People often comment on how stressful life has become, trying to balance work with home, family, social activities, sport and other recreation and possibly study. It is therefore not surprising that mental stress has emerged as a major cause of Workers Compensation claims in recent years, having nearly doubled from 4500 to 8500 claims per year from 1996/7 to 2003/4, although it has since levelled out around 7000 per year Two-fifths of the cases relate to overwork, more than one-fifth to harassment, and one-sixth due to exposure to violence. About 60% of claimants are women, at a claims rate…
A common complaint against the elites of our society (whoever they may be), is that during the Global Financial Crisis and its aftermath, they lacked sympathy and understanding for the plight of the masses, paving the way for the anti-establishment populism of recent years. Yet, by and large, I don’t think the elites do lack sympathy and understanding: the truth is much worse than that. In the wake of the last major financial crisis (the Great Depression of the 1930s), governments adopted the economic policies of John Maynard Keynes. Amongst other things, he argued that in times of…
