The negative attitude toward those on benefits, persistently propagated by the media, works as a smokescreen to conceal the fact that welfare payments are simply too low.

It is uncomfortable that in 2016 there is such easily accessible quality research available online which highlights the complex and intermittent nature of mental illness, yet the vernacular within the media remains regressive and stereotyped. Furthermore, not only is the reporting often negative, it can also be misrepresentative.

Progressives in Belgium have begun to argue for the right of individuals with mental illness to decide their own fate. Last year, three per cent of euthanasia cases in Belgium were for people with psychiatric conditions. In the last month, a highly publicised decision will allow Laura, a 24-year-old woman, to receive a lethal injection to end her psychological pain. Laura, who is otherwise physically healthy, has depression. She reportedly told Belgian newspaper, De Morgan, ‘Life, that’s not for me.’

Politics has become something of a career move for a self-manufactured professional class. There aren’t a lot of plumbers or factory hands in politics. For the elites who see politics as a good career move the question remains: What is it about politics that attracts them? When one looks at the premiers of our various states, none of them appear to be paragons of sanity. In truth, they all seem like very disturbing people.