Today I got The Letter.
In August I become redundant. That is, the charity I work for can no longer afford to pay me. The work I do is still requested, but it's not chargeable because I advise charities and the Government has decided to put most of the advice online, making my job no longer feasible.
Doesn't bother me particularly - I'm practically at retirement age anyway, and I've been doing it for far too many years - but in a time when jobs are supposed to be something they're creating, why do they make so many jobs redundant? Machines to do manual work, the internet to do mental work, but none of it as well as humans used to do it (preen, preen!).
Machines can do the same job over and over again, but ingenuity and additional flair is way beyond their capacity. Information can be posted on the internet, but somebody is still needed to explain it to those who can't quite get it. Shame - they will never get it now unless they can scrape together enough money to pay someone to explain it.
And there's the rub. Charities used to do things free of charge, funded by the goodwill of those with money and social conscience. The present government (with help from the last half dozen) has made it practically impossible to do that. Charity will be abolished (sorry, God - they're not listening). Anything you do has to be paid for these days - if not, you'll be taxed anyway. And if you haven't ignored all the pundits and saved madly for the last few decades, you won't be kept in your old age either - you'll work till you drop.
I hope they sleep well at night. I will - but I'm one of the lucky ones.
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