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In praise of lie-ins

A group of influential young Tories have accused Britons of being "lazy".

A couple lie in bed in Sydney. Photograph: Getty Images
A couple lie in bed in Sydney. Photograph: Getty Images

A new book by the "young guns" of the Tory party – Kwasi Kwarteng, Priti Patel, Dominic Raab, Chris Skidmore and Elizabeth Truss, all of whom are MPs of the 2010 intake – accuses Britons of being among "the worst idlers" in the world.

The Evening Standard reports:

The “young guns” from the new Right of the party called for a culture of “graft, risk and effort” to propel Britain into the “superleague” of nations. . .

“Too many people in Britain, we argue, prefer a lie-in to hard work,” they said. . .

“Once they enter the workplace, the British are among the worst idlers in the world,” they said. “We work among the lowest hours, we retire early and our productivity is poor.”

The economic crisis should be a “wake-up call” of the need to “rediscover the lost virtue of hard graft”.

Of course Britons prefer a lie-in to hard work. Hard work is hard, whereas lie-ins are easy and refreshing. You get to sleep, which is really nice, and then when you stop sleeping, you don't have to go to work, which can be a real effort. What's not to like?

The line is emblematic of a growing fetishisation of work qua work. There is indeed evidence that long-term unemployment can be hugely damaging to people's health, both mental and physical; but at the same time, it should not be forgotten, as it so frequently is by the professional classes, that many people hate their jobs.

If you are an MP, it's possible to go to work, and feel enormously satisfied with all that you have achieved throughout the day. If you are a very energetic MP, maybe you really do prefer to go to Parliament in the morning than stay in bed.

Good for you. But if work is a nine to five grind, that attitude is hard to take.

As LabourList's Mark Ferguson wrote following a similar fetishisation of the value of work from David Cameron:

That’s not to say that I didn’t learn anything from my time working at my local supermarket. I spent many evenings there, and weekends, and long, hot depressing summers that I thought would never end. Working at a supermarket wasn’t (by and large) fun, but it was a necessity. It allowed me to earn a wage that gave me a sense of independence and helped pay my way first through sixth form, and then university. You’ll have noticed a crucial word there – “pay”. I can guarantee that none of the people I worked with in that Gateshead supermarket were there for job satisfaction. They were there for the money.

Not everyone can do jobs they like. It's an unfortunate truth of society. But patronising talk and accusations of "laziness" from MPs who have the good fortune to like their career doesn't make that unfortunate truth any more palatable.

13 comments

Kennedy's picture

When females believed in Supernatural powers in the 17th century Harry Hopkins burnt them at the stake....

So what is the Conservatives want people to believe?

Just PR stunt should be totally ignorged....

Colin Jarvis's picture

Funny I thought the Tories were the most useless, incompetent, dishonest parasitic scrounging idlers in the world.

Hikaru22's picture

Britons claim that Tory MPs are "the worst idlers" in the world. And they're right.

Robert Taggart's picture

J'accuse Moi ? - oui - !

hugh markey's picture

Didn't Enid Blyton write an adventure book entitled 'The Famous Five". Now this five have become all collegiate and written one themselves. "Britain Unchained' suggests a forward-looking work but seems to be suggesting the UK workforce with all its rights and duties transforms itself into labourers without any rights and the duty to prostrate themselves before the God King and UK nobility, whoever they might be. [ We can guess! ]
Not surprising that these sons and daughters of toil have not offered to do a job of work themselves. "Get a proper job!"
At least two have parents who had to earn a crust or two but they too were not among the UK's labouring classes.
Yes, all Oxbridge types, with one lamentable failure, who have never worked below the tertiary level and are now meddling in politics.
Just the sort of person who tells their grandmother........
And holding India up as an example the UK should emulate. A society still frozen in Platonic form. Love all those titles generated by the British Empire. Each form of address has a subservient ring to it. Normally used by a native-worker to his/her master.
Do these Tory political layabouts fancy themselves - in a caste system. Definitely near the top.
Puzzles us why this five have not hightailed it to India or some other country where the workforce is in thrall to white-collar bureaucrats and wealthy playboys and girls.
And as for Canada, a very unhealthy country until recently, it took the immigration of fleeing Hong Kong Chinese to raise the educational standard. Trouble is it also drove property prices and charges through the roof. Beware consequences.
Incidentally, how long does a foreign worker stay in place. Oh, we see. There will be a constant stream of immigrant labour available. You are Tories - not Migration Watch or UK Border Force? Certain Sure?

New EU

Livers's picture

Is this part of a re-toxifying strategy? Call the electorate lazy, whilst your esteemed leader is on a well earned holiday to recover from watching the Olympics for free?

They really, really, really are stupendously stupid. First the Lords foot stamping that resulted in boundary changes being blocked. Now this.

Lynda's picture

I take exception at the accusation we Britons are among the worst idlers in the world. I worked all my life mostly at around 50 hours a week. My son works in a physical job around 45 hours a week and has done since he was 18 he is now 45 and looking at working until he is 70.

The new MP's are arrogant and ignorant of the real world - you know - the one REAL people live and work in.

I suggest we get rid of this pathetic government now.

Rachel Walker's picture

Surley this makes the British among the best idlers in the world?

Sam Gisoad's picture

"We work among the lowest hours, we retire early...”

These people have heard of France, right?

Barrie J's picture

Sorry, don't know what happened there only posted once.

Barrie J's picture

“Once they enter the workplace, the British are among the worst idlers in the world,” they said. “We work among the lowest hours, we retire early and our productivity is poor.”
Sums up a politician of any Party pretty well I would have thought?
I am waiting to see whether any of the above are willing to volunteer to work for a 12 hour shift, as opposed to bleeding the taxpayer dry.
Perception; parasitic scum, totally out of touch with the concept of having to work for a living - a waste of functioning organs.
Still, always good to see a few Tories nail their colours to the mast.

Barrie J's picture

“Once they enter the workplace, the British are among the worst idlers in the world,” they said. “We work among the lowest hours, we retire early and our productivity is poor.”
Sums up a politician of any Party pretty well I would have thought?
I am waiting to see whether any of the above are willing to volunteer to work for a 12 hour shift, as opposed to bleeding the taxpayer dry.
Perception; parasitic scum, totally out of touch with the concept of having to work for a living - a waste of functioning organs.
Still, always good to see a few Tories nail their colours to the mast.

MagpiesView's picture

Do any of these not-so-bright young things have any genuine understanding of an honest days work? Or do they believe that it's something that should only happen to the rest of us? (preferably for no pay)

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