Does economic success truly make us happy?
It struck me the other day that many things which we used to take for granted are now things of the past and we are told that we can no longer afford them. Perhaps when we are told things often enough, we cease to question their validity and merely accept them.
Think of the things we used to have, but now in the 21st century and as the fifth largest economy, we no longer enjoy.
Remember free tuition fees and even grants to go to university, secure jobs with reasonable pay and conditions, a working NHS, an integrated national railway service with cheap fares and uncrowded trains, subsidised bus fares, affordable housing and free care for the elderly? These things were normal not that long ago.
Let’s not forget civilised, intelligent and above all polite debate; that seems to have gone out of the window. Indeed, if someone had set out to divide the country, they have certainly succeeded.
Given increasingly stressful working conditions for most people leading to deteriorating mental health in the population, one could wonder what social benefits we do actually enjoy from our economic “success”.
Christine Jenkins, Shrewsbury
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