Phil you are probably nowhere near my age. maybe you have never been.a manager, director or company owner like me, maybe your grandfather and great grandfather never completed 89 years between them as dustmen, maybe your father never came back from the war paralysed from the waist down but paid privately to overcome these difficulties to return to work and spurn social security, if so you are lucky. Maybe your father wasn't a shop steward at the Rover in the 1960's and 70's and saw the idle workers looking for any chance to strike. I was there in that period and was appalled at the idleness of the British worker. 'I held all those management positions and saw the idleness of the British worker. Talk is easy but practical experience puts it to shame. I have lived in Hong Kong for over 22 years, but I still remember the faults and problems of the U K, but I do not hide my head in the sand. Take off the rose tinted glasses