In 1930, ‘father of modern economics’ Keynes predicted that technology would eventually lead to a 15-hour working week. When I started my working life most of us assumed we’d be retiring at 50, as by we’d by then be beyond both 1984 and 2001, woul be living on the Moon, flying to Jupiter and be fed by computers instead of celebrity chefs. In reality we’re all working both longer hours and into old age. All that technology has made us want more stuff and more technology and the great ‘working from home’ pandemic-revolution is already faltering. So maybe doing more in four days and actually doing other stuff for three is the answer. As well as (note to self) learning to ‘just say no’.
“Britain is braced for a winter of strikes – yet a public backlash just hasn’t happened”
There’s a lot of support, I know, for the striking nurses/rail workers/posties/firemen et al. But you don’t have to go far to hear quite a bit of ‘you know some of them earn £40,000 a year not bad is it and they get great pensions don’t know what they’re complaining about there’s no money anyway’.
