&gt; ‘I’m not starting a big meningioma at 4 p.m.,’ she declared, turning towards me. ‘I’ve got no childcare this evening.’<p>Without knowing what a &quot;big meningioma&quot; involves, I can only imagine it&#x27;s something like doing a tricky, manual deployment on Friday afternoon. In that case no, this is a completely reasonable response. People have lives outside of work. Yes, &quot;In the pre-modern NHS consultants never counted their hours – you just went on working until the work was done.&quot;, but that doesn&#x27;t mean it&#x27;s a good thing. In pre-modern factory days people of any age worked there whole day, 6-7 days a week. It doesn&#x27;t mean that&#x27;s a good idea to do it now.