Mid-Life MOT

Written in response to an article in The Independent, by  Chiara Giordano.

Causes.

When is our Tory government going to start researching causes instead of effects?

According to the highly-esteemed Iain Duncan-Smith, co-founder for the Centre of Social Justice (CSJ), then due to the high numbers of ‘economically inactive’ 50 to 64 year olds currently sponging off our society’s young adults, by 2035 the pension age should be increased to 75!

What planet is this man on? A ‘mid-life MOT’ conducted by senior management? Take a look at real life Iain! Your ‘mid-life MOT’ is hardly a new idea. Although, for your information, it currently holds the label of Performance Management Appraisal Meeting!

Has your think-tank organisation bothered finding out the true statistics for the number of highly-talented, skilled and experienced, forty-plus employees who have been forced out of their careers by such practices as: gaslighting, transparent separation, restructuring and redundancies?

In referring to the true statistics, I include the dark figure: the employees who have been silenced by the do-not-under-any-circumstances-talk-about-the-boss conditional pay-offs, known as compromise agreements, severance packages or gagging orders.

How many of the mid-life unemployed have fallen victim to the workplace-bullying tactics, now an  inherent and integral part of our British culture? The tactics that managers attempt to justify to themselves by forcibly administering the tag of burnout to their stitched-up targets!

Yes, Iain, the mid-life MOTs have, in my opinion, been happening for many years, with a noticeable increase when the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition government came into power in 2010. And, by my observations, the gagging devices have been selling like hot-cakes ever since!

So here is a suggestion for you, Iain: throw some funds at self-startup businesses for mid-lifers! Some could occupy themselves, in their kitchens, making themselves useful, keeping up with the ever-increasing demand for palatable gobstoppers.

And on that note, I am about put my kitchen creatives to work!

“Sprogs!?”

Mid-lifers: stand to attention, apply for that government startup grant, and keep your eyes peeled for a soon-to-be bestselling collection of gobstopper recipes!

Copyright owned by Jay Cool, Head Chef at Free-Range Publishing House, August 2019