Reporters Jim Douglas Henry, Jeremy James, Jeanne La Chard, Gillian Strickland, Denis Tuohy, Desmond Wilcox, Harold Williamson

In the bad old days of mass unemployment, they used to say that love went out of the window when poverty came through the front door. Another cliche: all that lovers need is each other and two can live as cheaply as one. Today, as giant industries again flounder and it seems that no one's job is absolutely secure, what would the modern romantics say in a materialistic world of money-worship and hire-purchase commitments?
For men of craft and skill and integrity the dole can mean more than material hardship. Nobody really starves on social security today - but the soul can be damaged, the spirit corroded. When no one knows if he - or she - will be next to join the dole queue, what happens to the quality of marriage, the atmosphere of family, a man and his children, wedding plans for two, a blossoming courtship? When the bread-winner gets the sack, can love survive on the dole?

(Colour)