East London was even buzzier than usual last week. Thousands packed into venues around Shoreditch for the inaugural South by Southwest (SXSW) London, a music, tech and film festival which started life in sunny Austin, Texas. It was a broad church: Tony Blair argued we should have AI doctors and nurses to relieve pressure on the NHS, while rapper Tinie Tempah backed a scheme to get young people away from their screens and onto the dancefloor.
Many of the talks led back to the mental health crisis, which has overtaken cancer and obesity to become the biggest global health concern. Industry leaders laid out their visions for alleviating the crisis, with solutions spanning tech, psychedelics and prescribed laughter.
