Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain

by James Bloodworth

As for those who doled out bursts of sudden violence to the men and women who bedded down under the decaying grandeur of Blackpool’s doorways and verandas – ‘This is not a human being,’ they must have told themselves as they climbed into their waiting taxis and slipped home to hot showers, warm beds and plates full of food, averting their eyes from the smoke that came from other people’s fires.

Working with the public for any length of time always has the potential to turn even the most serene person into a bitter misanthrope.

Like communism, Rand’s philosophy embodied a simplistic and ‘total’ view of the world that was perennially attractive to those whose main motivation was primarily to stop thinking.

Instead, it has become fashionable to treat people as fools, and pretend that it makes no difference if ten people are chasing every job and if nine of them are from some poor Eastern European country.