In his latest column, Tameside Radio's Breakfast presenter makes the case for high street shopping and a four-day working week.

WIth the news that Paperchase is to be submerged into Tesco stores, I popped into the White Rose Leeds branch recently to stock up on quirky greetings cards.

It saddens me that a brand that dates back to 1968 couldn't find a buyer, and my thoughts are with the 900 staff who face redundancy. We'll still see the name on a supermarket aisle, but that's about as soulless as buying a Pizza Express pizza to cook on the middle shelf at home for nine minutes. Sad times.

I still love shopping on the high street. A recent chat with A-List Fancy Dress in Ashton Market was illuminating, with owner Amanda Crossland offering everything from 80s party outfits to pocket money accessories, and even stuff from my childhood like the whoopee cushion ("emits a real Bronx cheer!"). As Amanda told me on Tameside Radio, you are supporting your local market when you shop with her, plus of course keeping a local business going rather than shelling out on items online that are made and shipped from overseas.

Shopping locally is a shared experience. I'm not going to try and convince you I don't buy some items online, as clearly that stretches credibility, but wherever possible I do try and buy in bricks and mortar stores.

Cinema is also a collective experience, and even though I often go to Cineworld alone in the afternoon due to my working hours, the immersive nature of the big screen is a world away from watching the latest Jennifer Lopez movie on Amazon Prime whilst scrolling through your Twitter and lounging in your Christmas pyjamas on the sofa. But enough about how I spent Monday evening.

I worry about a world in which we are all glued to our devices, and don't stop to look around us. It's all too easy to start replying to work e-mails in bed at night, and a lot of us are now always on duty in the sense of feeling that compulsion to send an instant reply when we spy a notification. There is something to be said for a recent trial of the four-day week, undertaken by 61 companies over a six-month period. 56 of them have opted to continue with their new working pattern, as staff redress their work-life balance and claim back some of their time.

There is a growing demand on politicians to give all workers in Britain a 32-hour week. If you work significantly more hours than this at the moment, you might have read that last sentence with an arched eyebrow. Whilst I'm not going to try and argue being a radio presenter is the toughest gig in the world, it does involve a lot of hours. As well as presenting live shows, I spend much of my time scouring for content, and whilst I often joke it's just playing records and waffling in between, a lot of time goes into trying to produce radio that I'm proud of and would want to listen to myself!

I took a week off in September when I went to stay in the lovely fishing village of Staithes, which recently featured on a charming episode of Countryfile. It really is a terrific place, and it was the closest I've come in years to truly switching off for a whole seven days. It was wonderful, and I hope to do the same again at the beginning of August.

It's been argued that the four-day week simply wouldn't work in Britain like in other countries that have already successfully adopted it. The recent research puts a spanner in the works of the neigh sayers, as a three-day weekend leaves workers refreshed and more productive in the four days they are at the coal face. We are all washed out after the pandemic, and I would suggest there's a link to another recent study that showed we are a nation of sleep zombies, with over nine in ten of us waking during the night.

The 4 Day Week Campaign argues that staff should be given the legal right to request a four-day working pattern. It will be interesting to see how politicians and bosses respond to this. Lord Sugar's call after the lockdown for workers to "get back to the offices" was met with vocal opposition, and I think there is certainly a generational shift going on.

Hybrid working is clearly the future, with the next generation not wanting to be defined by the jobs they do. I can only think this is a positive change for our mental health and wellbeing. It might also give us more time to hit the high street and support those local shops on those days off!

You can listen to Alex every weekday from 7am to 11am and on Saturdays from 3pm to 6pm, on Tameside Radio 103.6FM.