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The working week should be cut to 21 hours to help boost the economy and improve quality of life, a left-wing think tank has said. The New Economics Foundation claimed in a report the reduction in hours would help to ease unemployment and overwork.

The think tank said people were working longer hours now than 30 years ago even though unemployment was at 2.5 million. The foundation admitted people would earn less, but said they would have more time to carry out worthy tasks.

From the BBC News Website

Ah, think tanks. Where would we be without them? An ingenious thought, reducing the working week to 21 hours. I may just suggest this to my manager at our team meeting on Monday morning. However, I'm not very confident he'll agree and he will certainly dismiss the sub-text of my suggestion that my salary remains as it is for doing less work. In fact there's a more than reasonable chance he'll make a suggestion of his own, namely I reduce my hours even further to zero per week and with salary in accordance to hours worked...

I like the quote that the foundation 'admitted people would earn less'. Wow, they've certainly given this considerable thought. However, they say, people would have more time to carry out worthy tasks. Like figuring out how to pay the mortgage, council tax, gas bill, phone bill etc, etc.

I have fond memories of my wife's grandfather from a quarter of a century ago. He was old Labour through and through (none of this new Labour nonsense) and he and I would engage in lively political debate whenever we met. Being a Scottish Nationalist, my own political views weren't a million miles from the auld fella's. At the time, Thatcherism was at its height and The Hatcher as he so memorably called her was well down the road in her plan to destroy Scotland. Grandad used to tell me the only way to fight hard right, like Thatcher, was with hard left. Although then Labour leader Michael Foot's election campaign didn't do much for that argument.

I wonder what Grandad would have thought about the above left-wing think tank's idea. Actually, I don't have to wonder. I know damn well what he would have thought. Meanwhile, back in the real world...