The work/life balance is wrong in this country, its even worse in some other countries. People work and are expected to work for far too long hours. The French are more on the right track, i think they work an average of about 30 hours a week, that is about ideal, providing it pays enough to cover lifes essentials and also allows for some treats and luxuries too. Working endless long hours until you are almost 70 years old, just to aquire more, bigger, better, newer stuff that you dont need is all wrong.
Ledbury a lot of poorly paid people dont know that they are entitled to "working tax credits" this gives them an extra £40 a week, but 3/4 people arent made aware that they are entitled to this. I was told this by a helpfull job centre advisor. I wasnt offended by your post, but was a little angry as it sounded like something out of the comments section on the daily fail, they either make me laugh or make me see red. Anyway, it was a fleeting emotion, and my post channelled it away, so there are no hard feelings, but there was a flaw in the logic of your post about making the unemployed work, and also the better off being unemployed thing is a myth. You may be right that some people dont want to work, i dont really want to work 40 hours a week, thats far too much, and leaves little time for anything else.