In the debate about inequality and the hollowing out of the middle class there has been little reference to the gradual decline in quality of goods and services.

The very rich can look after themselves and in any case have a large range of manufacturers and suppliers devoted to themselves. But for the rest of us plebeians the fact is that lower incomes mean that manufacturers of the necessities of life go down market as the makers chase fewer dollars and pounds. Look at the quality of clothing you see adorning the general public in the street; it probably didn’t exist 25 years ago – all too often scruffy, ill- fitting and shapeless. Cars seem to have improved, but housing is built down to a price, and so many things from salt and pepper grinders to pencils are poorly made and last a shorter time. It didn’t used to be like this. It is the price we have to pay for the current version of down-market, throw-away capitalism that has emerged, and for which the man in the street never voted.

As an Epicurean it gives me no pleasure to see how tawdry so much stuff is. Epicurus, under these conditions, would have built his own house, made his own clothes and eaten his own vegetables. And it would have given him pleasure. It is more difficult for us.