Captain Pugwash:
I see that you are a new boy. I do work 8 on/6 off and I am most certainly not a prat. Neither are the couple of hundred pilots around me who do the same. I certainly do not ever want to go back to the many years that I had to work within the constraints of CAP 371.
Under that system I was never ever rested unless I was on holiday. Getting 2 or 3 days off is simply not enough to recharge the batteries My 8 on/6 off pattern works out more like 7½ on/6½ off. This means that I get the better part of a week at home and after that amount of domestic bliss, I am more than ready and willing to going back to work.
Please don't go around calling people prats when you don't know what you are talking about. No doubt you will learn as you mature.