Having been brought up by parents who both possessed massive work ethics, I have never been without a job since the age of 11 when I secured my first early morning paper round, soon joined by an early evening one after school.
It didn’t take me long to twig that work gave me independence – buying my own stuff meant my mum couldn’t stop me wearing high fashion clothes from 1970s’ boutique Chelsea Girl, or my yellow platform shoes with a green apple motif on the side from Etam, even though I kept falling off them.
And, as I self-funded my habit of a family bag of Revels a day, she couldn’t tell me off about that either, nor stop my 10 Sovereign ciggies a day (a very affordable 23p).
I worked so hard that by the age of 12 I often ended up running the newsagent and sending paper boys and girls out on their rounds at the weekends.
I also had a Littlewoods Pools round in the evenings (as did Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham which I found out during a chat with him).
I couldn’t believe the freedom earning my own money bought me. My parents fed me and provided accommodation and love, and I didn’t ask them for a single extra penny.
Never have done. Being independent gave me freedom and power. Why am I telling you this? Because, during these very strange times, I currently find myself with lots of free days.
I don’t like free days, although I wouldn’t say no to a Jamaican beach. But I’m really bad at filling spare days, days with nothing in them, because they’re usually taken care of by work. Lots of it.
I love my work. I wake up with a spring in my step, even when I was rising at 3.30am for breakfast telly, I (mostly!) bounced out of bed. That’s what work’s for, if you’re lucky. It motivates, brings you pride and joy, a purpose, as well as paying the bills.
There are lots of us right now who aren’t working as much as we were, which is, of course, troubling financially, but more so, for me, I miss the energy, the purpose, the camaraderie, the pride in a job done well, the identity that it brings, away from the familiarity of family.
For most of us, work is a huge part of our lives, not solely for the income but for the status, the sense of a
job done well, professional pride and identity.
This paper will fight to keep Britain working, but Boris Johnson could also provide a huge service to us all if he tapped up Gordon Brown – the man who saved the UK from going into freefall when the banks started collapsing around the world in 2008 – to steady the ship.
It ain’t gonna happen, but we need his experience and authority, And, during this most worrying of times, we could really do with his leadership.
