'The well-being economic approach recognises that 'quality of life, equality, fairness, sustainability, happiness and health should be given equal weight to traditional measures such as GDP'. Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp
"Given that an international survey (which was also conducted in the US and France) found that 88% of workers in the UK have experienced 'some level of burnout' over the last two years, great electoral riches await the party that fixes 'Burnt Out Britain'. It is striking that the same survey found that over a third of us have now suffered extreme physical and mental exhaustion – as well as 'increased mental distance from one's job, which manifests as negativity or cynicism, and a sense of ineffectiveness' – 'frequently owing to pressures within the workplace'.
With coordinated trade union action and a renewed belief in collective bargaining being two of the most noticeable (and welcome) developments after Covid, we have a window in which to arrest the growth of this pernicious phenomenon. If the SNP's well-being economy can end the constant expectation that we must all work more for nothing extra and persuade the rest of the UK of both the virtues of a four-day working week and the harm done by hyperconnectivity, then count me in!"