Guardian Unlimited home Politics Books EducationGuardian.co.uk Clearing Film Football Jobs MediaGuardian.co. Hours in Britain are the longest in Europe, conditions mainly worse and all this for lower productivity. Yet work is extolled by this government as never before - a job the only road to freedom and a wage, however lowly, the only measure of respect. All Labour's aspirations are invested in putting a shovel or a mop into the hand of every man, mother and young person as quickly as possible, even the sick and the lame. Yes, we know the reasons why.
Any job is almost always better than abject poverty, the employed happier than the unemployed.
But on this it drags its heels, reassuring employers that no more burdens will be put on to industry. Sometimes by trying to have it both ways the Government ends up with the worst of all worlds - maximum bureaucracy for the bosses with minimal advantage for the workers. Parental leave legislation is a classic case. The bill is now in Parliament, part of Fairness at Work brought in to comply with a European directive. The idea that these directives are fearsome instruments of socialistic oppression is absurd since most of them are drafted loosely, allowing compliance in spirit but not in practice.