The other day I watched again a famous comedy film which parodies British industrial relations, I’m Alright, Jack! The managing director (played by Dennis Price) wants to get a lucrative foreign order transferred ‐ with the foreign buyer’s connivance ‐ to his brother’s firm as part of a mutually beneficial secret deal. So, playing on the natural militancy of the workforce, led by the shop steward (Peter Sellers), he engineers a strike. He brings in a time‐and‐motion study man (John LeMesurier) to record, unwittingly, the abnormally high work rate of a “random” employee who just happens to be the only hard worker in the factory! To the chagrin of the long‐suffering personnel officer (Terry‐Thomas), he then issues new schedules based on this abnormal work rate ‐ and industrial chaos is assured! Finally he congratulates LeMesurier: “These findings are exactly what I engaged you to come up with!”