Those companies that talk the most about 'work life balance' are invarably those that expect you to work all hours.Similarly, those that have the most awards for 'great place to work' and that kind of thing invariably are the worst places to work.Any views?

Great places to work is based on a staff survey and they need to get quite a high response rate to be eligible - plus of course have the staff voting positively. That said they are generally growing businesses rather than any enlightened management policies; and often do require long hours. However perhaps this is more acceptable than long hours in a large mature business.