This is disrespectful to women who have homeschooled and wfh?

[PrincessNutNuts]

"The general view is people have had quite a few days off, and it wouldn't be a bad thing for people to see their way round to making a passing stab at getting back into the office." Boris Johnson.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.lbc.co.uk/news/boris-johnson-enough-days-off-work-from-home-lockdown-easing/

I posted the very same article on Twitter and called him a self-righteous prick

Except its clearly aimed at a lot on furlough

He's not arsed is he. He hasn't had the normal day to day of working from home, trying to homeschool etc etc so he doesn't get it.
He has a nanny for that.

Or the normal panicking about not getting paid because of being self employed or any other scenario that's not his own.

He just does not fucking get how hard it's been for people who he is meant to be looking after the best interests of.

Come on. Most nights wfh and then homeschooling I was finishing about 8.30pm. I’ve aged 5 years over the last year. Still at least I’ve never voted for this lot.

I agree, this was one of the stupidest and most offensive things he has ever said - which is a high bar. Well done Boris, for showing your true privileged colours to every working parent out there.

@CupoTeap

Fuck you BJ.

You fucking cunt.

How dare you.

What a potty mouth!

That nitwit would describe fighting a war in some outlandish place as a "nice, long foreign holiday." He is pretty much Trump 2.0. Having just retired Trump 1.0 as "flawed from inception," I recognize it very well.

Hmmm in his defense you have to remember he works for the public sector. That's hard enough to get someone to do a days work in if you can physically have them in an office. Add to the mix that public sector haven't got a clue how to react to or manage WFH and you don't know how productive (if at all) any of these people were.

Private sector where profit is king is totally different, I'm sure a very high percentage of people WFH for private companies actually did more than they would usually do than if they were in an office.

I do think people need to get back to an office though, without being in a group ideas and discussion can't happen. It's ok I know we have ms teams or zoom but that's not spontaneous. Often great ideas happen round a water cooler or some other mundane office activity.

@chocolateorangeinhaler

Hmmm in his defense you have to remember he works for the public sector. That's hard enough to get someone to do a days work in if you can physically have them in an office. Add to the mix that public sector haven't got a clue how to react to or manage WFH and you don't know how productive (if at all) any of these people were.

Private sector where profit is king is totally different, I'm sure a very high percentage of people WFH for private companies actually did more than they would usually do than if they were in an office.

I do think people need to get back to an office though, without being in a group ideas and discussion can't happen. It's ok I know we have ms teams or zoom but that's not spontaneous. Often great ideas happen round a water cooler or some other mundane office activity.

So your post = public sector workers are lazy. Who exactly? Nurses, doctors, teachers, firemen, social workers? What a ridiculous and unpleasant post.

@DiseasesOfTheSheep

Words cannot express my dismay at the portion of the electorate who voted for that utter bastard.

This^^

@FourWordsImMuNiTy

It’s a stupid thing for him to say, because it will wind up all the many people who’ve been overstretched for the last year, especially parents. But as a population we have had a huge amount of time off of course. I assumed he’s referring to everyone who’s been on furlough.

I'm not really sure how 'get back to the office' applies to the furloughed.

@User133847

I interpreted this as referring to those furloughed. I’d understood that furloughed staff included office workers. Boris will know (surely) that many of those wfh have worked extremely hard. Eg the civil servants supporting his government are wfh round the clock, evenings, weekends etc. Calls with Ministers at 9 pm then working overnight on COVID matters, drafting legislation etc. If he’s unaware, then his cabinet really have thrown us under the bus!

I’d understood that furloughed staff included office workers.

Maybe some, but the advice was always work from home if you can, if not work in the office but stick to the guidance.

Furlough has more generally been to the industries who can't work, such as hospitality, leisure and tourism.

This is just another 'thinly veiled get back to the office' Tory statement, like Rishi the other day, to try and appease their commercial landlord donors.

Absolutely no fan of the Boris Johnson and have never voted Tory in my life. But I read this as referring to furloughed workers.

Getting back into the office is another mental health issue though. Dsis works for a charity and they've all been put on 45 days consultation notice because they're moving them to permanent home working. Dsis lives in a small, cramped house that doesn't allow for any separation between her home and work life (computer is in a recess in her living room, not properly equipped, the only other room downstairs is a small kitchen). She's basically said that she cannot continue like that and she wants to be around people again in any case.

