I heard with interest Stuart Rose’s views regarding working from home. The former head honcho of M&S and Asda told BBC journalists: “We are creating a whole generation and probably a generation beyond that of people who are used to actually not doing what I call proper work.”

Somewhat predictably, Alan Sugar agrees with him, telling his employees (and The Times): “Get back to work. If you don’t like it, s*d off. ”

My initial thoughts were that the venerable Lords’ opinions are a) out of date, and b) very rude.

Sure, their lengthy and highly successful stints in business lend some credibility to their perspective. And, as my Other Half pointed out, they were asked a question by my professional peers, and had every right to answer it honestly.

But is it really fair to tar an entire section of the working population with the same unflattering brush? According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), 28 per cent of working adults in Great Britain – around 9.5-million - were hybrid working in autumn 2024. That’s a lot of people – and yes, that figure includes yours truly.

I was sent home on furlough at the start of the pandemic, and although I returned to work, I never returned to the office. I consider myself industrious enough, and don’t take kindly to the implication that I’m a bit of a slacker. It’s patronising, reminiscent of those family members who thought you didn’t know “the meaning of work” if you hadn’t done a 12-hour shift down a coal/tin mine with a pickaxe in your hand.

In truth, the nature of the workplace had changed significantly even before COVID. The reason so many of us could be directed to work from the spare room, thereby keeping the economy going, was because the internet made it easy to do many jobs remotely.

That so many of us discovered that, and actually liked it that way, seems to have come as a shock to bosses who still cleave to the idea that “real work” can only take place between 9am and 5pm at a location of their choosing, and anyone who isn’t seen to be doing it must be sitting with their feet up, G&T in hand, at their expense.

I worked from home briefly in my 20s, and loathed it. The job made me miserable and I missed the social interaction – I kept thinking there had to be more to life. My next two positions involved commutes excessive for the South West, but were still preferable to home working (I timed them to coincide with The Archers).

Two decades on, I am taxi driver for a teenager with a busy social life and elderly in-laws with a calendar rammed with health-related appointments. I appreciate being allowed to fit these around my job, on the clear understanding that provided the work gets done to the required standard, it’s OK to pop out for a short while.

Lord Rose says if people working in hospitals can fit family life around their jobs, so can I. But are we really suggesting that everyone should have to travel to a workplace, even those who don’t need to, just to be fair to those who have no choice? That sounds like petty vengeance to me.

I suspect Lords Rose and Sugar are basing their views on their experience of the South-East. Newsflash: the South West jobs market is rather different to that of the capital, and many would consider a 90-minute commute from Truro to, say, Exeter a colossal waste of time and money.

Working from home not only enables employees to apply for jobs they might otherwise dismiss, it also gives employers a wider range of fantastic candidates.

I’m Voice Newspapers’ Truro reporter and I live on my patch. If I had to travel to head office in Launceston to work, I would spend all my time either on the road or at a desk 40 miles from the places I’m writing about. What would be the point in that?

When I do go to HQ, I find the presence of others very distracting – talking, coughing, even breathing puts me off (sorry, guys) - and I realise how I’ve got very used to my own physical and head space.

Home working isn’t without its downsides. My world often feels small, and I occasionally find I’ve spent a little too long yakking on the phone to a random person who is desperate to hang up. I have to make a conscious effort to get out, and don’t get enough exercise. Oh, and Office-based OH nags me endlessly to do tiresome chores on the assumption I have time because I’m “at home”.

But on balance, it suits me just fine. Anyway, the kettle is calling. If Lord Rose fancies coffee and home-made banana bread, the offer is there.