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Happiness is a key indicator – but it'snot the only oneWe need a serious measure of wellbeing which includes health,ducation and other factors

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Sabina Alk i reThe Guardian , Tuesday 7 December 2010Article history

is hugely welcome news that the government is taking concrete stepswards measuring wellbeing alongside traditional monetary measures ofogress ( UK happiness index to gauge national mood , 15 November).ut to affect lives and society, a measure of wellbeing needs to avoidree pitfalls.

rst, it cannot be flimsy – a measure that absorbs public resourcesakes a headline, but if found wanting will fade into oblivion. Second, it

annot be unbalanced – focused on the depression of the rich, not theanger and trials of the poor. Third, it cannot be isolated – it cannotpring up entirely disconnected from economics and policy design, yetope to shift the entire system.

our article explains that it is as yet undecided "whether all indicatorshould be shrunk into one single wellbeing indicator or simple happinessdex". They should. True, flimsy composite measures will be rightlyscredited. But simple yet rigorous indices now exist, and can give a

etter overview of progress than any single indicator alone. They needot be complicated or cause statistical indigestion. Other countries – cluding Bhutan, Colombia and Mexico – and the UNDP Humanevelopment Report recognise this, and are developing measures ofellbeing, poverty and inequality that recognise the multi-dimensionalature of these issues.

appiness is a key indicator – but not the only one. The emphasis is onellbeing, as the national statistician, Jil Matheson, recently made clear.he Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi commission, instigated by President Sarkozy, tohich your article refers, recommended that governments consider eightctors: subjective wellbeing, health, education, work and activities,

olitical voice and governance, social connectedness, environment andsecurity. Bhutan's gross national happiness index adds culture andme. Wellbeing has several different faces: we need to see them – ande can.

our article notes: "The combined wellbeing data set... will have a moreentral role in policy-making." So the aim is clear and compelling: to

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1 4 N o v 2 0 1 0Happiness index to gaugeBritain's national mood

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8/6/2019 Response_ Happiness is a key indicator – but it's not the only one _ Comment

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omments in chronological order (Total 53 comments)

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SELAVY7 December 2010 8:15AM

appiness is a million pound bonus whilst others are struggling.

appiness is having a daddy who can pay one's' tuition fees.

appiness is making a pledge which you can ignore when it has gained you power.

appiness is being wealthy enough not to have to care about the demise of the NHS

appiness is dictating policy whilst not paying tax like Ashcroft and Green.

nd I think to myself, what a wonderful world.........

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K a t a l i7 December 2010 8:19AM

ood article, but I guess whichever government does this can spin the results toow how well their policies are working.

grow more cynical each day about our noble leaders of all parties.

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esign a measure of wellbeing that not only tells the British people howociety is going, but also guides government policies. To take thisrward in a way that will visibly improve wellbeing and outlast any single

overnment, the measure needs to be designed with policy in mind.

takes effort to be ground-breaking. Mexico – which moved to aultidimensional poverty measure in 2009 – first engaged academic,

olicy and community groups to ensure that the measure would fulfil thexpectations placed on it. And, by and large, it has done.

he relationship between economics, wellbeing and the environment is in

ux. How it will change is not yet clear. But if Britain is to pioneer aeasure of wellbeing and use it to guide government policy, theovernment must commit itself to designing a serious measure thatdequately reflects the diverse ways in which people flourish, and is trulyseful to those making policy. It's lovely to be happy – and even nicer toe happy, housed and well nourished.

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nse: Happiness is a key indicator – but it's not the only one | Comment is free | The Guardian

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7 December 2010 8:22AM

appiness is having something to have a good bloody moan about.

o shortage there I fear.

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Sipech7 December 2010 8:22AM

It's lovely to be happy – and even nicer to be happy, housed and wellnourished.

ery well said!

here have been times in my life when I haven't had a roof over my head or food one table, and that is far more important than whether or not I'm a cheerful person. Ashappens, I'm a miserable sod, but my well-being is not in question at the moment,r which I am thankful yet I remain glum.

s just a shame that the present government's policies of slash and burn are likely touse individuals and families to lose their jobs, pushing some of them out of theirmes. It then takes some nerve to ask them how happy they are.

all me Dave: "Your job in the public sector doesn't have as much value as myrsonal photographer, so you'll be losing your job while he keeps his (albeit under a

fferent official employer). Mind if I kick you at the gonads while you're down? Now,l me how happy you are..."

