How capitalism killed sleep

What can you make a joke about these days? All the old butts of humour are off limits. No wonder the top ten jokes at the Edinburgh Fringe are starting to sound as though they were banged out in a cracker factory. But this one, from Ross Smith, did make me laugh: ‘Sleep is my favourite thing in the world. It’s the reason I get up in the morning.’

If laughter is an escape valve for our fears, then sleep, or the lack of it, is now comic material. When 10 per cent of the population pops sleeping pills at least three times a week, self-help books about sleep — yawn, yawn — are international bestsellers and the President of the United States is up tweeting before the birds, something has gone awry in the land of nod. Meanwhile 19 per cent of us are online for more than 40 hours a week.