The charge sheet against Tory Britain

There’s a book I’d like to send to Theresa May: ‘Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain’. The Prime Minister might not be minded to devour a left-wing journalist’s charge sheet against Tory Britain but she ought to.

James Bloodworth, the author, took a series of zero-hours roles, from Amazon grunt to Uber driver, to see what the ‘gig economy’ is really like. His account makes for grim but necessary reading and takes us behind the breezy, banterful facade of hipster capitalism, where we find exploitation, cynicism, and a cold, mechanised view of those who do the least rewarding jobs. 

Bloodworth’s book gives an insight into deindustrialised Britain, depicting how once-proud mining towns and manufacturing hubs are now forced to beg for scraps of unstable drudge work. His account of an Amazon distribution centre reads like a chapter from Brave New World that Huxley tore up as too implausible.