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 but these are the people who are most at risk of technological redundancy: those are the jobs that really can, and should, be carried out by machine.
 ====Songs of innocence and experience====
-It is tempting to blame the call back to the office on the older generation. Jemima Kelly blames “the usual grumblings of old age”. Kyla Scanlon derides “pea-brains” who “can’t envision a future different than the present”.
+It is tempting to blame the siren call of the office on “the usual grumblings of old age”, or “pea-brains” who “can’t envision a future different than the present”.
-But, over the long term by which this cultural shift will be measured, Generation X won’t have much of a say, and the Boomers none: they’re at retirement age now. If a system effect will draw people back into offices it will come from the bottom. Not, that is, from grumpy boomers, nor management, but from ''people wanting your job''.
+But over the long term, by which cultural shifts measured, Generation X won’t have much of a say, and the Boomers none: they’re at retirement age now. Any [[system effect]] that draws people back into physical offices will be prompted by the people ''entering'' the system, not those leaving it. If won’t be grumpy boomers driving this, but from ''people wanting jobs''.
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 :— William Blake, “Holy Thursday”, from ''Songs of Innocence'' (1789)}}
-We are not fixed in time and space. Each of us is on a private life journey. At the start, we sing a song of innocence: we have little to offer but energy, effort and longevity. But then we learn. We practice. We get better. We get experience. By degrees, our relative value shifts from ''energy and time'' to ''wisdom and judgment''.
+We are not fixed in time and space. We are each on our own private life journey. At the start, we sing only songs of innocence: we have little to offer but energy, effort and time. But then we learn. We practice. We get better. We grow. We ''experience''. ''We get old''.
-''We get old''.
+By degrees, our relative value shifts from ''energy and time'' to ''wisdom and judgment''.
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 Marks of weakness, marks of woe.<br>
 :— William Blake, “London”, from ''Songs of Experience'' (1794)}}
-By the end, we sing songs of experience. The boomers have almost gone now. Generation X — short years ago a bunch of scrappy, stroppy, hungry upstarts — are now worldly-wise, world-weary and valued not for energy but experience. They have little left to prove: what advancement they stood to gain happened, or didn’t, but the ship has sailed. They have little further need for their elbows. (Those with the sharpest elbows are already out of sight). If someone will pay them a decent wage to work from home, then happy days. These are not the cohort trying to force anyone back to the office. Why ''would'' they?
+By the end, we sing only songs of experience. We who, short years ago, were scrappy, stroppy, hungry upstarts — are now worldly-wise, world-weary and valued not for our energy but our ''experience''. We have little to prove: what advancement we stood to gain happened, or didn’t, but either way the ship sailed. We have little further need for elbows: those who had them, used them and by now are long since out of sight. If someone will pay us a decent wage to work from home, happy days.
-Remember the dynamic at the ''front end'' of the labour curve, where new generations enter it: the main point of difference between graduates is energy. ''Graft''. Expertise and skill comes later. Now, organisations need to find people with energy. Equally, graduates seeking jobs, and those with jobs seeking advancement, will want to demonstrate it.
+This is not the cohort trying to force anyone back to the office. Why ''would'' we? That would mean ''we'' had to come back. too. Who amongst Generation X wants ''that''? Lockdown ''rocked''.
-And, culturally, how do we symbolise energy and effort? ''We turn up''.
+But there ''is'' a group who wants that.
-So as the seasons turn, and existing graduates grow into subject matter experts, existing subject matter experts move on and yet new generations, with boundless energy, enter the workforce, it is not hard to see the [[system effect]] at work. We of the COVID generation will eventually leave the workforce. Those with the personal circumstances, experience and relationship capital to justify it, will continue to work remotely, as they always did. And the rest will tend back to the office.
+Remember the dynamic at the ''front end'' of the labour curve, where new generations enter it: a graduate’s main point of differentiation from her peers is ''energy'': expertise and skill comes later. Organisations need to find people with energy. Graduates seeking jobs, and those with jobs seeking advancement, want to show it.
+And, culturally, how do we symbolise energy and effort?
+''We turn up''.
+So as the seasons turn, and existing graduates grow into subject matter experts, existing subject matter experts move on and yet new generations, with boundless energy, enter the workforce, it is not hard to see the [[system effect]] at work. We of the COVID generation will eventually collect our belongings. Those with the personal circumstances, experience and relationship capital to justify it, will continue to work remotely, as they always did. And the rest will tend back to the office —
 Until the next pandemic.