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to them and to the environment.’ Almost all the obstacles to regular cradle-to-grave biking could readily be overcome through more committed and imaginative forms of provision. Why not multi-lane tracks, with cover for those who want it, cycling colonnades in all our cities, rickshaw bikes for the too young and less able, showers and changing rooms and cafes at regular intervals on cycle tracks? Schemes like this look utopian in the present context of the car culture, but the costs would be negligible relative to that of continued expansion of the motorways (especially if one factors in the medical costs likely to be saved through better public health).

Going easy Speeding things up, delivering goods faster, getting more done, enhancing productivity, these are objectives that are all intimately connected with the contemporary adulation of speed and presented almost always as entirely laudable aspects of the modern work culture. Speed, in the context of work, is really about the saving of labour time, which in turn is about the extraction of further surplus value through minimising idleness or the time spent at less than the maximum productivity. Time becomes a currency that is spent, not passed, an objective force, as E P Thompson put it, ‘imprisoning the worker rather than a milieu in which they lived their life’. Today, we are still subject to that imprisonment. We may not be quite back with the work routines of the 19th century, but there is no doubt that we are still subject to a time-economy imposed by the quest for profit that is proving ever more environmentally catastrophic and is now impacting seriously on human happiness and well-being. Very few of the benefits we might have reaped in the form of free time from the unprecedented productivity of the last century have been realised. On the contrary, according to Juliet Schor’s researches (The Overworked American, 1991), in the US free time fell

by nearly 40 per cent since 1973 even though the productivity of the US worker has steadily increased (doubling since 1948). In the UK, a steady decline in working hours since the mid-19th century was halted in the 1990s, and two-fifths of the workforce are now working harder than in the 1980s. Bosses have also vetoed any more equitable distribution of work and wages as undermining the competitive ethos of the work culture. The consumerist treadmill and long-hour jobs have thus combined to form an insidious cycle of ‘work and spend’ whose powerful dynamic pre-empts the realisation of any more relaxed way of life. A recent study has found an increase in depression, strain, sleep loss and unhappiness during the 1990s among Britain’s six million public service workers, whose job satisfaction has now fallen dramatically. Moreover, the blurring of the work-life distinction that is the almost inevitable accompaniment of the 6070 hour week comes at enormous personal cost, and in an important sense erodes the possibility of any other form of fulfilment. There are now wife selecting and speed dating agencies pandering to the pathology of those whose job addiction has cost them all sense of the art of living. There is a whole service industry supplying round the clock childcare to those who can no longer spare the time for it themselves. Many, however, are now reacting against these forms of proxy living. According to Madeline Bunting in Willing Slaves(2004), there are ‘increasing numbers of Europeans arguing that there are characteristics of their quality of life – time for their children, time for pleasure, a degree of social cohesion, security and continuity of communities that they value more than higher GDP’. The solution here (and a start has been made in France with the introduction of the 35-hour week, although this is now under threat) is along the lines envisaged by Andréé Gorz; who advocates a reduction in the amount of time spent on ‘heteronomous’ waged labour of mass production and the expansion of the sphere of creative, autonomous work. Ultimately, as Gorz himself fully

The SlowFood movement, which originated in Italy two decades ago, was set up as a sensual, sociable alternative to McDonalds. GRAZIELLABALDOVINO issues an invitation to dinner

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Veryfewofthebenefits we mighthavereaped in the form offreetimefrom the unprecedented productivity ofthelastcenturyhave been realised

realises, this would require a break with capitalism – or at any rate a highly regulated market economy. In the meantime, in the lack of job-fulfilment affecting so many employees, we can discern signs of future pressure for moves that might finally enable wealth to be realised not in the profitdriven production of yet more ecologically damaging and socially exploitative commodities, but in the form of a life-enhancing expansion of free time. Many, of course, doubt our capacity to enjoy free time. This is hardly surprising in a culture where being in work is associated so closely with personal success and those without work are almost always deprived of the funds, amenities and forms of education needed either for the carefree enjoyment of idleness or for the more concentrated and passionate pursuit of private hobbies or cultural or sporting activities. But we cannot predict how people would react to less work were it no longer so closely associated with the stigmata of idleness, unemployment and reduced citizenship. Moreover, by working less we might also come to find it easier to relax and bring more resources to it. For why should all the more obsessive and frenetic aspects of our personalities be

harnessed to our work rather than put in play in other activities and forms of recreation? The shift required to transform the ‘ethics’ of work along these lines will certainly strike many as too utopian to be feasible, but it also seems utterly implausible to suppose that we can, either socially or environmentally, continue with current rates of expansion of production, work and consumption over the coming millennium, let alone into the more distant future.

Going without Several of the ‘other pleasures’ advocated above are obtainable without any further acquisition of goods or services, or through exchanging and recycling existing ones. There are also hedonistic reasons to opt out of some other forms of consumption. Going without more than the minimum of tools, gadgets, machinery and other complex or cumbersome equipment frees up space, saves the labour and frustrations of cleaning and repairing, and means there are fewer problems of waste disposal. One of the reasons why the hours spent on domestic chores have remained almost unchanged despite the

‘Tell mewhatyou eat, I’ll tell you who you are,’said theepicuristJean AnthelmeBrillat-Savarin; and when, in 1986, Italian journalistCarlo Petrini discovered a McDonalds branch nearthe Spanish Steps in Rome, hesawfood that was merelyfunctional, providing no nourishmentformind orbodyin a country renowned forLa DolceVita. Itsummed up howphysicallyand mentallydistantwehad becomefrom whatweeat. In response, Petrini setup theSlow Food movementas a resistanceto fast food and fastlife. Its philosophyis to champion thepleasures ofgood food, conversation, and a slower, moreaware paceoflife, as well as protectdiversity,

local cultureand traditions againstthe inexorablemarch offastcheap food. Slow Food respects theseasons, values the artisan, promotes animal welfareand believes everyonehas therightto delicious food shared in leisurelyconviviality. Today themovementhas expanded to 122 countries and over80,000 members. Iffastfood is likesexwithout consequence, a quickshag butyou wouldn’t wantitlong term, then slowfood is like passionatelove– thelongerthebuild up and anticipation themoretheunadulterated abandonmentand savouring, thelascivious, devouring sensuality. It’s thefull package– mind and body; ifyou cannotembraceit, then you cannotembracelife.

SlowFood is a cultural and political challenge, it’s food full ofsymbolism; making friends outofenemies, stimulating senses, loosening tongues, conjuring wistful longing and memories ofanothertimeorplace. It’s food thatcreates anticipation in an earthy whiffofwild mushrooms, and future happiness with theeasyperfection ofa ripe strawberry. SlowFood doesn’thaveto befancy; think ofthehedonism evoked in the Rubaiyatof OmarKhayyam – a loafofbread, a flaskof wineand thou. Justensureitisn’tWonderloaf becauseSlowFood is notbland and commodified buta commitmentto revelling in thechaos, laughterand danceoflife. Moreinformation www.slowfood.com