Whitehall lawyers have splurged nearly £4 million of taxpayer money on gadgets like laptops and mobile phones for working from home since 2021, according to data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Naked Emperor isn't impressed by Harriet Walker's piece in the Times on 'lockdown nostalgia'. For the laptop classes, lockdown may have been a bit of a lark. For most ordinary people, it was misery.
Businessman and entrepreneur Luke Johnson says one of the biggest costs of the lockdowns was a surge in loneliness as communities fragmented, workplaces emptied and clubs and associations collapsed.
Is that why they call it the Home Office? More civil servants in Priti Patel’s department are working from home than before Jacob Rees-Mogg urged them to return to the office.
Young people will have to wait till next year to book a driving test because of the impact of the lockdowns on the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. Another cost of the worst policy decision the Government ever made.
Women who work from home risk seeing their careers stall now that workers are returning to the office, according to Bank of England (BoE) economist Catherine Mann. BBC News has more. She said office interaction was vital to advance in companies, but many women were still tied to home working.Ms. Mann said it was a particular issue for mothers facing school disruptions and difficulty accessing childcare.Earlier this year, Rishi Sunak warned about young people's careers.The Chancellor said he doubted his banking career would have been successful if he had started it in virtual meetings, and that being in the office helped build skills.Ms Mann, a member of the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee that sets interest rates, said online communication was unable to replicate the spontaneous office conversations that were important for recognition and advancement in many workplaces.She told an event hosted by Financial News magazine: "Virtual platforms are way better than they were even five years ago. But the extemporaneous, spontaneity – those are hard to replicate in a virtual setting."Difficulty accessing childcare and pandemic-related disruption to schooling meant many women were continuing to work from home, while it had been easier for men to return to the office."There is the potential for two tracks", she said. "There's the people who are on the virtual track and people who are ...