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Agent32447 December 2010 8:29AM

ep, we should dispense with our preocuupation with judging success, security, orntentment through the faux capital of money and recognise instead very realpitals like health, family cohesion, social cohesion, and a strong sense of mutuality.

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Vraaak7 December 2010 8:30AM

tp://www.5capitals.com/background.htm sums it up neatly

Natural capitalhe natural resources (energy, environment and matter) and processes needed byganizations to produce their products and deliver their services.

ocial capitalny value added to the activities and economic outputs of an organization by humanlationships, partnerships and co-operation.uman capitalcorporates the health, knowledge, skills, intellectual outputs, motivation and capacityr relationships of the individual.anufactured capitalefers to material goods and infrastructure owned, leased or controlled by anganization such as tools, technology, machines, buildings and all forms of

frastructure.nancial capitaleflects the productive power and value of the other four types of capital and includesose assets of an organization that exist in a form of currency that can be owned oraded"

he corporocracy knows this only too well, and a cynic might say has done for years.As long as we can make financial capital at the expense of others, make sure

eryone is looking the other way and society will bear the cost"

good example is the railways being a closed system (notwithstanding the obsceneofits), requiring subsidy , yet while competitors make more pollution, someone elseys for the infrastructure (you and me), so road building is investment - freight byad seems cheaper to the user, but society bears the wider cost from pollution,cidents, and congestion.

nother example is the threat of job cuts. Stress and fear in the workplace is

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8/6/2019 Response_ Happiness is a key indicator – but it's not the only one _ Comment

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nse: Happiness is a key indicator – but it's not the only one | Comment is free | The Guardian

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/07/happiness-index-measure-wellbeing-health-education[24/01/2011 01:00:18 p.m.]

pposed to be great for productivity, a volatile workforce is cheaper to run, but intuality has so many ramifications on human health and wellbeing, that productivitytually decreases. [the bit not everyone reads at the end of Henry A. Landsberger,awthorne Revisited, Ithaca, 1958]. In other words, people on contracts in theowledge based economy go, and take knowledge with them. the bean countersn't reckon on saving a month or two of pay in slack times isn't worth 5 months of aw employee needing to learn the ropes, factoring in the demotivating effect of staffrnover.

his is why our best scientists are all b**ering off to Canada.

FergusQuadro

7 December 2010 8:30AM

appiness on a nation-wide scale is having a basis of security: a government you canust and currency that appears stable.

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DonGilCalzasVerdes7 December 2010 8:34AM

hy put it in figures? Who does'nt know if the country prospers or not on theellbeing front. I'm sure it is the wrong tactics to make the masses happy. If you are anservative government.

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f i b m a c 7 07 December 2010 8:43AM

he Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi commission, instigated by President Sarkozy, ...........commended that governments consider eight factors: subjective wellbeing, health,ucation, work and activities, political voice and governance, social connectedness,vironment and insecurity

cky-boxy is not the British waye're happiest being miserable, OK ?

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RogerF7 December 2010 8:44AM

his will just be an excuse not to help poor people - the line will be "you don't needoney to be happy, so stop complaining".

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Blue j i l7 December 2010 8:44AM

hould be easy, but can't possibly be when the priorities of government and societyorships elitism and markets and truly believes that if you keep a minority at the topppy the rest will come. Inequality is always the downfall of any society, obvious

hen we cut all the trees there is no shade for the axeman.reed does not allow for a happy society.

pech said it best and it is worth repeating, imo.

all me Dave: "Your job in the public sector doesn't have as much value as my rsonal photographer, so you'll be losing your job while he keeps his (albeit under a fferent official employer). Mind if I kick you at the gonads while you're down? Now,ll me how happy you are..."

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8/6/2019 Response_ Happiness is a key indicator – but it's not the only one _ Comment

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nse: Happiness is a key indicator – but it's not the only one | Comment is free | The Guardian

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/07/happiness-index-measure-wellbeing-health-education[24/01/2011 01:00:18 p.m.]

