A podcast with the ex Labour leader has Tom Hodgkinson wondering if Ed might be heading in an idler-friendly direction

One of the problems with advocating idling for a living is that it can be a lot of work. It’s work I enjoy, love, have chosen and feel very lucky to be able to do (and I’m one of those annoying people who love the sound of their own voice). But I’m often teased by readers for working too hard. “Live the brand!” they say, wisely.

So, in order to address this, I’ve decided to take a summer break from my weekly Letters From the Editor. So this will be the last one till 7 September.

Doubtless this will be a relief to many of you, who may well be tired of my ceaseless yakking.

But if for some miraculous reason you want more, then may I direct you to these three recent podcasts and shows on which I appeared as a guest?

On Wednesday night I went into the BBC studios at Portland Place and gabbled away on an episode of The Moral Maze called “Is Idleness Good For Us?” It was all very good-natured. One of the other guests was a crazed anti-idler who works 16 hours and drinks ten cups of coffee each day. Panellist Giles Fraser thought this chap made quite a good advertisement for the Idler, as his life didn’t sound like much fun. So not so much The Moral Maze, then, more The Moral Laze ha ha. Listen here.

Ed Miliband was my interlocutor on Reasons to Be Cheerful, the “ideas” podcast he makes with Geoff Lloyd. We discussed practical ways to resist the attention economy. Who knows, maybe Miliband, former Labour Party leader and now Labour MP for Doncaster North, will lobby for more idling for the citizenry? Listen here.

Then I talked non-stop on Let it Be Easy with the delightful Susie Moore, a life coach who lives in Florida (which sounds like quite an idler-friendly state). Listen here.

If that’s not enough chattering for you, I’ll be droning on with the great John Lloyd at the Wilderness festival at noon on Sunday 6 August. We’ll be speaking from a large double bed and the event is called “A Lie-in with the Idler“. So if you’re attending that particular bacchanal, please do come along to the Forum tent and lounge around with us. We’ll be giving away free “antiworkbooks” complete with inaction points and blank pieces of paper for your notes and doodles.

Meanwhile, if you see a copy of the Idler this summer in a Smiths, Waitrose or Waterstones, or anywhere else, then do help us by moving it to the front of the rack, or by reading it and laughing very loudly so that other customers near you are startled and become curious as to the cause of your merriment, or indeed by buying a copy.

I’ll shut up now. Happy holidays.

PS Summer reading for me will be Paradise Lost. As you may know, we’ve just made a brilliant online course with author and Milton expert Anna Beer, which really brings the poem to pulsating life. With Anna as your guide you are going to love Milton. Here is the trailer where Anna argues for the sheer joy of reading of Milton (and by the way, when you watch her videos, you can place them discreetly in the corner of your screen, so you can look like you’re working to anyone who wanders past).

Now I really will shut up.