Tuesday 2 June 2015

They have gone stark raving mad.

Gleefully regurgitated by The Guardian:

Office workers should spend a minimum of two hours on their feet at work – building up to an ideal four hours – in order to avoid the ill effects of a sedentary lifestyle, according to a study co-commissioned by Public Health England.

Research has long linked excessive time spent sitting to increased risk of morbidity or premature death but the advice, co-commissioned by Public Health England and published on Monday, represents the first time British workers have been provided with quantifiable targets for getting out of their seats.

The study authors, who include experts from the UK, US and Australia, call for a revolution in the workplace through the use of sit-stand desks, standing-based work and regular walkabouts.

They also urge further research into whether facilities such as toilets should be moved further away from staff, some emails could be replaced by hand-delivered messages and employees could have alarms on computers or personal motion assessment devices prompting them to move.

8 comments:

Random said...

And the equal and opposite...
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jun/01/four-hours-standing-time-office-worker

Unknown said...

Some good housing related stuff from the mighty Britmouse here:
https://uneconomical.wordpress.com/author/britmouse/

Speaking of which have you guys read the Mirrlees review wrt housing? Some good stuff.

Also, from the always readable Erdmann:
http://idiosyncraticwhisk.blogspot.co.uk/

Mark Wadsworth said...

SV, yes, the tax system slightly favours owner-occupation over BTL landlords, and the value of the subsidy they get is about £160 bn a year (i.e. the untaxed rental value of land over and above bricks and mortar cost). About one-quarter of this subsidy is siphoned off by banks.

I have never said otherwise. But that is not the point - BTL is tax advantaged compared to proper investing i.e. in shares because you cannot claim tax relief for interest on money borrowed to buy shares (except if it is your own company you are investing in).

And the general system of leveraged speculation favours landlords by definition, and this advantage vastly favours BTL landlords over owner-occupiers hence and why the private rented sector is growing rapidly, at the expense of owner-occupation.

The Mirrlees/IFS chaps are pretty pro-LVT all in all. We LVTers are pretty happy with their input/output.

Tim Almond said...

The standing desks are a good thing (I know a few people with them). If you find a fat school teacher, it'll be a teacher that prefers to talk to kids from behind her desk.

But moving toilets and hand-delivered messages? Good luck with that. I'll walk out of your stupid company if you do that.

Mark Wadsworth said...

TS, each to his own, but as to fat teachers, maybe they prefer to sit down because they are fat, rather than vice versa? I like sitting, lying and walking but I don't like standing for more than a few minutes (and am still relatively skinny).

Random said...

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jun/02/tony-abbott-accuses-bill-shorten-of-wanting-house-prices-to-fall
Haha

Random said...

"I like sitting, lying and walking but I don't like standing for more than a few minutes (and am still relatively skinny)."
Agreed.

Mark Wadsworth said...

R, splendid link, Abbott is Home-Owner-Ism without the subtlety.