Booker Prize – Politics and mental health

Saturday 22 October

Of all the stormy weeks we’ve seen in UK politics recently, this last fortnight must qualify as the most tumultuous, during which, astonishingly, we’ve seen the PM’s sacking of her Chancellor, her absence from the House for Labour’s Urgent Question, (leaving Penny Mordaunt to endlessly stonewall the inevitable questions), poor performance at her second PMQs,Continue reading “Saturday 22 October”

Sunday 9 October

Another turbulent few weeks have passed, the new Chancellor and PM going AWOL for weeks after their ‘election’ before delivering a devastating ‘mini-budget’, the significant feature of which was subjected to a U-turn less than two days later. Within a month of taking office, Liz Truss was fighting for her political life, many of herContinue reading “Sunday 9 October”

Saturday 13 August

Assailed, as we are on a daily basis, by news of deepening crises in the water and energy industries, in the NHS and cost of living, which put further downward pressure on our mental wellbeing, it surely beggars belief that we are expected to tolerate for weeks on end a ‘zombie government’ (in the wordsContinue reading “Saturday 13 August”

Sunday 1 August

Although the news continues to be dominated by Covid-related issues, there was another stark reminder last Sunday of the climate crisis, parts including London once again experiencing flash floods. We’ve become used to seeing these in other countries but it feels even more alarming when you see for the first time footage of local placesContinue reading “Sunday 1 August”