More on affluenza

Yesterday went to a meeting organised by Compass, which describes itself as a “democratic left pressure group”, on the politics of well-being. The main luminaries were Oliver James, the author of Affluenza and Professor Richard Layard. What struck me was the ease with which they moved from the existence of mass affluence to the assumption that it is to blame for widespread mental illness. Little argument was needed to convince the audience of this point. I will be writing more on the subject in the next few days. The Guardian has also carried a series of related articles on the comment is free section of its website.