DAILY MAIL COMMENT: New deal… or only a shirkers’ constitution?
Labour’s campaign to bring the British economy to its knees gathered pace yesterday with the announcement of plans to give workers the right to ‘switch off’.
More flexible working, less office time, fewer out-of-hours calls from the boss and an emphasis on work-life balance.
Without a trace of irony, Downing Street offered the following priceless justification: ‘A culture of presenteeism can be damaging to productivity.’
This is all part of what Angela Rayner calls a ‘New Deal’ for workers. Cynics might say it sounds more like a shirkers’ charter
Which suggests they think absenteeism is good for business. It certainly hasn’t worked in Whitehall, where the Civil Service has been allowed to go missing in action and productivity has plummeted.
All employers should do their best to treat staff well and accede to requests for flexible hours where possible.
But to enshrine these benefits as legal rights, with financial penalties for non-compliance, would be untenable for many businesses, especially those with just a handful of employees.
This is all part of what Angela Rayner calls a ‘New Deal’ for workers. Cynics might say it sounds more like a shirkers’ charter.
How to fix jail crisis
With just 298 places left in jails for adult men, the prison system is at breaking point.
The overcrowding problem has been compounded by the jailing of 400 people in connection with the recent riots, with many more still going through the courts.
If Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood truly wants to ease the crisis, she might start by reducing the number of foreign inmates in British prisons.
If Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood (pictured) truly wants to ease the crisis, she might start by reducing the number of foreign inmates in British prisons
No fewer than 10,422 – including killers and rapists – are serving sentences for crimes committed here, at a total cost of up to £500million a year.
Yet Britain seems incapable of deporting them – even to safe countries – not least because many hire lawyers at taxpayers’ expense to argue that sending them home would breach their human rights.
Last month Ms Mahmood pledged to ‘fast-track’ the removal of foreign prisoners and create some much-needed space in our jails. She needs to get on with it.
History is complex
In its obsession with atoning for the sins of the past, the Church of England often forgets that history can be complicated.
At Gloucester Cathedral, a memorial to Admiral Henry Christian is to carry a QR code detailing his links to slavery.
In its obsession with atoning for the sins of the past, the Church of England often forgets that history can be complicated. At Gloucester Cathedral (pictured), a memorial to Admiral Henry Christian is to carry a QR code detailing his links to slavery
As a naval commander in the 1860s, Christian enabled a Confederate merchant ship bringing cotton to Lancashire to run through a Union blockade during the American Civil War. The Confederacy was, of course, pro-slavery.
But at the time it was supported by many in this country, including the achingly liberal Manchester Guardian newspaper.
Christian was just five years old when slavery was abolished, so can hardly be blamed for its excesses, and in the 1850s served on a ship which intercepted foreign vessels carrying slaves and freed them.
The Church may paint him as a villain. But in those far-off days wasn’t he just a naval officer doing his duty?
In a landmark victory, 140 women who suffered traumatic complications after being fitted with vaginal mesh are to receive millions in compensation.
Some 170,000 women were damaged by these implants and the door is now open for all to obtain redress. It is a great day for justice and vindication of a longstanding Mail campaign against this ill-conceived treatment.
