Good points made all round. I suppose the point I was getting at was that there are lifestyle and career choices you can make without claiming public money for boarding school!
I am not the man in the example I describe above. The family Risky has been settled in SE England (1066 country) for the last 4 years, and the quality of life is excellent...for them.
I on the other hand have been taking the pain by commuting back and forth between the deepest darkest Fens/Buckinghamshire on a Friday evening/Sunday morning. I don't want my kids to board, I pay council tax - I want to use the excellent local CofE schools. I want the stability for them gained by growing up at home, with their mum and the associated circle of friends/relatives.
So I have made a choice which many claiming CEA could conceivably make too...it's hard, but it does mean that I am not a slave to staying in past 38 just for the CEA...and won't be screwed by any loss of it. I'm not saying CEA is wrong, but as parents there are other choices we can make...
(Sorry if my example was inaccurate ref LOA, it was only meant to be a quick and dirty example based on my colleagues who do that job.)