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Liam O'Dell
May 14, 2022
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The prime minister has faced widespread criticism after he took aim at those working from home for “hacking off a small piece of cheese” while on the job.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Boris Johnson argued people are “more productive, more energetic [and] more full of ideas” when working alongside other people.
He said: “My experience of working from home is you spend an awful lot of time making another cup of coffee and then, you know, getting up, walking very slowly to the fridge, hacking off a small piece of cheese, then walking very slowly back to your laptop and forgetting what it was you’re doing.
“I think that [office working] will help to drive up productivity, it will get our city centres moving in the weekdays and it will be good for mass transit – and a lot of businesses that have been having a tough time will benefit from that.”
Johnson, who once hid in a fridge to avoid questions from Piers Morgan, added that he is “not antediluvian about technology”, but stressed “we need to get back into the habit of getting into the office”.
Twitter users quickly expressed their anger with the PM’s remarks, as many pointed out that he… ahem… works from home himself:
Boris Johnson works from home.https://twitter.com/jasongroves1/status/1525150080801685504\u00a0\u2026— Larry the Cat (@Larry the Cat) 1652461101
Boris Johnson works from home.— Hoovermatic (@Hoovermatic) 1652459515
Given that he works from home this explains a lot.— jahodges (@jahodges) 1652460077
I think this tells us more about Boris Johnson than it does about working from home. No wonder he was so confused between work and a party.— Sir Steve Blackmail-Material \ud83d\udc99\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Sir Steve Blackmail-Material \ud83d\udc99\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1652473601
Utter BS. My WFH experience has been sat behind my pc for hours at a time, getting up to eat lunch, doing so in 15 mins then back to work. Or, eating at my desk while working. WFH has been way more intense than the office with its coffee runs, casual chats etc— Chris F \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Chris F \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1652461164
Yeah why not spend 2 hours either way clogging up the roads and polluting the atmosphere commuting instead? Or paying hundreds a month on crap UK trains to get stuck with a signal failure at Slough and get home at 8.30pm?— John Fenna \ud83c\udf97 (@John Fenna \ud83c\udf97) 1652459738
To be fair I think this is Boris' work ethic whether he's at home or in the office.— Lottie (@Lottie) 1652460455
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The Conservative Party leader isn’t the only government minister to attack working from home in recent weeks.
Last month Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg came under fire for his “Dickensian” decision to leave notes on the desks of civil servants who were “out when I visited”.
“I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon,” he wrote.
And in fairness, if going into the office meant having to speak to Rees-Mogg, then we don’t blame them for working from home to avoid every chance of that happening.
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