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I& #39;ve worked in an office that was also a social hub. We ate lunch in the canteen, we went to the pub together, there were clubs and societies and 5-a-side and a quiz league with proper prizes, and at Christmas there was a big do with presents all round and cheap booze.
You couldn& #39;t work from home back then, but you wouldn& #39;t want to (no chance of a cooked dinner for one thing). I had quite a long commute, and I was strongly encouraged to move house - not for work, but specifically so that I could take part in more of the social events.
But we don& #39;t do cooked lunches in the canteen now. We don& #39;t do social clubs and 5-a-side, we don& #39;t do on-site Christmas dos complete with presents, and basically we don& #39;t do large, securely-employed workforces.
Nor do we do public provision of services - my employer was privatised in 1990 and bought out (and the office closed down) in 1996.
For a party that - for the last 40 years - has championed privatisation and downsizing and outsourcing and and zero-hours contracts and "flexible working" and "portfolio careers" and every imaginable way to progressively deskill and proletarianise everyone& #39;s working life...
...for that party to turn round now and start preaching about how the office is so much more than just a workplace - and to think that they& #39;re doing it, not even in the interests of capital generally, but specifically in the narrow sectoral interests of big landlords...
...it& #39;s through the looking glass. It goes beyond hypocrisy or brass neck - the brutal cynicism of it is positively dystopian.
Can they really get away with pushing a message so mendacious, supporting a policy that could harm public health and which business doesn& #39;t even want?
Can they really get away with pushing a message so mendacious, supporting a policy that could harm public health and which business doesn& #39;t even want?
If they can, they can get away with anything.