We need a serious measure of wellbeing which includes health,education and other factors

he simplicity implied of such an objective belies the difficulties.oreover, the complete article is a statement of the bleedin' obvious.

he devil is in the complexity,accuracy and manipulation of the data gathered.here is an existing plethora of data available. It's not much use because it is notligently recorded, it is poorly coordinated,and it is badly analysed.he last thing required is a battalion of half credible spies scribbling away in isolation

Jim Hacker's Department of Administration achieving the cube root of zilch anden it being used to foment policies that will achieve the need for even deeper andore intrusive studies while producing chaos.oined up government "is like the utilities companies who constantly dig up our roads

lay their own specialised cables one after the other out of synchronization andgger up the school run traffic.et each specialism continue to ferret away, sifting and collating its data andblishing it in erudite journals beyond the ken of normal folk.e what falls through the sieve of public interest and put the ensuing detritus toscussion in the agora.ooking for a model? See the excellent "Time Watch".

S t r u m m e r e d7 December 2010 8:48AM

hey do say that 'Ignorance is bliss' - Maybe that is all part of the plan?

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Vraaak7 December 2010 8:50AM

This will just be an excuse not to help poor people - the line will be "you don't needoney to be happy, so stop complain"

deed.

ou don't need lots more money to be happy as long as there isn't someone with lotsit trying to take away what you've got left.

oney doesn't bring happiness, but it does make being miserable a lot easier.

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Hemip leg ia7 December 2010 9:08AM

appiness is Christmas in the local prison.

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CharleySays7 December 2010 9:22AM

eally can't understand how people equate the government with happiness.

o me happiness is my family and friends. Everything else is just background noise.

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Monkeybiz7 December 2010 9:34AM

re you

Happy?Very happy?Extraordinarily happy?Deliriously happy?A millionaire?

hoose one only.

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nse: Happiness is a key indicator – but it's not the only one | Comment is free | The Guardian

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/07/happiness-index-measure-wellbeing-health-education[24/01/2011 01:00:18 p.m.]

SamVega7 December 2010 9:51AM

simple yet rigorous indices now exist, and can give a better overviewof progress than any single indicator alone

hat makes me uneasy is that we are not only thinking that it is the job of someonese (governments, in this case) to make us happy, but we are also allowing them totermine what happiness is.

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junglederry7 December 2010 10:01AM

he best things in life are free......... h t t p : / / w w w. y o u t u b e . c o m / w a t c h ?=FEjlKOEjM1M

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Hemip leg ia7 December 2010 10:31AM

nglossianism

nce this is the best of all possible worlds, it is impossible for anything to get any

tter.ameron taking the ?iss

o rile, mock, or be a jerk to another person whether or not the person is joking oring serious. Thanks Cameron

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c h i e f w i l e y7 December 2010 10:45AM

I h a v e f o u n d t h a t m o s t p e o p l e a r e a b o u t a s h a p p y a st h e y m a k e u p t h e i r m i n d s t o b e . . ..

braham Lincoln

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M a w a l Tr e e s7 December 2010 10:50AM

s really getting to the point where you can only conclude the people in power arether not very bright or are just plain evil. This wave of national happiness talk is yete latest attempt to appease the disgruntled massives with crumbs from the tablehilst the elites continue to hoard power, priviledge and wealth unconstrained.

mean funnily enough when your ought and about and you either talk directly toople or overhear people talking you don't come across many conversations relatingwhy the government isn't doing enough to oversea my happiness.

re the Tories really offering little more than nanny state part II. The very last thing Iould imagine people want is the government meddling in their happiness quotients.

hat it really is, is yet another attempt to sell you a hog that's described as aoroughbred race horse:

First some dodgy professor from somewhere will invent a government approvedppiness index.

Once implimented said index will comfirm what we already know, that most of use NOT HAPPY.

. The clever bit is here. Please read carefully. What will happen is said professorsd politicians will effectively say well you SHOULD BE HAPPY. You and your kidsver had it so good. You don't work in sweat shops do you?

. Another way to put it is a way will be found to convince you that the only reasonur not happy is because your too thick to understand how happy you are and howntastic life in Britain really is.

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8/6/2019 Response_ Happiness is a key indicator – but it's not the only one _ Comment

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nse: Happiness is a key indicator – but it's not the only one | Comment is free | The Guardian

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/07/happiness-index-measure-wellbeing-health-education[24/01/2011 01:00:18 p.m.]

