Wuthering Heights Day reaches a new low without Meadows Festival - Bruce Whitehead

Against more mundane concerns, is it important and is it always up to individuals to look after their own wellbeing or should society use its collective influence through democracy and government to promote happiness and wellbeing?

This Kate Bush was able to lift her leg up high during the celebration of the English singer at Meadows Festival.

I think it's safe to assume that most people would agree society should help its vulnerable and poorer members to find joy (and its bolshy, richer members too!). What's the point of life otherwise?

We elect administrations which at any rate claim to support the pursuit of happiness via sports and recreation, subsidised events and cultural exchanges aimed at sharing values with the different groups which make up our city.

The council allocates funds for arts and crafts exhibitions and festivals to try to put smiles on faces, the theory being that the money is well-spent on well-being because happier people are less likely to need costly mental health support or general healthcare if they are tearing around doing sponsored bike rides, walks and marathons organised with public subsidy.

The problem is that the pot is only so big. And since the biggest Named Storm, the Putin-Truss-Trump Land, Mortgage and Oil Offensive opened in 2022, it's got a lot smaller.

One casualty, responsible for a heck of a lot of wellbeing in this city, is that summer favourite, the Meadows Festival, which has cancelled next year's event.

Its own perfect storm saw a sharp fall in volunteer muscle on all fronts, plus a failure to win hotly contested council and university dosh that normally pays for expenses (everything else is free: entry, labour and time donated by an army of kind people.)

Elspeth Spalding, who runs the event, brought us the mad joy of Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever this year, bands, dance, and more Pilates and Alexander techniques than you could shake a stick at... and samba bands to shake your tail at all day long.

With a committee of dedicated volunteers, she organised stalls to bring in revenue, programmed the entire event and applied for funding from Edinburgh Council, the University of Edinburgh and the amply-staffed Creative Scotland. Alas this year the cupboard was bare and the plan is for a breather next year to regroup.

The show might have gone on but for soaring costs, and the exodus of skilled, hard working volunteer heroes who supported Elspeth.

Many folk felt that they could no longer spare the time for unpaid volunteer work. Lots are taking second jobs just to make ends meet; I heard a similar tale in news stories about the US elections, where voters often told reporters they now had two jobs.

Elspeth is very diplomatic about it all; she understands the pressures on funding bodies. But she says: "It's hard to put a price on someone feeling less isolated, a family having a free day out, a musician getting their first opportunity to perform, or a community group connecting with hundreds of people."

And fun is important. It's what makes us human (believe it or not, given the full-scale invasions of Ukraine, Venezuela, Palestine, Iran etc.)

But for the civilised majority (I believe there still is one, after the mid terms!) it's vital that we keep ourselves happy and do what we can to make others happy too.

One excellent way to do that would be to donate bigtime to MeadowsFestival.co.uk and also to give what's even more valuable: your time.

Yes, (If Edinburgh council won't do it...) We Can! (acknowledgements to Barack Obama)