Why Are Londoners So Angry?

Most Londoners are living comfortable, even enviable lives, yet they seem to be getting angrier and angrier, Janice Turner writes in the London Times. Minor stresses of everyday life boil over into violent disputes with alarming regularity, reminiscent of pampered resort guests flying off the handle over tiny inconveniences.

Anger no longer carries a stigma in today's society, Turner writes. Fury is often taken as drive or passion or used to mask a lack of power or self-esteem. With hunger, danger, and physical challenges often absent from cosseted modern lives, she writes, flashes of anger can be "the only time some people feel briefly and iridescently alive." (More anger stories.)