The project will be hailed as a success with loads of stats, charts, and computerodels 'proving' this. Random people will be kidnapped off the streets and forced tomit after going through the HAWBMAT [Happiness And Well Being Mentaldjustment Therapy Sponsored by Tesco's and Facebook Inch], that they've nowalised they are happy after all and how brilliant Call Me Dave is, and thevernment in general. The top graduates will even admit to liking Nick Clegg andsure us they even love their own children and their job at a call centre.

Thus the government having spent just under £10billion HAWBMAT, concludes itesn't need to do anything other than what it is already doing. HAWBMAT is thenld for £2million quid plus a 30 year government lease to a group of 'privatevestors' headed by David Blunkett proving this isn't a Tory stitchup.

------------------------------mon we've been on this merry go round before. And academics buying into thisnsense and thus giving it some appearance of respectability ought to be ashamedthemselves but probably aren't.

hat people want is the one thing the government and establishment has zerotention of delivering and that folks is FAIRNESS and Equal Opportunity. Where initain a Man, Woman or Child's destiny is determined by their God given gifts, andeir determination to succeed not by which postcode they were born in, how rich theirrents are, or the fact the reason the got into Oxbridge or that job at Goldmans iscause their Uncle works there.

ou can't deliver this meritocracy, you have no desire to, because if you did youovernment and 90% of UK senior management] would be out on your ears.

ant over.

Ve c c h i a7 December 2010 10:53AM

hat would make me happy would be to have another look at that clever video whichpeared before the election, showing Cameron and Osborne singing to "Commonople". You know, the one that goes, "We`re Tories. That`s what we do !" Doesyone have the link ?

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Macne lson7 December 2010 10:55AM

appiness is a Cigar called Hamlet, everyone knows that...

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Germanlady7 December 2010 11:11AM

appiness of people can never be a political agenda, as it is so vague and undefined,at you could never make policies, based on the idea of "raising the happiness index"your citizens.

stead, it looks like something out of the light entertainment industry, a marketingea, a slogan, a positive word to bring into connection with the present government,here so much they do is connected with doom and gloom.

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A t a v i s m7 December 2010 11:18AM

ow about a benchmark life, same as the CPI's benchmark basket of groceries?

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OneGonk7 December 2010 11:21AM

upid box ticking. Happiness is hardly the same thing from person to person.

rsonally I'd like to see how miserable I would be if I was stinking rich.

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nse: Happiness is a key indicator – but it's not the only one | Comment is free | The Guardian

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A t a v i s m7 December 2010 11:22AM

d nominate someone who can go on one two week holiday a year, feed themselveshealthy diet, travel to a point within a 200 mile radius of their home every secondeek, Has a bedroom solely for their or they and their partner's use, can have a pet ifey want one and has no unsecured debt beyond their ability to pay in a 2 monthriod.

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A t a v i s m7 December 2010 11:23AM

appiness is a warm gun according to bib-overall n' banjo fans...

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JamesStGeorge7 December 2010 11:27AM

ELAVYDecember 2010 8:15AM

ubbish.

you 'need' all that you will be miserable for ever, and serve you right. Screwed upside with envy.

appiness is keeping expectation below what you can have, whatever the levelnancially. Easy.

early happiness is impossible to measure, some people enjoy being miserable,iteful and greedy.

ke pleasures from the everyday b e a u t i e s o f l i f e , costs nothing.

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c r a n k y a n k7 December 2010 11:48AM

appiness is measured by the degree of conformity to left-wing orthodoxy and thesuing approval of Guardian readers.

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publunch7 December 2010 12:03PM

It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; betterto be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or thepig, are of a different opinion, it is because they only know their ownside of the question.

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pen i lep le thysmograph7 December 2010 12:50PM

ood article.

would suggest that multi attribute utility theory is the obvious candidate for this kindexercise. It is well grounded mathematically and can be nested etc. Different

mensions of value (of which 'happiness' may be one) can be differentially weightedg by different stakeholders) but can also be aggregated allowing a single value toderived.

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nse: Happiness is a key indicator – but it's not the only one | Comment is free | The Guardian

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/07/happiness-index-measure-wellbeing-health-education[24/01/2011 01:00:18 p.m.]

7 December 2010 1:12PM

Wellbeing has several different faces: we need to see them – and we can"

ou seem to be suggesting the following factors: subjective wellbeing, health,ucation, work and activities, political voice and governance, social connectedness,vironment and insecurity,.

y health is poor and will continue to deteriorate. I am too ill to work or participate inany activities. I've had to give up the course I was on. I am increasingly isolatede to my mobility problems. All three major parties have abondoned the disabled

d chronically sick in their support of reforms to disability benefits, so I have nolitical voice. My environment is limited to the inside of my flat which I find

mpossible to maintain. I have little or no financial security as the reforms to disabilitynefits push ahead.

