Brits left stranded by one of the biggest job crises in a generation were said to be considering a BA (Hons) in Billionnaireism and retraining as a “rich man with good connections from boarding school” last night following comments from Rishi Sunak.
The chancellor sparked outrage after he suggested people “in all walks of life” should look to find new opportunities as the economic downturn ensues, saying: “I can’t pretend that everyone can do exactly the same job that they were doing at the beginning of this crisis”.
His intervention sparked a backlash from leading figures in the arts, who have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, with Liam Gallagher, former Bake Off host Sue Perkins, author Ian Rankin and former Charlatans singer Tim Burgess expressing their angst.
If anyone needs to retrain it’s them shower of CUNTZ c’mon you know LG x
— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) October 6, 2020
That’s it. I’m retraining as Chancellor of the Exchequer
— Sue Perkins (@sueperkins) October 6, 2020
Without the arts, our lives are impoverished. This is nuts. https://t.co/gWeRfQ2iby
— Ian Rankin (@Beathhigh) October 6, 2020
Put to the chancellor that he was telling people to “go and get a different job”, Sunak replied: “That fresh and new opportunity for people – that’s exactly what we should be doing.”
But with job vacancies at an all-time low, people have been left scratching their heads as to how they might achieve that.
In July a South London pub received 484 applications for 2 bar jobs, signalling that the market looked to be in dire straits.
gonna retrain as a "rich man with good connections from boarding school"
— Ken Cheng (@kenchengcomedy) October 6, 2020
The reaction to Sunak’s suggestion that simply seeking “fresh opportunities” has been far from complementary. We have picked out some of best comments:
One First Class Honours degree, one Masters degree, 12 years of professional experience as a director & assistant director, ten years of experience as a teacher & mentor.
— Rachel Heyburn ?? (@rachel_heyburn) October 6, 2020
I don’t need to retrain @RishiSunak. I need a gov who recognises our value. https://t.co/ii9Q47X5UC
Can you imagine if – in 2007 during the economic crash when the banks were bailed out by the tax payer – we said Bankers should retrain as cleaners
— Aaron Twitchen (@AaronTwitchen) October 6, 2020
Or if now we said disgraced politicians should retrain as mechanics instead of going on strictly https://t.co/pz97oawcuc
As this government has failed so badly on so many levels might I suggest Johnson, Sunak, Hancock etal retrain for jobs they are more suited to ?https://t.co/sWwFXujWhq
— Con O'Neill (@cononeilluk) October 6, 2020
You can’t credibly advise people to retrain due to the broken economy if you are one of the people who, for huge profit, enabled the breakdown of that economy.
— Musa Okwonga (@Okwonga) October 6, 2020
“New chancellor Rishi Sunak cashed in on fund that helped break banks” The Sunday Times https://t.co/N5wUAdKWGE