I don’t often travel by train, but a recent short trip from Birmingham to Coventry got me thinking. Staring out of the window for much of the journey, it occurred to me just how depressing and dispiriting urban life is. True, there is a bit of countryside, but it was the urban decadence that struck me.
What could I see? Old industrial sites, once the symbol of Birmingham’s might, now dilapidated. Some are now used as scrap yards. Deprived estates, burnout cars, graffiti, open spaces filled with litter. Disused warehouses, once bustling with activity, now the lair of drug users and others society has forgotten about. The canals look a ghastly green and have trolleys and sofas thrown into them. For the thinking, it’s enough to make them despair.
I have read many times that depression and other affective disorders are widespread in modern Britain. There are, no doubt, many complex reasons for this, but surely the soullessness of urban life is one of them.
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