Some Christmas Cheer...

...or at least the possibility of some. In the new year I stand to start working on a community project, where I've been volunteering for the last few months. It offers the possibility of two days paid work a week and the prospect of doing something I enjoy in the process of earning it.

The other bit of news is that I will hopefully be moving from the suburban sprawl of Slackertown to the altogether more pleasant surroundings of Slackerville, altogether closer to the sticks.

It's been a long road even to get to where I am now, but things do finally seem to be moving in the right direction, without me having to compromise over taking a shitty job in some god-forsaken bank or some such.

Happy slacking one and all, and may 2012 bring you all closer to your own goals :)

Up the Workers!

All the best to the public sector strikers in their quest to hold onto their pension rights and maintain the current retirement age. The Tories want to return to the values of the 19th century, and if we don't put up with a fight the current assortment of public school scumbags will succeed where Thatcher ultimately failed. Good luck!

And while I'm on, rest in peace Gary Speed :(

"Pull yourself together, there's nothing wrong with you!"

...a phrase I fear that those visiting their doctor will be hearing before too long.

In their latest attempt to hurl Britain's working conditions back into the 19th century, the Tories (and their faithful Lib Dem lapdogs) are proposing to stop GPs from signing their patients off on the sick. Instead, they would face an 'independent assessment panel', which would be independent only insofar as to have no interest in the actual well-being of the patient. Despite dressing up this monstrous act as an attempt to help people back to work, the real truth of the matter lies in this sentence:

The report authors estimate the changes could save taxpayers at least £350m each year.

Or in other words:

If a few people get sent back to work they're not suitable for/unable to carry out and their lives are shortened in some way because of it, who cares? There's plenty more where they came from, and '£15bn in lost economic output' is a far more important consideration than the lives of a few people who wouldn't have voted Tory anyway.

All this is merely the latest indictment of the moral bankrupcy and general dearth of ideas that plagues the Conservative party. It simply underlines the sad truth that in 30 years they've progressed no further than the "Fuck You, I'm Alright" politics of Cameron's idol, the evil despot Margaret Thatcher. How very, very depressing.

Three years!

I started writing this blog a few months before it was initially published. The first half-dozen or so articles which pretty much lay out the slacker manifesto were written as a displacement activity while I was enduring the last few months of a hateful job. That and a pretty horrendous (and largely self-inflicted) personal issue which I was trying and failing to work through. Writing those articles helped me immensely and gave me a focus beyond my immediate problems, but I certainly never envisaged that the blog would still be alive after three years. Yet here it is.

Time passes, and things have improved greatly. I work less and spend more time on the things (and people) that I value. I still write because I enjoy it, and I hope it may be of use to someone considering taking the leap of faith that I made in leaving my job. I know my writing style isn't particularly entertaining, but I hope that my experiences and the information imparted make up for that. If this site has helped even one person to change their lifestyle for the better then I'm happy that my time on here has been well spent :)

The kettle is on, as ever... pass the Jaffa Cakes!

Five Hours a Day

That's how long you're supposed to spend looking for work if you're on the dole, according to some vague consultation with the Great Unwashed. Even if you really wanted to waste that much of your day on jobhunting would it even be possible? I struggle to meet their quoted actual figure of eight minutes, and that's for the whole week!

But then this doesn't affect me, happily, because I make enough money (just) to keep me out of the clutches of the DSS. My heart goes out to those unfortunate enough to be beholden to this hateful organisation.