The Green MP’s decision to take time out has angered some – but many more will see endemic stress and anxiety as a blight we must address
Carla Denyer is taking some time out.
The Bristol Central MP and former Green party co-leader says she is suffering from burnout after trying to juggle health issues on top of the job and has been advised by her doctor to take a break. In an ideal world, most people would just wish her a swift recovery and get on with their lives, as quite a lot of MPs from normally rival parties duly did, on the grounds that you never really know what is going on under the surface of someone else’s life. But Denyer’s call for an “open conversation” about burnout has inevitably also resulted in the usual spasm of online venom, snark and angry men on radio phone-ins asking why politicians can’t handle “a few emails” without needing a lie-down when nurses and teachers just have to soldier on regardless. (Though given that mental health issues are the most common cause of days off in the NHS in England, while teachers apparently claim the highest levels of work-related stress, depression and anxiety in Britain, Denyer might be right to suggest in her statement that they’re the ones most likely to understand.)
Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist
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