The BBC reported today that “People who regularly put in overtime and work 10 or 11-hour days increase their heart disease risk by nearly two-thirds, research suggests.” This follows the publication of a study of 6,000 British civil servants in the European Heart Journal.
Cathy Ross a senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Until researchers understand how our working lives can affect the risk to our heart health….we should refrain from all forms of work.” Okay I made the last part of that sentence up, but there’s always hope.
As Bob Black argued in ‘The Abolition of Work’ “Work is the source of nearly all the misery in the world. Almost any evil you'd care to name comes from working or from living in a world designed for work. In order to stop suffering, we have to stop working.” I may well have to add this proposal to my Constitution when (not if) I take over the world in my bid to ban Tuesdays.
I am led to believe by my sources that certain right-wing think tanks and their spin doctors are looking into this issue, although they are looking at banning the word due to it’s obvious negative connotations, rather than banning work. These sources say that they are undecided as to what word will replace ‘work’ but suggestions have included ‘neo-slavery’, ‘plebbing’ and ‘know your role’.
In the meantime, if your boss tries to strong arm you into some extra hours, feign a pain in your arm and have some blue food colouring handy to coat your lips.
