Mieka Smiles

Local Matters

- 

REMEMBER it fondly. Much different to my days now, eternally glued to a screen and furiously editing reams of copy, times were once oh-so-different.

I was a freelance journalist and, similar to now, my workplace was my kitchen island in sunny Middlesbrough.

Because it was my own business, I decided when I worked and when I didn’t. I was paid purely on what I produced and then sold. Back then, however, I'll admit to the odd lunchtime bath — and, when my concentration waned, I'd shove on a washload or two. So I do have to be careful when slagging off the work-from-homers.

Firstly, because I benefit directly from it. I work for a national newspaper mainly from oop north, something I'd never have thought possible years ago. And secondly, because when I was the captain of my own ship, I definitely indulged in the odd lazy moment.

The thorny topic of working from home — or WFH as the young 'uns call it — hit the headlines again last week as Nigel Farage called for an end to it, dismissing it as “nonsense” and claiming that it seriously hampers productivity in Britain. And, despite my earlier naughty admission, I have to agree with him... in part.

Terrible