Dear Editors,

Like so many German, and quite a few British politicians, Wolfgang Clement is a "workaholic". For him to tell other Germans that they should work harder and longer hours is like someone with an alcohol problem telling his friends that they should drink stronger drinks more frequently! (Germans 'take too many holidays', 19 June 2003).

Not only is Herr Clement addicted to work, you may well find that he is also addicted to power.

Our tragedy is that so many of  us (particularly other workaholics, among whose ranks it seems there are many newspaper editors) continue to see such people as shining examples of human virtue, who we should strive to emulate (intelligent, hard-working, ambitious). In fact, because these "virtues" are applied - not completely, but largely - blindly and compulsively, they are leading us towards disaster. Like a human liver, our planet's vital organs also can only tolerate a certain amount of abuse!

It is these very same "virtues" which made Germany such a formidable enemy during World War 2, after which they were simply redirected, together with an enormous amount of Teutonic energy, to create what became known as the "German economic miracle". Initially that made a lot of sense: the whole country lay in ruins and had to be rebuilt. But nobody has thought to tell them it's okay now, they've achieved their goal. Or if someone has, they've been too preoccupied to hear them.

When I moved to Germany from London in the 1970's I was very impressed with what they had achieved, but was also horrified at the amount of pressure and stress everyone was still under (internally and externally) to keep on working at the same frantic rate. There was little or no war damage left to be repaired, so they had started tearing down buildings built since the war and replacing them with new ones. Why, I asked myself, don't they slow down a bit now, take it easy and enjoy the fruits that 30 odd years of hard work had earned them?

Not withstanding the fact that millions of Germans take and enjoy early retirement or cushy government jobs, the majority are either unemployed and miserably idle or working like maniacs under life-numbing stress.

And for all their intelligence, just like the rest of us, they seem incapable of doing anything about it. Why? Because the Holy Book of capitalist, free-market economics (or as Germans call it, "die soziale Marktwirtschaft") forbids even thinking about it.

We did not emerge from the Dark Ages or loosen the grip of the Medieval Church until courageous men began to question the Holy Book of that time.

Unfortunately, those who did question the Holy Book of capitalist, free-market economics, presented us with another Holy Book (Das Kapital) in its place, which turned out to be a lot of rot, and was thus vanquished, leaving capitalist, free-market economics as the one true economic creed.

Although few seem to notice it, dazzled by all the glitter of modern society, we are in a Dark Age now, and heading towards disaster, because refusing to face up to the effects our addiction to materialistic lifestyles and aspirations (motorcars and air travel being just two salient examples), and to a growth-dependent economy, is having on our planet with its limited natural resources and finite carrying capacity.