18 Comments
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Alex Guy's avatar

So true. Started my Nurse training in 1976 for I think around £180 per month and the way you describe your experience is very much how I would mine. After 25 years I finally decided to find a less stressful job, 11 years working in ICU was enough but still have a great deal of pride in the time I spent caring for adults and children. When or if Mr Colville finds himself in the unfortunate position of being bed bound and being looked after by low paid workers, may well be the only time he finally shows respect for those not so fortunate to be on the end of a bulging monthly pay packet.

More power to your writing hand Henry.

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Mark Haigh's avatar

As brilliant as your satire is, this is so powerful Henry! But Kemi once worked at McDonald's so, y' know...

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Henry Morris's avatar

Well I'm cross, because I had other things to do this morning and I ended up having to write this instead!

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Ralph's avatar

The problem with people who live and work in the all too real world is that we don’t seem to know our place in the U.K.

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Jessica McLellan's avatar

Eloquent and powerful as ever.

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Henry Morris's avatar

That's kind mate, thank you. Just recollections really. I don't think my experience was unique.

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Corinne Roberts's avatar

So true. Care worker at eighteen was hardest paid job of my life

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Henry Morris's avatar

Preach. It's really helped with everything I've done subsequently: sitting at a keyboard is a doddle.

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Anne Blair-Vincent's avatar

Thank you 🙏🏻 beautifully written (as ever) and so heartbreakingly true in every sense.

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Henry Morris's avatar

Thank you for reading.

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Olynpuss's avatar

Well bloody said 👏🏼👏🏼

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Brian's avatar

I suppose this is why Musk thinks Bill Gates has not genuinely contributed

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Karen Watson's avatar

But none of that is work they consider worth doing.

They begrudge even the cost of corpse disposal - just as the Victorian parish ratepayer did.

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Raj Iyengar's avatar

So powerful. Big ups, Henry! ❤️

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Ralph's avatar

Journos like Colville and many others who went to Oxbridge but never ever entered the real world from their cosseted environs are clearly experts on those many levels down from their ivory tower . There will ,however,be a reckoning one day in our society as more of us despair at the cynical manipulation of the truth by our media and the morally defunct , clueless and cowardly leadership across all political parties . Keep going , Henry .

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Phil's avatar

When will being a good person cease to be an excuse for low pay?

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Anne Settanni's avatar

The hardest work I ever did was as an 18 year old nurses aide in a nursing home along side many hard working immigrants at minimum wage. Every job requires skill and dedication to be performed correctly. Robert may someday find himself dependent on some of those “low paid workers” to feed, bathe and comfort him.

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Vanessa Thomas's avatar

So eloquently written it’s sat with me for some hours in a space of not sure what to do with the emotions it stirred huge anger & sadness

This is Heartbreaking truth

& this pathetic excuse for a human may one day find a family member or himself requiring assistance & support from one of these hardworking caring souls he condemns

To actually think the way this sad excuse of a human thinks is beyond anyone with a modicum of empathy or emotional intelligence can comprehend

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