Lucy Burton

London

Employment Editor and Columnist at The Telegraph

Employment editor and columnist @telegraph.

Articles

How porn and gaming sapped young men of their desire to work

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Lucy Burton

“I am 22 and unemployed,” one person writes on the question-and-answer website Quora. “I am wasting [my] entire day watching porn and browsing Facebook. What should I do in my free time which is more productive?”The answers from well-meaning strangers are telling. Do a course, join the military, or learn to code so you can create fun apps for all the other bored 20-somethings out there who are watching porn all day. AdvertisementAdvertisement“Or try going outside,” jokes another.
How porn and gaming sapped young men of their desire to work

1 week ago | sg.finance.yahoo.com | Lucy Burton

Lucy Burton Thu, 29 May 2025 at 6:00 am GMT-5 7 min read young man looking at computer screen “I am 22 and unemployed,” one person writes on the question-and-answer website Quora. “I am wasting [my] entire day watching porn and browsing Facebook. What should I do in my free time which is more productive?” The answers from well-meaning strangers are telling.
How porn and gaming sapped young men of their desire to work

1 week ago | telegraph.co.uk | Lucy Burton

This frequently sparks mental health issues down the line, experts say, which in turn damages prospects for employment. A US study in 2017 warned that young men were spending more of their free time on video games "and other recreational computer activities". The economists behind the report said the increased time spent gaming had fuelled a drop in working hours for young men between 2000 and 2015.
British schools are teaching young boys to aim low

1 week ago | aol.co.uk | Lucy Burton

Some of the gardens which were on display at Chelsea Flower Show last week will now be en route to schools and colleges around the country. One of them will live at Uxbridge College, based in a London borough ranked one of the worst for education. I should know, given that I went to school in the area. The theme of the garden now zooming its way to Zone 6 is one of resilience, with seeds sprouting up through difficult conditions.
British schools are teaching young boys to aim low

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Lucy Burton

Some of the gardens which were on display at Chelsea Flower Show last week will now be en route to schools and colleges around the country. One of them will live at Uxbridge College, based in a London borough ranked one of the worst for education. I should know, given that I went to school in the area. The theme of the garden now zooming its way to Zone 6 is one of resilience, with seeds sprouting up through difficult conditions.
British schools are teaching young boys to aim low

1 week ago | telegraph.co.uk | Lucy Burton

The challenges are widespread. For a start, boys are much more likely to have identified special educational needs than girls (22pc compared to 12pc, according to official data) and so many will not be getting enough social or educational support in large classrooms. Boys are also far less likely to go on to higher education (40pc of boys compared to 54pc of girls), particularly if they are from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Rayner's tax plans threaten fresh wealth exodus

2 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Lucy Burton

Angela Rayner's proposed tax raid on savers and investors would trigger a fresh exodus of wealth creators from Britain, ministers have been warned. Andy Bell, the founder of AJ Bell, one of Britain's biggest consumer stockbrokers, warned that a blueprint drawn up by the Deputy Prime Minister would prompt businesses leaders and entrepreneurs to leave Britain. Many wealthy non-doms have already moved elsewhere after Labour scrapped the tax status earlier this year.
Thames Water drops plan to pay bosses bonuses from £3bn rescue loan

2 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Lucy Burton

Thames Water has dropped controversial plans to pay bosses six-figure bonuses from its £3bn rescue plan following pushback from ministers. Steve Reed, the Environment Secretary, told MPs that nobody should be “richly rewarded for overseeing failure” after Sir Adrian Montague, the utility company’s chairman, insisted the payments were needed to stop executives from being poached by rivals. Mr Reed told a parliamentary select committee that Thames Water’s retention payments had now been withdrawn.
Thames Water drops plan to pay bosses bonuses from £3bn rescue loan

2 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Lucy Burton

Thames Water has dropped controversial plans to pay bosses six-figure bonuses from its £3bn rescue plan following pushback from ministers. Steve Reed, the Environment Secretary, told MPs that nobody should be "richly rewarded for overseeing failure" after Sir Adrian Montague, the utility company's chairman, insisted the payments were needed to stop executives from being poached by rivals. Mr Reed told a parliamentary select committee that Thames Water's retention payments had now been withdrawn.
Labour’s ‘pub banter’ ban is fixing a made-up problem

2 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Lucy Burton

Rupert Soames, the outspoken CBI chief, hit the nail on the head last week when he told a union chief that businesses are often confronted with what he calls the “doctor problem”. Doctors, he explained, spend the majority of their time with just 5pc of people who are ill. Like GPs, the HR headaches employers face typically stem from a tiny fraction of staff.