Graham Mytton remembers the five-and-a-half-day working week, while Barbara Crowther says Monday is the new Sunday, and Joe Ryle argues that four days would reduce the UK’s carbon footprint
Your report (Four-day week could be within reach for British workers, 10 June) begins: “Five days on, two days off has been the defining pulse of British labour for more than 80 years.” Oh no it hasn’t! I reach 80 later this year. When I was a child my father worked five and a half days a week in the City of London. My secondary school had a five-and-a-half-day week. We had lessons on Saturday mornings. We still had early closing days – usually a Wednesday or Thursday, when all shops would close in the afternoon to give shop workers a five-and-a-half-day working week. This continued until well into the 1970s.
Graham Mytton
Coldharbour, Surrey
• While we’re questioning the shape of the working week, can we stir the deadness of Mondays into the debate? Museums, galleries, cafes and restaurants are increasingly running a Tuesday to Sunday schedule (or worse, Wednesday to Sunday). Monday is becoming the new Sunday.
Barbara Crowther
Leamington, Warwickshire
