OPINION: Although this is my opinion, I think it is silently shared by millions of others; namely that a significant segment of British society has become workshy. And a significant section of this segment are leaning on self-diagnosed, vague or flexible illnesses such as ADHD or the dyslexia spectrum (mild to severe) to excuse them from working. There is a fashion for self-diagnosing ADHD today according to Libby Purves of The Times.
And so, people with these self-diagnosed mental illnesses go to the NHS for validation which they probably invariably get because doctors are polite and this effectively signs them off work for the indefinite future.
Preferring to chill
Will Lloyd, also in The Times today, has written an excellent article about arguably ‘workshy Britain’ (‘Forget coalface toil, Britain prefers to chill’). It is a contentious idea and the politically correct would say that these people are not workshy but genuinely mentally ill or stressed or suffer from depression and therefore have the right to be off work.
I would disagree (in part). Obviously, some people are genuinely mentally ill but of the 10 million now ‘economically inactive’ in Britain, a lot of them are simply workshy after the pandemic during which they were given far too much furlough money which got them used to taking lots of money for doing nothing.
Will Lloyd says that the emptying of what was once a bustling business center, Canary Wharf, is one sign of “a burnout society”. The era of the ambitious youngster working a hundred hours a week has disappeared.
There was a time when Britain had one of the lowest percentages of economically inactive people but now it is one of the worst.
Nick Ferrari
Nick Ferrari, the admired and well-known LBC presenter apparently coined the phrase “workshy Britons”. I think he’s right.
Even if people are genuinely stressed and unable to work for a variety of mental health reasons, they should at least consider working at home which is now acceptable. That was suggested by Laura Trott, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. It’s a question of doing their duty to cut the benefits bill. And if they don’t do it benefits should be cut according to Trott.
Teaching jobs
It’s astonishing to read today as well that there’s been a surge in foreign candidates for teaching jobs in Britain. Schools cannot fill teaching jobs and so the nation is advertising these jobs in Nigeria and India and offering £10,000 golden handshake payments for physics teachers. What’s happening? Teaching too hard? The kids are too disruptive due to poor parenting – another example of broken Britain.
Isn’t this an example of workshy Britons? The British regularly criticised NHS nowadays and rightly so. But do they actually make the commitment to work for the NHS and make it better?
Social experiment
With one fifth of available workers refusing to work, Will Lloyd describes the nation as some sort of “giant social experiment”. Millions of under 34’s “would rather play Animal Crossing than work in McDonald’s” while millions of over-50s would rather pop down to the garden center for a cup of tea and a chat.
How does this entrenched development (I can’t see it changing) affect the human-to-cat relationship?
Human-to-cat relationship
I think is detrimental to that relationship because if you aren’t working your income is much less than if you were working under normal circumstances. And we know that the cost of owning a companion animal has risen dramatically recently because of inflation and because of high veterinary charges which are risen at a rate well above that of inflation.
This has caused millions of people to give up their companion animals, flooding out rescue centres. These people didn’t commit to the ups and downs of owning a companion animal. Working from home assists in looking after companion animal but it doesn’t lessen the cost.
And if people do continue to care for a pet, they are more likely to buy cheap food and not take their cat or dog to the vet. Already cats are not taken to the vets enough. But insurance costs are too high nowadays. These are aspects of human behaviour which will have a negative impact on cat health.
So the upshot for me, is that the new workshy British culture (if it truly exists) will negatively impact on cat health and cat ownership.
