Monday morning: no doubt you wish you were still in bed. I know I do. Poor sleep seems to hound most of my friends and colleagues, whether due to stress, kids, too much screen time or a lively social life. Meanwhile, the constant barrage of messages telling us how important it is to get enough sleep does nothing to help us chill out enough to get it.

Anxiety about sleeplessness might seem to be a particularly modern problem, exacerbated by smartphones and the multiple Netflix series you simply must catch up on. But it’s actually been around for a good while – at least since the Victorian era, when (like today) new technologies, from electric lighting to telegrams and industrial factories, were transforming society at an accelerating rate.

You might presume that those thought to be worst affected by this new “plague” were the working class, who had to work extraordinarily long hours in the new and dangerous factories. But the perils of sleeplessness weren’t even considered in relation to them. Rather it was the new class of “brain-workers” – lawyers, academics, bankers – who were considered most at risk.

And while the argument over bottle vs breastfeeding is also seen as a very modern debate, the Victorians also have much to tell us about this too.

On the day of an international summit on climate change, Marc Hudson looks at why the UN has made such little progress in 30 years.

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