James Watt on Britain’s low work ethic
Brewdog co-founder James Watt has opined further after an earlier post arguing that people who sought work-life balance hated work attracted a lot of criticism. In fact Watt notes that some of it was not just critical but threatening. He argues, rightly, that it should be possible to have a discussion on work related issues without recourse to manufactured outrage and worse. Indeed but Elon Musk, Farage and GB News are not helping because this is their stock in trade.
Watt (quoted in the Times 15th January) now argues that Britain has a low work ethic. A Kings College Policy Institute study suggests that Brits place other matters above work, while ONS stats indicate UK productivity is lower than the US, France, Germany etc.
Watt seems to be new to this but it is an historic issue with British capitalism and a well known one. It might be argued that part of it is because Britain was the first to industrialise but in 2025 that can hardly be a key point.
British industrial history is marked by productivity drives, piece work pay rates to encourage workers to produce more and so on. It hasn’t really worked. Is Watt right however that this is due to a low work ethic. Watt agrees that millions of British people work very hard. This might have provoked further thought but it doesn’t seem to have done.
Reasons for low productivity however hard people work relate to lack of investment in modern production techniques, poor working conditions, long hours, inadequate pay. Some of these can be addressed by workplaces being unionised- Brewdog does not recognise one.
Whether the private sector will invest in the UK economy is a perpetual issue- one the current Government is at least aware of, post Brexit. An alternative is for the State to invest directly and take control itself. The Government nationalised breweries and pubs in Carlisle during World War One and it worked well. Perhaps its time to nationalise Brewdog, especially as its long flagged IPO still hasn’t happened.
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