‘Idle’ …

 

 

Another morning in ‘misery Britain’ where opinion piece writers blame us peasants for everything. The latest ‘moan’ is that too many of us are ‘idle’, unwilling to work or off sick and thus our economy ain’t doing as well as Westminster expected or the MSM economists predicted. Btw – for some inexplicable reason the Beeb hasn’t come up with their usual compilation of print front pages this morning. 

In their email newsletter, the Speccie last evening wrote: “The number of people out of work due to long-term sickness reached a record high of 2.6 million, ONS figures revealed.”. In their ‘Comment’ this morning the DM observes:

“A staggering 2.55million people aged 16 to 64 are long-term sick and apparently unable to work at all. Over a million are under 50, including 234,000 under 25. This is 400,000 more than before the pandemic and appears still to be rising. So why? The parlous state of the NHS is likely to have had an effect. The difficulty in making GP appointments and 7.3million on treatment waiting lists may well have led to minor ailments becoming major.” (link)

Pointing out that nobody wants to make sick people go to work, but that sick pay is ‘very generous’, the DM authors have come up with a further explanation:

“Home working has fuelled ill-health. Then there are the effects of furlough and lockdown on the nation’s energy levels. It’s no surprise that the result of paying millions of people to do no work for 18 months has been an alternative pandemic of idleness.” (link)

Note the expression ‘idleness’. This has been copied from Philip Johnston’s opinion piece in the DT which was published at 9pm yesterday, allowing the DM writers to pick it up for their piece published just after midnight early this morning.

The headline for Mr Johnstone’s piece is incredibly patronising and so offensive I wonder it was approved by the chief editors:

“The evil of idleness plagues Britain and nobody can be bothered to slay it – British people used to be happy to pick fruit to make ends meet. Now they just languish on benefits” (paywalled link)

I am utterly speechless. So bennies are ‘a bad thing’ now? Isn’t this something we plebs outside the M25 have been saying for years, only to be painted as horrid right-wing slave drivers? The effect of the import of low-paid seasonal workers from EU countries on our economy has long been described in arguments during the EU Referendum campaign. That was seven years ago.

Of course Mr Johnston doesn’t mention this. Instead he seems to think that bennie recipients ought to do as their ancestors did and go picking hops – seasonal work, that is. What are they supposed to do during the rest of the year?  

Far more interesting is the underlying attitude expressed with such superiority, that ‘idlers’ ought to be made to accept seasonal, low-paid agricultural work as if “we” are turning into a bucolic, re-wilded country where thanks to Net Zero all those dirty manufacturing industries are a thing of the past. 

Meanwhile, hi-tech industries or the lack thereof isn’t mentioned, not least because our education ‘system’ has produced a generation unable to understand, never mind invent, the industries of the future. Perhaps that’s no bad thing when looking at a remarkable report in Remain Central, headlined

“Regulate AI now to avert risks, says ChatGPT boss Sam Altman – Tech will swing elections, manipulate markets and help criminals, US Congress warned” (link, paywalled).

Well, it’s not as if elections haven’t been swung and markets manipulated without AI, not least thanks to propaganda efforts by governments and political parties. Do I have to mention the covid years and all they entailed, even unto the ‘idleness’ now bemoaned by opinion piece writers? Next:

“Gary Marcus, of New York University, an expert on AI systems, said: “They can and will create persuasive lies on a scale humanity has never seen. Outsiders will use them to affect our elections, insiders to manipulate our markets and our political systems. Democracy is threatened. What criminals are going to do here is create counterfeit people. It’s hard to even envision the consequences.” (link, paywalled)

Well, sorry: the genie is out of the bottle, under huge applause when these systems first appeared. Perhaps retreating into an idle, semi-rural economy under Net Zero rules might not be such a bad thing after all: let those fine tech thingies run on the electricity we won’t be able to afford to use in our homes.

Perhaps in the near future we’ll have to decide between sitting in the dark, with pre-industrial candle light if we want to use our electronic devices – have the lights on and do without smartphones and PCs. At least we won’t be lied to by AIs when we cannot access the internet. What then will the Johnstons of our MSM have to say when they will also be forced to be ‘idle’ because AI bots will do their work? Pick hops?

That’s all I have for today. Forgive me for indulging in another bout of idleness, a.k.a. enjoying the sunshine while it lasts. After all, it’s my duty to tank up on Vitamin D so as not to bother the poor NHS. Have a good day.


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