On London Extra: Getting happy

The capital's ill-health in numbers, British Library boosted, political realities in Soho, a London Higher farewell, the new Tall Buildings survey and much more

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I've long been rather complacent about my lifetime of good health, though that is starting to change as I get older. This week's government announcement and accompanying rows about reforming the welfare system have speeded that up.

There are an awful lot of poorly Londoners. And I'm referring here only to the six million or so in the "working age" category of between 16 and 64 years old.

Last month, a report from City Hall's economics department told us that in 2023, 29 per cent of the working age group reported having a long-term health condition of some kind, of whom about half - 920,000 - said it limited the type or amount of work they could do. Just under half of them were without jobs at all.

Those percentages had stayed much the same from 2014 until 2020, though they rose during the pandemic and that trend has not yet ended. There is some consolation to be had from London's rates of increase being smaller than those for the rest of the UK, but none from the fact that work-limiting mental health conditions have been the most striking component of London's rise.