It’s our first few weeks back at work after the festive break, and let’s be honest, you’d be lying if calling in sick one day hadn’t crossed your mind by now, especially when the early-morning alarm was ringing in your ears.
If that’s you, don’t worry as new research has suggested that regionally, the North West ranks in fourth place for likeliness to call in sick to work compared to anywhere else in the country.
The study from personal injury experts claims.co.uk analysed the Office of National Statistics (ONS) sickness absence data from 2018 to 2022, and they identified a range of demographics – which recorded where, when, and why Brits are prone to ‘pulling a sickie’.
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Every year, the UK workforce loses on average 146.6 million days due to sickness, which equates to approximately 4.5 days per worker, or almost a full working week, and in January especially, employers pay particular attention to absences, as workers often contend with flu season, as well as post-holiday blues, and holiday-related illnesses.
Understandably, there’s no way to record how many of these requests were genuine or whether they just fancied hitting snooze for an extra three hours on a Monday morning after a heavy weekend… but hey, we’ve all been there, right?
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In our corner of the country, people in the North West are losing a combined 16.5 million working days a year, which equates to a slightly above-average 4.7 working days per person.
Taking the top spot is the North East, with 5.1 days lost annually, while the the East Midlands finished in a close second with 4.9 days off per year, and then just marginally-ahead of the North West in third place was Yorkshire and Humberside on 4.8 days lost.
The North West has placed four on the list of UK regions / Credit: Jose Losada (via Unsplash)
When we break down the stats, there’s some interesting variables that people might not expect.
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You’d think the age group most likely to ring in sick would be the youngest, but it turns out that’s not the case, as the young’uns are only losing an estimated 10.2 million days per year – which is 65.2% lower than the average, and instead, with an average of 56.3 million total days lost per year, it’s the 50 to 64-year-olds who come out on top.
Mancs stunned as Northern Lights glow above Greater Manchester in rare solar storm
Daisy Jackson
Greater Manchester was treated to a once-in-a-lifetime display of the Northern Lights overnight.
The skies above our region lit up in shades of pink and green in a shimmering spectacle that had the nation stunned.
The Northern Lights are normally only visible much further north, with many travelling to countries like Iceland and Norway to catch a glimpse – but last night, the show came to Manchester.
It’s all been caused by a ‘severe solar storm, which hit Earth on Friday night, and may continue into Saturday.
Space weather experts issued the rare geomagnetic storm warning – the first in 20 years – on Friday.
But most of us were blown away to actually see the Northern Lights dancing over Manchester.
The huge solar storm predicted by NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) supercharged the Aurora Borealis.
They said that ‘additional solar eruptions could cause geomagnetic storm conditions to persist through the weekend’.
Then here comes the science: “A large sunspot cluster has produced several moderate to strong solar flares since Wednesday at 5am ET.
The Northern Lights pictured over Greater Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
“At least five flares were associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that appear to be Earth-directed. SWPC forecasters will monitor NOAA and NASA’s space assets for the onset of a geomagnetic storm.
“CMEs are explosions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun’s corona. They cause geomagnetic storms when they are directed at Earth.
“Geomagnetic storms can impact infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on Earth’s surface, potentially disrupting communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations.
“SWPC has notified the operators of these systems so they can take protective action.
“Geomagnetic storms can also trigger spectacular displays of aurora on Earth.”
If you look to the skies over Manchester tonight, there’s a chance you’ll see the Northern Lights again.
Just try not to cry as much as we did.
In pictures – the Northern Lights over Manchester
Joyful as a big kid. Mesmerising. Real life moment, never seen them before. Anyone else looking up? pic.twitter.com/a7B4kqBkfY
— NOT QUITE LIGHT – NQL (@NotQuiteLight) May 10, 2024
A company has created some extremely sarcastic greeting and birthday cards mocking Co-op Live
Danny Jones
A UK card company has decided to join in with the pile on over Co-op Live’s chaotic ‘opening’ weeks by creating a series of greeting and birthday cards mocking the arena and its ongoing saga.
If you’re a deeply sarcastic person who struggles to be sincere with those you hold nearest and dearest or simply want to get a co-worker something that says we care that you’re leaving but not so much as to let go without one final dig, these are right up your street.
So, with that in mind, greeting card company thortful – who are just as good at novelty as they are being actually thoughtful when it comes to words – have come up with a few clever little ways of wishing someone a happy birthday or congratulating them on their new home at the arena’s expense.
There’s a new home version of this one too.(Credit: thortful)
Not bad, to be fair.
Tim Leiweke, Chairman and CEO of Oak View Group (which owns and operates Co-op Live), recently released a statement offering his ‘sincere apologies’ and explaining the steps being taken during the venue’s ‘short pause’.
He admitted, “It’s not been the smooth start we had planned for, and I know that has caused a huge amount of disruption and frustration to thousands of people”, adding that they are “working incredibly hard to get the building up and running, and we look forward to welcoming you to the arena from 14 May 2024.”
The London-based card company is known for lots of comedy captions and with every Tom, Dick and Harry taking a pop at the venue already, they clearly thought ‘We might as well join in’.
In fact, they’ve been taking the mick ever since the whole thing kicked off.
The date mentioned above will see Manc music legends Elbow arrive as the venue’s new opening act artists after so many other acts ended up having their gigs pulled and we can only hope and pray that everything is on course for next week.
With more and more names being announced for their 2024 and 2025 calendar left right and centre, the most recent being rapper Travis Scott, it looks as though they’re confident that the arena will open and live up to the expectations it has built up given its billing as the biggest indoor entertainment in the UK.
As for thortful and everyone else, we just have to wait with bated breath to see if there’s set to be another twist in this tale and enjoy the light-hearted jokes in the meantime.