9 August 2004: Feel-Good Factor

The feel-good factor is here.

Despite the poor weather, thousands flock to Cornwall, remarkably optimistic of good weather despite the Britain's generally poor record in this area, and the fact that the extreme south-west gets, on average, three times as much rain as almost anywhere else in Britain. They block to roads (especially those around the Eden Project), they sit on rain-soaked beaches with miserable expressions on their faces and they'll do it again next year. It's the feel-good factor.

Despite the rather surprising facts emerging about Iraq (they don't actually have any weapons of mass destruction, despite the government telling us they did, and we knew where they were), nobody is complaining at white-wash reports or the fact that our elected leaders knowlingly misled the country. The feel-good factor is enough for everyone.

Despite a stalled housing market, prices and interest-rates continue to rise, people lie about their incomes to get higher mortgages, they continue to increase spending in the high street and nobody seems bothered much about spiralling debt. The feel-good factor takes care of any worries we might have.

Now, if you were to transpose the word 'Prozac' into the places where I wrote 'feel-good factor' above, you might be very worried indeed. But perhaps that's exactly what's happening.

BBC news today reports that measurable (and increasing) quantities of Prozac are being found in our drinking water. Apparantly the Environment Agency (bless 'em) have found that so many people are taking the happy pill, and so much of our water is recycled, that we're now all receiving small doses of the drug. "Potentially toxic" and "a possible cause for concern", they say. Really? No... just the latest way the government has found to make us feel good about everything.

And how did I get so cynical? I drank bottled water all weekend, and the Prozac must have worn off.