THE Government is now proposing that, in order to combat the ‘something for nothing’ culture, the long-term unemployed should, on pain of forfeiting benefits, be forced to participate in charity work, care for the elderly, pick up litter, attend literacy or drug rehabilitation courses, or spend 35 hours a week at job centres in order to introduce them to a work-like routine and prevent them from being employed unofficially.

Much is being said about the political, social, economic, ethical and philosophical pros and cons of the scheme but, although not the most practical person on earth, I am wondering, for instance, where all the members of the last group will sit, assuming that they are granted such a luxury.

Still, I suppose such considerations have been thought through, presuming, of course, that it is seriously intended in the first place.

As for “the plan to have doctors on call seven days a week” (October 2), many people would expect me to be the last to spring to their defence.

However, whereas it is true that such a project “could help cut pressure on NHS hospitals, stretched accident and emergency departments” and “would fit in with family life”, what about their leisure time, of which it is to everyone’s advantage that they should have sufficient?

Their workload by no means consists solely in seeing patients and, although a £50 million incentive would be handy in many ways, it will not suddenly produce GPs, a profession not especially noted for its mass unemployment, out of thin air. The engaging of retired practitioners as ‘locums’ is not always advisable.

DAVID DIMENT, Riverside Court, Oxford