Today the Chancellor was in front business leaders at the British Chambers of Commerce conference extolling the virtues of in-person working, claiming working from home can lead to a chronic “loss of creativity“:

“The default will be you work in the office unless there’s a good reason not to be in the office… there is nothing like sitting around the table, seeing people face-to-face, developing team spirit – and I worry about the loss of creativity when people are permanently working from home and not having those water cooler moments where they bounce ideas off each other. Not every great business idea happens in a structured, formal meeting.”

Guido’s inclined to agree… the only problem is the latest data shows HM Treasury was only 63% occupied as of last month. Nearly a third of civil servants were away from their desks. They must all have good reasons…

Hat-tip: Elliot Keck