I have three friends working in very different jobs – but their experiences summarise the state of the nation

‘It’s going so much worse than you think!’ is seemingly our national motto at the moment, writes Marie Le Conte

My hope – vain as it may be – is that politicians had similar summers to mine (PA)

Is everything going alright where you are? Sorry, I meant – is anything going alright where you are? I ask because I would like to know that someone, somewhere actually is having a decent enough time in Britain in 2022.

When parliament rose for recess just over a month ago, I breathed a sigh of relief. Sure, there was still going to be a leadership contest to follow, but at least the grinding misery of Westminster had come to a halt, at least for a little while.

I left the bubble behind and began spending more time with my non-political friends again, and talking about things which had nothing to do with SW1. I thought, perhaps selfishly, that it would cheer me up. Oh, I was wrong.