Dhaka's Dickensian workhouses should shame us all

A damning study says children in the slums of Bangladesh work over 42 hours a week, often at factories supplying to the west

Charles Dickens was outraged by child labour and for good reason: he had first hand experience of working long hours for little pay in bad conditions.

By the time Dickens came to chronicle his childhood experiences during the 1820s in David Copperfield, the first steps had been taken to end the exploitation of children by unscrupulous employers. There was a parliamentary inquiry in 1832 followed by legislation the following year so that a child working in a textile mill could work no more than an eight-hour day.