There is something to be said for people who want/ need to going back into the office (when safe to). It's not healthy for many people to continue like my dsis indefinitely.

But I read this as referring to furloughed workers.

It doesn't correlate to what he said. How many furloughed workers have the option of 'going back to the office'?

Most furloughed workers are furloughed because of government restrictions. Retail and hospitality staff for example. The barman or the waitress from the Red Lion hasn't got an office to go back to, but they might have a pub to go back to when the government lets them open.

He’s having a bloody laugh. I worked the whole way through and was on the shielding list. My poor husband nearly had a breakdown trying to do the homeschooling and my son is trying to bounce back. I would have loved being furloughed, but that’s how it is. He is a deeply insulting man.

@Touloser

On Saturday, at the Conservatives' virtual spring forum, the prime minister was asked whether the UK can have a bank holiday called "national hangover day" once the pandemic subsides.

But Mr Johnson put down the suggestion, responding: "The general view is people have had quite a few days off, and it wouldn't be a bad thing for people to see their way round to making a passing stab at getting back into the office."

^ reads a bit differently (and somewhat more reasonably) in context though, doesn't it?

Thank you for posting that. I can't stand the man, but it's reasonable to look at the context, as yes, that does read very differently.

Selective quoting is a feature of the media that's pretty dangerous, and though it pains me to defend this man, that's what's happened here.

The Tories are clearly shitting themselves at the idea of a permanent shift in working patterns towards less commuting into city centre offices and greater working from home or working more locally, which will benefit more independent shops and landlords and less commercial landlords and corporate conglomerates that own the big chains. And the former don’t tend to bankroll the Conservative party.

And that’s why we get the drip-drip of ‘back to the office, wfh is lazy, won’t someone think about Pret?’ from the government.

Meanwhile, my local high street - not big enough for a lot of chains - is actually doing ok despite Covid. The independent cafes are doing a roaring trade and new ones have opened. Our bookshop reports decent sales even during lockdown. Our local restaurants have been really innovative and enterprising. It’s a relatively affluent population in an area with a high number of commuters. It’s been interesting seeing the impact of that money being spent locally, rather than at one of the three Pret branches visible from my office.

There are no “days off” in a pandemic

@User133847

I thought that businesses could furlough workers to save money if it wasn’t commercially viable to keep trading? So some companies will have decided to keep the office running with a skeleton staff. Might be wrong.

Either way, I agree it isn’t terribly clear and he should have clarified. Thinking back, in September cabinet ministers were pushing a return to the office with civil servants leading the way (despite the fact that all evidence pointed to a new surge of cases). The reason behind that was probably to support commercial landlords but I am wondering if, as others have said, they think that we are not working hard enough from home. I think they’d have to be very biased to believe that when we support them at all times of day and night. However, Rishi had no issue with imposing another salary freeze (real terms cut) on the majority of civil servants despite the hellish year we’ve had, so who knows what they really think of civil servants and others wfh

""On Saturday, at the Conservatives' virtual spring forum, the prime minister was asked whether the UK can have a bank holiday called "national hangover day" once the pandemic subsides.

But Mr Johnson put down the suggestion, responding: "The general view is people have had quite a few days off, and it wouldn't be a bad thing for people to see their way round to making a passing stab at getting back into the office."

^ reads a bit differently (and somewhat more reasonably) in context though, doesn't it?""

No, to me it still reads like BJ's typically nebulous, overworded bumbling, ripe for (mis)interpretation.

I agree @JassyRadlett.

But don't you think about LONDON! It's going to be impacted badly and now that is not acceptable at all......

@Touloser, even with context, it still reads very badly to me.

Because the overall context of pushing people back in the office etc.. is still there and VERY overwheleming.
Never mind that a lot of people don't want to go back to the office. Or that companies have already plan a clear cut of office space.

A lot of city based companies were moving to permanent wfh even before Covid. Now many are making london based employees redundant so they can hire people further afield on lower salaries.

I agree with Bluntness. He may be referring to people that have been furloughed and have no children . I know my 45 year old son who is single was furloughed for 6 months last year. He had a very cushy summer while my daughter who is a nurse was working 12 hour shifts and hardly saw the sun .