Writing in 1931, the great economist, John Maynard Keynes, thought the major problem of this generation (that of his possible grandchildren) would be how to entertain ourselves, how to live ‘wisely and agreeably and well’ because he thought ‘the economic problem’ would have been solved: we would have enough material goods.  He was talking about Europe, not the poor colonies, of course.

And we do have enough: for example, average income in the UK is  around £25,000 or nearly three times the world average, and 60 times that in Afghanistan. We have enough, but Afghanistan and  most developing countries clearly do not.  That we have enough is shown by surveys showing we – in rich countries – don’t get happier when we get richer.

More important is the environmental issue: growth eats up the world’s resources and generates carbon with seemingly inevitable and catastrophic effects on the climate.