Leisure

So what freedom is left? With about twelve hours for Nature and eight for work, only about four hours remain for yourself, and even these are limited by law, by money and by tiredness.

If we are content with a vote and a dole (unemployment pay), all we can do is follow Iago's advice in Shakespeare: 'Put money in thy purse', which is hard on low wages.

Shaw says the English 'don't know what freedom is'. Call it by its old name, leisure, he says, and demand more leisure, and more money, for an honest share of the work.

Do not trust candidates who talk grandly about liberty: they may only want to live on other people's labour.

And leisure is not simple either: leisure and money can ruin people who were not brought up to use them well. Shaw leaves us a puzzle: would you rather work eight hours a day and retire at forty-five, or four hours a day until seventy?