A body of counsellors (not to be confused with political councillors) made a rare and compelling intervention in politics yesterday. 400 psychotherapists, counsellors and academics wrote a letter to the Guardian highlighting the "profoundly disturbing psychological" impact of cuts on our minds. During the election campaign the health service has been discussed, debated and deliberated upon in much the way that was predicated. But the nation's wellbeing, despite 5 years of austerity and hardship, has been surprisingly absent - aside from a belated, although warmly welcome, conversation about mental health. The letter represents a sharp critique of austerity as a recipe for national wellbeing. In three paragraphs the signatories make three points - a lesson in powerful narratives that every party and politician should study. Firstly, they argue that the caseload of counsellors is different from pre-2010: inequality and poverty, social cleansing (my words not theirs) and