If the words “force equals mass times acceleration” are mildly triggering, I apologise. Newton’s second law of motion will be familiar to anyone who’s ever studied physics. For some who struggled with that course, it may bring back painful memories. But for me, as an awkward teenager, it was oddly comforting – proof of an ordered, structured universe where cause always led to predictable effect. I carried that belief into university, where I studied physics, and even into my career. If I just worked hard enough, success would be mine.

But nine months into my first job, I got made redundant. It turns out that life doesn’t always obey Newton’s laws.

Losing your job is tough for anyone. But for me, it was devastating. I had worked so hard, yet somehow I had still failed. It felt like a violation of everything I thought I knew about how the world worked. And on top of this, I was completely burned out after months of manic work.

My employer was not a company run by sadists who delighted in playing with the hopes of naive young graduates. There was a broader context to this layoff. And once I had passed through the shock and numbness, I could begin to see it. It was the summer of 2001, and all was not well with the world. The dotcom bubble bursting had sent financial shock waves around the globe, forcing my company – a management consultancy – to cut jobs.

And the crisis itself wasn’t even unique. Similar things happened during the 2008 sub-prime mortgage crash. In 2011, there was the eurozone crisis. In 2013,........

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