HiFrank
Not sure where you get the figure of £70k for airline job. If you end up in a company that bonds you rather than asking you to pay upfront for a type rating (the split seems to be even for my friends) then it coasts less than an being an instructor, assuming you still go for the IR. You can get there for liottle more than £40k, training in the UK. Also I would say you would have more chance of a job with an instructor rating. Ironically this is because there is a strong airline job market, so lots of instructors I know are leaving.