The current economic model we live under does not work. Insolvencies have grown by nearly 600% since the first day Tony Blair entered Number 10 Downing Street. More than 600,000 are set to bankrupt under the Tories, and that by no means excuses the million who went bankrupt under New Labour. In addition, the majority of jobs created since 1979 were part-time hours. This economic model provides low wages, short hours and unsustainable consumer debt levels. For those in full time hours, they work too long. Instead of switching to family friendly weeks of 35 hours for those who wish to avail of them, we in the UK have the third longest working week in Europe at more than 42 hours per full-time worker. On top of that we have an ailing transport network that means many parents spend as much time commuting to work as they actually do in it. All of this puts pressure on healthy eating, healthy family life and healthy finances. It causes stress and depression.
That is why the graph above, I am very sad to say, comes as no surprise to me whatsoever. In England, doctors prescribed more than 46,000,000 courses of anti-depressants last year. This is a 50%+ increase in just 5 years on the levels of anti-depressants prescribed in 2006. This record number of anti-depressants prescribed should signal a warning to all of our political leaders that the work life balance needs to be tackled and that we need a more sustainable economic model. Some may also argue, correctly in my view, that it highlights the urgency of investing, not cutting, more money in alternative treatments. In Olympics week if politicians are serious about creating a genuine Olympics Legacy (they are not), they should consider free gym membership for any person diagnosed with mental health problems. Exercise is no panacea but many with mental health problems will testify that it helped them achieve greater control over their mental health difficulties. A sad day, that requires us all of reflect upon the type of society we wish to live in.
