Man down: Why are middle-aged men unhappy?
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 30 September 2020
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On paper, he’s a success — he’s nailed life’s goals. So why is Matt Rudd, and so many middle-aged men like him, unhappy?
Guests:
Matt Rudd, Deputy Editor of The Sunday Times Magazine, columnist and author of Man Down.
Host: Luke Jones.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Everything for a lot of the men I ended up talking to was fine as well. |
| 0:16.0 | But that was really the problem. It was fine. We were kind of just muddling through. |
| 0:20.0 | And if you look at the statistics, it's very specifically from the age of 45 to 49 |
| 0:26.4 | there's this huge spike in stress anxiety depression and suicide. There wasn't any time to consider how I was feeling, |
| 0:39.2 | there wasn't any time to consider how I was feeling, which sounds really selfish, but actually if you're not |
| 0:46.1 | sorting your own issues out, then you're causing problems for other people. |
| 0:52.0 | Why, when everything on the surface is fine, the good job, the happy family, the nice house, |
| 0:58.0 | dissuades of middle-aged men struggle and suffer in silence. |
| 1:02.0 | And is this inevitable? struggle and suffer in silence. |
| 1:02.8 | And is this inevitable? |
| 1:05.0 | You're listening to stories of our times from The Times and the Sunday Times. |
| 1:09.1 | Manveen is enjoying a hiking weekend on the Pennine way, you've got me instead I'm Luke Jones from |
| 1:14.7 | Times Radio breakfast today midlife crisis what midlife crisis I'm Matt Rudd, a writer and editor at The Sunday Times. I am the author of Man Down, Why Men Aren't Happy and what we can do about it. |
| 1:42.1 | I want you to describe for me this might sound stupid but the experience of insomnia and what that actually feels like |
| 1:50.0 | have you not no never, never. Never. |
| 1:53.0 | Let's start with you. |
| 1:54.0 | Yeah, how old are you? |
| 1:55.0 | 27. |
| 1:56.0 | 27. |
| 1:57.0 | You're 27. |
| 1:58.0 | You're like full of the joys of life, all the possibilities that lie ahead. |
| 2:02.0 | By the end of this you're going to be thoroughly depressed. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Times, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Times and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.