling about Manilow's Mandy. Enriches our evening by quoting the line about coming and giving, though Lord Mandy comes and gives without thinking, rather than taking. Hilarious, anyway.
Presumably the people who pay him to market their stuff rarely read blogs, and his family must be used by now to treasuring their fleeting moments in his furiously-typing company. But does he ever eat, rest, blow his nose and use the loo? And doesn't the constant soundtrack of post-punk Birkenhead angst wear everyone else out?
Perhaps more importantly: How on earth does he have the time to fully comprehend the many streams of BBC output well enough to comment sensibly upon them?
Or….is there more than one of him?