Peter Rhodes on the downside of growth, change and endless hard work

It's all about growth, isn't it? As the 2022 Conferences pass into history, the G-word has taken over the debate. No political leader, from woolly liberal to hard-line Tory, can get beyond the first paragraph of any speech without demanding growth – as if anything that turns a profit is, by definition, a good thing.

But is it? Ripping down a forest and replacing it with factories is growth. Building a dozen new prisons is growth. Exporting stun guns to dodgy foreign police forces is growth. And if you want masses of growth very quickly, relax the borders and watch this nation grow to 70, 80 or even 100 million people. The growth would be stupendous. The bean counters in the City would be slavering with joy. But would it make Britain better? Is it really what we want?

So beware of the G-word. And watch out, too, for the C-word – change. Again, every political party demands change. No matter what has gone before, it must all be changed. Why do we never hear a public figure suggesting a brief period of non-change, a time of calm to get school curricula settled and to enforce the criminal laws we already have rather than forever passing gimmicky new laws?

Finally, as talk of another general election grows, be very wary of “hard work,” which is alarmingly popular with politicians of all shades. They invariably want to reward “hard working people,” but no matter how hard we work under one government, the next one always wants us to work harder.

Many of us recall the 1960s when the future looked very relaxing. We were told that all the hard work would be done by automation and we humans would be freed from the bondage of labour to pursue arts and sports. Yet here we are today, bombarded with gizmos and artificial intelligence, working harder than ever, but still not hard enough for our productivity-obsessed political masters.

A few general elections ago, the BBC's Andrew Marr reflected on this endless demand for hard work. He pointed out that no government ever got elected on a slogan of “All power to the workshy.” But then it's never been tried.

So maybe it's time for a new political movement: USGLAP The Unchanging, Slow-Growth Layabout Party. It's got my vote.