Sunak says "Flat is the new up" for British businesses.

 

Rishi Sunak

The country has gone to the dogs and it's largely the fault of politicians and their policies.

I remember the beautiful Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester and was a young lad in the 1960s. The area is now known as 'Crackadilly' because of the drug dealers who inhabit the place. A kind of ghastly Victorian underclass, hangs around Manchester city centre. Last December, two homeless men, froze to death on streets of Manchester.

Margaret Thatcher hated the "permissive" 1960s and blamed much of Britain's social-ills on it. But when I was growing up in the 1960s, I don't remember seeing beggars in the street, rough sleepers, food banks or pawn shops. Most people were in work, had access to housing and employment, free health care, legal aid and full education maintenance grants.

The rot set in when the Thatcher became the Conservative Prime Minister in 1979. Unemployment trebled between 1979 to 1983 to 3 million, and there was massive de-industrialisation. Parts of the north of England have never really recovered from it.

Margaret Thatcher's pro-rich policies and union busting, paved the way for the gig economy, zero-hour contracts and precarious employment. A lot of people who live and work in Greater Manchester, are now employed in mundane activities and are heavily reliant on the public sector, for jobs.

Many highly qualified university graduates are finding it difficult to obtain work or even entry level jobs. It was knocked into English middle-class school kids that if they worked hard at school and got good qualifications, and a good University degree, they could get a good job and find their place in the Sun. That's no longer the case and many are joining the ranks of the precariat and are saddled with student debt. Even though British politicians talk about the number of young people not in education, employment, or training (NEET's), AI and automation are likely to lead to more job losses and Britain's politicians don't seem prepared for it.

I saw Rishi Sunak recently being interviewed and he said that when he talks to CEOs about their plans for 'headcount' in their companies, he said that what he hears a lot of, is "flat is the new up." Sunak explained that companies think they can continue to grow their businesses without having to significantly increase employment. He added, "they're starting to see how they can deploy AI."