Join “A Drink with the Idler” as we chat to comedian Robert Wringham about freedom and how to escape the daily grind

Are you satisfied by your job? Do you leap out of bed each morning with a song in your heart, eager to travel swiftly and painlessly to a fabulous workplace where the layout and technology are perfectly adapted to your goals and needs?

If so, Robert Wringham’s new book The Good Life for Wage Slaves is not for you.

If, on the other hand, your experience of the worker-consumer lifestyle is, in Robert’s words, “a screaming Hell of clueless, unsatisfying, underpaid, carcinogenic, insecure shambling that you never signed up for and is an affront to your years of difficult and expensive study”, The Good Life for Wage Slaves might be the helpful volume–or at least the shoulder to cry on–you’ve been waiting for.

At our first Idler “Drink” of 2025 we’ll be talking to the comedian and writer about the art of escape from the worker-consumer treadmill.

The discussion between Robert and Idler editor Tom Hodgkinson will be followed by a live Q&A when you’ll be given the chance to ask your own questions, and the Idler Academy’s Head of Philosophy Dr Mark Vernon will present a short “thought for the week” to get our brains fizzing.

The event will be hosted by Idler Academy director Victoria Hull.

This is an online event. It should be like meeting up in the pub for an interesting conversation. We leave the meeting open at the end so you can carry on chatting.

Robert Wringham is a comedian and writer. He also advocates for escape from the worker-consumer treadmill in favour of creative, fugal leisure. He is the editor of New Escapologist, a magazine for former and current wage slaves to discuss their successful (and unsuccessful) escape plans. His previous book on the topic, Escape Everything!, is a collection of actionable escape plans. He is writer and presenter of the Idler Academy course “How to Escape”, a guide to autonomy in the modern world.

Tom Hodgkinson is editor of the Idler and author of the best-selling manuals, How to Be Idle and How to Be Free. Other publications include a book on parenting, the Ukulele Handbook and a manual for creative entrepreneurs, Business for Bohemians.

Dr Mark Vernon is a psychotherapist, writer, broadcaster, and teacher. He presents several Idler Academy online courses. He has a PhD in philosophy, and degrees in theology and physics. His most recent books include The Idler Guide to Ancient Philosophy (Idler Books), Love: All that Matters (Hodder) and Jung: How to Believe (Guardian Shorts) – and he has books on friendship, belief and the good life too. Mark can often be heard on Radio 4’s Moral Maze. He began his professional life as a priest in the Church of England. For more, visit markvernon.com.

Victoria Hull is director of the Idler Academy, producing the Idler’s live and online events and courses.