The Economist.
Hello, Alok Jha here.
I host Babbage, our science and tech podcast.
Welcome to Editors' Picks.
Here's an article handpicked from the latest edition of The Economist, read aloud.
I thought you might enjoy it.
When Monica Lewinsky, once an intern at the White House,
was cajoled into a lunch date by Linda Tripp, a colleague wearing a wire,
she was met by fbi agents and taken to a room in Washington's Ritz-Carlton Hotel to be interrogated.
What seemed like an innocent lunch date
was one of the first steps towards a presidential impeachment.
Yet one of the more remarkable aspects of the story
is that even lowly workers took lunch in a restaurant back in those days.
The clearly delineated lunch break has fallen out of favour in these more pressured times.
Knocking off for a midday meal could now be perceived as a sign of idleness.
What was once called a "lunch hour" is now more likely to consist of a sandwich "al desko".
According to a study by the Hartman Group, a market-research firm,
62% of American office workers regularly eat at their workstations.
Some will mourn the decline of sybaritic three-course affairs
with wine, perhaps bookended with cocktails and a cigar.