In reply to Tom Chamberlain: Yes I was baiting a bit, I really wanted to get some discussion on this issue rather than the style of pull out quotes.
As I said, I've been a dole climber, and I still feel the pull of that lifestyle, so I think about this issue quite a bit, especially when I'm sat in the office watching the sun shine outside, like today.
But when I was on the dole, I rehearsed the arguments put forward by Paul in this article, and they didn't work for me, because i knew I was kidding myself. That's why I think I recognise a tone of self-justification in the article.
When I was on the dole, one of my housemates who worked used to climb at a similar level and would give us doles a lot of banter about the advantages we enjoyed. I now climb with quite a few full timers and I know how he felt, and admire him all the more for keeping up.
Later I went to America and met their drop-out climbers, who wouldn't dream of taking money from the state, and I prefered their more self reliant, independent ethos. In this country, a lot of people seem to look to the state to sort them out.
I really admire the climbers of the 80s, they are my heros, but that doesn't mean they weren't flawed, everyone is. I never like to hear one generation banging on that it was the best - not pretty, I'm afraid.
Which isn't to say this isn't a good article, I wouldn't be writing all this if it wasn't.