There was an interesting political story this week, which you have missed amongst the news of infighting, pillar boxes, Donald Trump and Brexit.

That was the announcement that the trade union Community and the Fabian Society have set up a two-year commission to look at how technology is going to impact workers over the coming years and what governments, trade unions and companies need to do in order to ensure that the jobs of the future are ‘good jobs’ not ‘bad jobs’.

Yvette Cooper MP, who is chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, launched the commission and its initial findings, which show that around a quarter of people think their job will no longer be needed as a result of technology.

Cooper points out that if you look at the lag between protecting people in the workplace and the start of the industrial revolution, we have good reason for concern. She cites how technology could be used to force workers to operate like machines, as their every waking moment is tracked for productivity.

Anyone who’s seen Adam Curtis’ documentary All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace will be familiar with the superficially compelling trap of humans trying to behave like computers – it’s unlikely to end well, and signs have not been good so far.

It’s widely believed that technological automation is going to bring massive changes to us all. Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams’ book Inventing the Future says rather than resist the changes technology will create, bring it on – force the pace of automation so that we can acknowledge it and prepare for it properly; possibly with a guaranteed minimum income.

The Community / Fabian Society commission looks like it’ll be addressing some of those issues. That can only be a good thing for all of us.

- Matt Turmaine is a Labour councillor for Holywell