YOU know the relative on Facebook who shares articles from satirical websites like The Onion and says ‘HOW IS THIS NEWS’? That’s Alan Sugar. 

The man has 5.2 million Twitter followers, of which maybe 400 are following for his business acumen and the rest to see what spectacular nonsense he hits out with next.

In April 2018, Sugar genuinely did share an Onion article in the belief that it was real, and we’re not talking about one of their more subtle works of satire.

The caption read: “Taylor Swift Grateful Kanye West Controversy Taking Heat Off New Swastika Tattoo”, and was accompanied by a photoshopped image of the pop superstar sporting a giant swastika tattoo on her face. 

If that pops up on your timeline, you’re either laughing or thinking ‘hmm, I get what they’ve done but that’s not for me’.

Not my boy Sugar though. No, he found a third way, which was to share the article and tweet: “Eh I don’t get this. Can someone explain is she making a statement or what?”

He has form in this area. For some, March 22, 2020, is remembered as the last day before Britain entered lockdown.

For many others, it will be forever known as the day when a spoof headline did the rounds which read: “BREAKING NEWS: Russia unleashed more than 500 lions on its streets to ensure that people are staying indoors during this pandemic outbreak.”

Sugar shared the picture of a lion in a car park with the caption: “Is this a wind up?”

Yes, Alan. Yes, it is.

I’ve not touched on his offensive tweet about the Senegal football team, or even the time he tweeted: “The chicken these these chose as not free f Range they were banged up like Julian Asarge”. I just fought a lengthy battle with spellcheck in order to bring you Sugar’s words verbatim.

He’s also shown no remorse for having foisted Katie Hopkins upon the world in his role as boss on The Apprentice.

All of which is to say, his opinions aren’t to be taken with a pinch of salt so much as an Eddie Stobart’s worth of it.

That’s why it was no surprise when he completely failed to grasp the benefits of working from home.

In response to an article about accountants being given Friday afternoons off, Sugar tweeted: “This is a bloody joke. The lazy gits make me sick. Call me old-fashioned but all this work from home BS is a total joke.

“There is no way people work as hard or productive as when they had to turn up at a work location. The pandemic has had long-lasting negative effect.”

Lord Sugar is just the latest multimillionaire to dismiss those who have spent the pandemic working from home as workshy, and attempt to ensure the plebs are deprived of anything that makes their lives even slightly more bearable. 

Working from home has been a godsend for many during the pandemic, myself included. The novelty has long since worn off, and there are many days on which I miss the face-to-face interaction with colleagues that I enjoyed pre-Covid, but as someone in the ‘clinically vulnerable’ category it’s kept me safe for two years while enabling me to keep paying the bills. 

The likes of Boris Johnson and Richard Madeley have recently joined Sugar in suggesting that working from home has a negative impact on productivity, but is it not possible that having an extra hour’s sleep might in fact make you more productive?

There’s been little to suggest otherwise, with a recent study from Texas A&M University School of Public Health finding no evidence that working from home has a negative impact on productivity.

With restrictions having been lifted, many are now opting for hybrid working, in which they work the same hours but spread them between home and the workplace. If those employees still hit targets while maintaining a healthier work/life balance, why would anyone have a problem with that?

It turns out we don’t need to be visible to our bosses at all times in order to achieve results. 

We’ve seen that productivity didn’t fall. We’ve spent the extra time with ourselves and our families. We’ve had the longer lie-in. That genie won’t fit back in the bottle. 

We know there’s something better out there than losing two hours a day to a commute that involves being squashed into subway carriages, waiting in the rain for a bus or being overcharged for petrol before sitting in a traffic jam. 

Just as Andy Dufresne didn’t crawl through 500 yards of foulness and trek all the way to Zihuatanejo just to collect Red and bring him back to Shawshank State Penitentiary, so I have no intention of being trapped under an oniony oxter among maskless commuters just to carry out a job I can do every bit as well in my dressing gown.

And if you think comparing a standard subway journey to 40 years wrongly imprisoned is the most ridiculous thing you’ll read today, give @Lord_Sugar a follow.