Ian McEwan says depression ‘a bigger problem than climate change’ | Hay Festival

Depression is probably “a bigger problem than climate change,” said columnist Ian McEwan on Monday afternoon, just like the heat. broke records for May in the UK.

McEwan “always” hears people say that they “don’t expect their children to have the same good life as they did”, but said being optimistic is a “good job”.

McEwan’s latest book, What We Can Knowthe other part is set in 2119, in submerged Britain. He spoke at the Hay event in a crowd alongside former NFU Presidents Minette Batters and Sandi Toksvig, on the day he saw it. temperature in London reaches 34.8Cbeating May’s record set in 1922.

McEwan went on to say that being optimistic is “being smart”, because “it’s possible” – given that “the world is big, cultures are diverse” – that “there could be changes that happen and we don’t even know”. He also spoke of the “old age” in 2020 when electricity is produced from renewable sources more than that which comes from gas and coal in the UK. “Maybe we were too busy with Covid to realize it,” he said.

He added that “self-love would be the best first step” to moving forward in the climate crisis. “If you’ve knocked, say, $150 off your annual bill by having a few panels on your balcony — if you have a balcony — the next step will feel a little better. I’m rocking it, really.”

Batters, who led a review of agricultural profits last year, said farmers “don’t know what’s coming” because of the bad weather. “Last year, in my 26 years of farming, I have never had a year like that,” he added. “We produced 50% of our grass seed, 50% of our total silage seed.”

Farmers’ uncertainty is exacerbated by “all the politics, the changes”, he said. Strikers a comments showed that only 7% of farmers in England had a clear understanding of “Defra’s vision for agriculture”.

“Farmers don’t know what the country’s policy is, and the government doesn’t know what people want from the farm,” he said. Farming “almost a game of Russian roulette”. His decision to grow spring barley this year was like “rolling the dice”.

Batters also criticized Andy Burnham’s proposal for a property tax. “When I hear Andy Burnham talking about tax havens around Manchester, I just think: ‘Oh my goodness,'” he said. “Ten-year waiting lists for allotments, lack of green space: can’t we focus more on sustainable land use?”

When asked about HS2, McEwan said there would be “great value in reducing our losses” and investing in local infrastructure.

He said the “blessing” of Britain’s 2,000 years of underground transport had been “wonderful”, but the underground was “under pressure”, adding that “the very powerful, the most corrupt could get the route closed by taking the council leader out to dinner”.