A SCAR ON BRITISH BUSINESS! (weekly poem)

The Institute of Directors says, “the actions of

Sports Direct will leave a scar on British business”.

The Institute of Directors, (1)

Has suffered a mental block;

A British firm that shafts its staff,

Gor blimey-what a shock!

It’s paying its employees,

Less than the legal wage;

Which really is extraordinary,

In this flush day and age.

It’s treating folk like wage-slaves,

(It really is that bad!)

And this for British business,

Is the wrong kind of ad.

It times them in their toilet breaks,

Inside the factory;

It clocks them working on the line,

And there’s no time for tea.

It treats them as sub-human,

As if they were machines;

The market’s not supposed to have,

Such vile inherent genes.

Part of their working day’s unpaid,

Oh dear what a surprise!

How could they drag down in the mud,

God’s private enterprise?

We know that making profits,

For the shareholding few;

Is doing favours not for them,

But just for me and you.

And ‘self-interest’ ain’t selfishness,

By any other name;

But as per Smith it profits all, (2)

In his unworldly claim!

(1) Simon Walker, Director General of the I. of D.

(2) Adam Smith in his The Wealth of Nations claimed that

business self-interest profited all-except when it colluded to

raise prices and obtained special privileges from government.

© Richard Layton