Few changes in patterns of work have been as disruptive as those seen over the past 15 months. Before the pandemic London, like many western cities, was at the centre of a vast web of intense commuting by public transport.

Few changes in patterns of work have been as disruptive as those seen over the past 15 months. Before the pandemic London, like many western cities, was at the centre of a vast web of intense commuting by public transport. But when the lockdown eases, why return to travelling to work if it can be done from home? And what if there is not enough work to go to? This is an excellent moment, therefore, to ask even more fundamental questions about work: what it contributes to integral human development, as well as what it means to the economy as a whole.

St Mary’s University, Twickenham, is holding an online conference this week on “Rerum Novarum 130 Years on: The Future of the World of Work”. The Tablet is one of its sponsors. In Rerum Novarum Pope Leo XIII in 1891 offered an outspoken critique of the cruelties and injustices suffered by millions of workers since the start of the industrial revolution. It became the bedrock on which an impressive edifice of official Catholic teaching has been constructed.

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