Who are all these people who keep being photographed on Bournemouth beach and elsewhere, frolicking in the midday sun? None of them, obviously, work for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or the TUC. None of them can possibly be members of the Unite union, nor Unison, nor the GMB.

It is little wonder that UK productivity is on the floor – and falling in the public sector

How can I be so sure? Because if they were, they would be surely sheltering indoors, in the shade, with the fan on and their feet immersed in a bucket of cold water. All these organisations have been lobbying the government for a maximum working temperature.

While the HSE hasn’t yet put a figure on it, it wants employers to be forced to carry out ‘heat assessments’ before allowing their employees to carry on working

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