The Shrink & The Sage: The stiff upper lip

“You only need to think about when a stiff upper lip is most admired to recognise that it can be a moral virtue, not an emotional failure. We admire people who control their feelings in order to minimise the extent to which others are forced to share their suffering. Such self-sacrifice is based on the truth that a problem shared is often just a problem doubled.”

Latest column in the weekend’s FT Magazine (6/7 November).