I rarely get away from work before six o’clock and then there is admin to do at home. As I approach my fifties, I am increasingly finding that the long hours are having an effect on my health. Stress and depression are the main problems.

* It is interesting to note that, in the same month that a report was published in the United States on the dangers of working excessively long hours, the result of a survey was also brought to light indicating that employers in this country have little sympathy with people who take time off work for stress-related illness and in fact believe that stress is a good thing in bringing targets to fruition. In everything, there has to be a balance but this ineluctable truth is often overlooked. Don’t let them work you to death.