Do any of you remember, about 20 years ago, all those predictions that by the year 2000 we would all be driving around in hover-cars and relaxing in our solar-heated homes while robots did the washing-up? And then there was the one about how new technology was going to make our lives so much simpler that our only problem was going to be filling up all our free leisure time.
More recently, we have become more gloomy, preferring to predict that our very survival is threatened by global warming and T-bone steaks, and a lack of European health and safety legislation.
So it comes as no surprise to read the latest prediction. In a few years’
time there will be no unskilled jobs in Britain, says Digby Jones, director general of the Confederation of British Industry.
A fiver says you’re wrong, Mr Jones.