Working Hours

The New Economics Foundation, an out of the box Think Tank, has just issued a report to say the quality of life, especially for children, would be hugely improved if people worked earned and spent less and had more time for family, children, civic contributions and leisure.

This is bold and worthwhile thinking. The manic approach to work now prevalent in order to endlessly consume more and more is a daft way to organise life and causes much suffering.It reduces life to an adjunct of commerce rather than the reverse.

The solution of a 21 hour week proposed in this report may not be realistic, however. For the well paid to earn less would be no problem because their reduced living standard would remain comfortable. For those on low pay it would not be possible to make ends meet. This is why we desperately need a plan to reduce the overall cost of housing and the false value base which inflated domestic property has created in the national balance sheet.