Sydney's The World's News reported 100 years ago this week that "The psychological effect of the war on the British public, the British Medical Journal argues, has been to the good ..."

" 'Before the war,' the Journal says, 'in practically every department of our daily life disruptive forces appeared to be gaining ground. In all groups, from the family to the State, and insidiously invading every sphere - religious, social, economic, and political - there appeared an increasing inclination to flout conventional canons ... from a mere matter of dress and deportment at one end of the scale to preparation for civil war at the other.' "

" 'Many related this unrest to an increased appetite for luxury and play in the masses and falling birth-rate ... and the increasing ratio of insane to the general population.

" 'Then came the war. The shock of it united a whole nation of a populace which was separating into antagonistic groups. The groups fused. Their antagonisms were forgotten, and were replaced by a clear national ideal. The war has distracted us from introspective habits and personal worries. We are looking outward now. It has taken people out of themselves, and by making them think of others, sympathise with others, it has probably done our country mental as well as moral and social good by bringing all classes closer to one another.' "