The Joy of Six 1231

"I was 20 the first time I was prescribed antidepressants. I had gone to the doctors during January in rainy, miserable Manchester complaining of flu. Somehow, I came out of the appointment having been diagnosed with depression and prescribed a course of SSRIs. But in fact I didn’t have a mood disorder, and I didn’t need to go on medication." Lucy Kenningham on why almost one in four adults are being prescribed antidepressants.

Simon Nixon asks how long it will be before Britons wake up to the national disaster that is unfolding in the stock market. "Around the world, stock market indices are being drive to new highs by what the Financial Times recently described as a global investor “risk reset” reflecting growing confidence in the global recovery. ... The exception is Britain, where the FTSE 100 is up just 2.4 per cent."

"Britain is home to hundreds of apple varieties, at least 30 in Sussex alone. Yet even in peak apple season, you are more likely to find apples imported from Europe, New Zealand and South Africa in your local supermarket." Ali Ghanimi looks for ways be can do better.

Oliver Keens says technological change means children are losing their independent access to music.

Adam Scovell watches Hidden City, Stephen Poliakoff's directorial debut: "As a thriller shot through with an interest in the forgotten parts of the capital, in many ways Hidden City taps into the unfolding trends of the period for psychogeography – the wandering fascination with urban environments first defined by Guy Debord."

"Only once, on the eve of the Old Trafford Ashes Test in 1977, did Brearley successfully twist Underwood’s arm by showing him hand-drawn diagrams of field placings that the England skipper insisted would be in play should he consider changing his angle of attack. By game time, after some convincing, Deadly was on board. He took 6-66, the old devil." Phil Walker pays his tribute to Derek Underwood.