Last week it was Bournemouth, this week it’s been Brighton and next week it will be Manchester.

Party conference season, like autumn, is upon us again. They are all covered on the BBC Parliament channel though they’re unlikely to break any viewing figure records.

Even politics junkies like me find most of the proceedings fairly tedious. The leaders’ speeches are the only real highlights.

Most of the coverage of this week’s Labour conference has focused on the party’s contortions over Brexit. But there was something much more interesting at the Labour conference that should have received more attention.

It was shadow chancellor’s John McDonnell’s proposal that in 10 years’ time the average British worker should be working just 32 hours a week.

Whether or not it’s possible or likely, it certainly sounds appealing.

Those of us lucky enough to have full-time jobs spend most of our waking hours working, travelling to and from work or thinking about it.

Essentially you sacrifice most of your life for it. You’re only reminded why once a month, on pay day.

Once you start full-time employment – as opposed to temporary or part-time work – you notice the full value of weekends, bank holidays and annual leave.

Millions of people are exhausted or suffering mental stress from overwork. It was never meant to be like this.

In the 1930s economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that we’d be working 30 hours a week by 2030 – and our problem would be filling our extra leisure time.

A future in which humans worked less and machines worked more was a longstanding theme in science fiction as well. It must have seemed like science fact with the invention of vacuum cleaners, dishwashers and automatic washing machines.

We wonder how we ever coped without them. For frazzled housewives everywhere there could hardly have been a sweeter sound than a washing machine or dishwasher chugging softly in the background.

Yet that link between greater automation and greater leisure time has been broken, in Britain more than in other European countries. And we’re no more productive for it.

Full-time employees in Britain work an average of 42.5 hours per week, higher than the European Union average of 41.2. We work longer than in any other EU nation except Greece or Austria.

People in the country with the shortest full-time week, the Netherlands, work on average 34.9 hours. And yet Dutch workers are more productive than we are.

Of course employers are complaining about McDonnell’s proposal – although it should be remembered that it’s 10 years away.

We can take their warnings with a pinch of salt. They complained about the national minimum wage too, claiming it would destroy jobs – and it didn’t.

It stood to reason that it would encourage employment. When the lowest wages rose, it became worthwhile coming off the dole and taking a job.

The money got spent and the whole economy benefited.

When we stopped sending children up chimneys or down mines there were probably warnings about how the economy would collapse and how it would destroy all the jobs for seven-year-old workers.

No doubt some said it was all down to bleeding heart liberal do-gooders and the nanny state.

They’d probably have blamed the BBC and the EU as well, if they had existed then.

Let’s leave aside the obvious benefits of a shorter working week – more time with families, lower stress levels – and consider how it would help us tackle the greatest crisis facing the human race.

In 2007 the US state of Utah redefined the working week for state employees. It extended hours from Monday to Thursday, but everyone got Friday off.

Within 10 months, the move had saved the state at least £1.36m in energy costs – through less office lighting, less air conditioning and less time running electrical equipment.

That’s not to mention the carbon emissions cut through less commuting.

We have no choice but to cut back on our carbon output. A four-day week would be a very effective way to do it. Can we afford to leave it 10 years?