The World of Work, Welfare, and Retirement is Outdated.

In 2026, we are still stuck in a 1950s mentality of the idea of work. When it comes to welfare, we are also stuck in that mentality and also when it comes to retirement. Let me make it clear, I have nothing against work or people working. I am not for no one working at all, whatever your trade or profession is. However, when it comes to work, we are stuck in a very old -fashioned way of looking at work. Unless you are on a high-salary job, for most of us, we go to a mundane job while earning mundane wages. Work has become more stressful, where we are told we have to work not only to keep the lights on, but also to put food on the table. But that's not the only thing ads say we must possess the latest car, the latest electronic gadget, we must live in a certain neighbourhood. We work our backsides off to maintain a materialistic lifestyle, and for what? With retirement rising, some of us may never get to enjoy our twilight years.

If we are out of work, the British welfare system, known as Universal Credit, is a nightmare. You are expected to jump through hoops so you get your first payment. You can get a loan, but then that is taken out of your first payment until it is paid off. The so-called job coaches who are supposedly guides to help you access work or training are often bullies. Pushing people, unless you are covered by a doctor's note, into work or to take up work even if that's not your profession. If you do not accept what they call a reasonable offer of work, you can be sanctioned, which means having your welfare cut or stopped. Even if you are ill and cannot work, there is no guarantee they will leave you alone. You have to supply evidence; you may need to face an assessment after you have filled out a form describing your mental or physical ailments. How many medical professionals are involved, I cannot say. However, your case is considered, and you end up being placed in groups where you cannot work, or you have limited capacity for work. So that's just a brief description of the British welfare system, also known as benefits.

As people are living longer, the retirement age continues to rise. In a sense, that's understandable; conversely, many older people are looking forward to their retirement, and as the retirement age rises, unless they can afford early retirement or are too ill to work, they have to keep working. Don't get me wrong, if older people still wish to work, then that's fine. The only proviso is that it blocks younger workers from coming through. However, older workers can sometimes be more reliable than some less reliable younger workers. Or they can act as mentors to younger workers coming through.

So we have discussed work, welfare, and retirement. This model has been in force for many hundreds of years. Yes, working conditions have improved in many areas, and many companies now offer health insurance plus private pensions. However, when you break it down, we work so that those above us, the 1%, can live in luxurious lifestyles. Whether that be aristocracy, billionaires, royals, et al. It is a hierarchy which basically remains unchanged.

With technology coming into the world of work, it is going to change as even would be or actual Martian (I kid you not), Elon Musk has said. Technology is already making an impact around us, and this will continue as we move on in this century. AI, robots, etc, are here whether we like it or not. I come from a generation before all this, and so I can remember a time before all this came to be. A lot of jobs will be obsolete because of tech, and so the workplace will have to evolve accordingly. It will not be the end of work, and new jobs will be and are being created. However, this tech is like the second industrial revolution, and so, whether we like it or not, the workplace and those who work must adapt to it too.

Universal Basic Income is the answer to this, especially for those on lower salaries. This would top up their wages to give them a real living wage. The benefit/welfare system as we know it, and I can only speak about the UK system, would disappear. As there would be no need for it anymore. As UBI would fill that gap and lift poorer workers, how can that be a bad thing? Of course, as long as we remain in this outdated, not fit for purpose, way of doing work, we will all remain on a wheel without end as wage slaves. UBI offers a way out for the poor to still work but have more satisfying, creative lives, to spend more time with friends and family. To live as humanity was meant to live, not as ants as we are now.

The 1% won't like it, but that's tough on them because it would mean the end of them getting rich on the backs of the poor. In countries where UBI has been tested, it has produced quite satisfactory outcomes. Like seeing a reduction in mental health because money is made available, so you are not stressing about the budget you live on. The 1% won't like it because not only will it be the end of their world, but they will probably be the ones taxed to the hilt to fund it. But until that day dawns, if ever, we are stuck- in the system we have.

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