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RichardWhi t t ing ton7 December 2010 1:24PM

disagree. Happiness is all that matters; everything thing else is subordinate. if youve health, education or other issues your happiness will be adversely affected.eep it simple and stick to happiness as the yardstick. We don't want to create areaucratic monster.

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m i n t a k a7 December 2010 1:59PM

may be very well-intentioned to seek to craft better instruments, but part of theoblem is the idea that everything should be seen in instrumental terms. How aboutthe government went about the business of securing a degree of individual liberty,cial stability and economic security for everyone, and then let people get on withshioning their own happiness? I'd rather that it didn't pursue GDP growth single-indedly, but I'd say the same about any other measure that was to replace it.

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BurgermaS7 December 2010 2:56PM

MawalTrees7 December 2010 10:50AMIt's really getting to the point where you can only conclude the peoplein power are either not very bright or are just plain evil.

et me answer that one.

you were getting a pub quiz team together would you want Callme Cameron in it? Iouldn't - he seems dead weight, doesn't know anything. Little life experience -

mazing for a man (or pretend man) in his position, and not bright to start with - In't see any of the telltales of intelligence with that guy. So yes, not very bright.

vil - slightly but not knowingly. Careerist politicians want to advance and will doything to do so. Like that dog Blair - millions dead but he got his stellar career.

orry that was unfair to dogs - none of their kind would betray like he had. But the

int is they don't care about you, they don't care about me, but they must pretendey do to advance. They care about satisfying their masters - the money men, thenks, the old powerful families. Our politicians are simply the managerial classes forese people - that is the job if you expect to succeed.

eorge Carlin sums up the situation very well here:tp : / /www.youtube .com/watch?v=hYIC0eZYEtI

rangely enough I am happy but I do understand the situation we have. You don'ted any indicators to realise the people of this country are not happy generally - justalk around and see the symptoms, the drug abuse, the anger, the miserable faces,e isolation, the consumerist attempts to alleviate the unhappiness. We are peopleho are victims of an ongoing divide and rule strategy - even the families are fallingart. We are exactly where they want us - desperate and therefore malleable andntrollable in economic terms. Just cattle on a farm, milked until there's nothing left.

omeone dreamt that up, and that's evil, but I don't think the politicians started it - just

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8/6/2019 Response_ Happiness is a key indicator – but it's not the only one _ Comment

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/response-happiness-is-a-key-indicator-but-its-not-the-only-one- 10/13

nse: Happiness is a key indicator – but it's not the only one | Comment is free | The Guardian

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/07/happiness-index-measure-wellbeing-health-education[24/01/2011 01:00:18 p.m.]

ayed their part to advance their careers.

JoWood7 December 2010 4:17PM

appiness isn't a key indicator that a political party is doing their job.am 'happy' because I am surrounded by wonderful support/family/friends etc. I amappy' because I chose to move to a part of the country where I can walk on theach after a hard days work. I am 'happy' because I put my Christmas tree up on the

eekend. I work hard at my 'happiness'.

am 'happy' d e s p i t e a hike in student fees; despite the fact Cornwall house pricesmain 17 times above the average wage; despite the fact unemployment in theunty is at an all-time high...ake full responsibility for my happiness, thanks - it's certainly not the doing of thevernment.

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JoWood7 December 2010 4:45PM

imey - just read my comment and it sounds really angry. Only at the gvnmt, youderstand, not the article/contributor..! x

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M a w a l Tr e e s7 December 2010 5:22PM

urgermaS

always helps in terms of general sanity to know you are not alone in you thinking. Iways say to people, those fundamental questions like why is everything so sh't?he answers to these questions are right in front of your eyes. Dirty streets, lack ofmmon respect out there, sneering at others is at the height of vogue, and lets notrget the whole getting to places because of who you know [or shagged], not whatu know.

hat said, I do love this country. I do believe it's fully of extremely gifted people, withonder ideas and characters and traditions and it's a real shame so many are sweptide in favour of turning the careerists who don't have a sincere thought in their

inds, a sincere gesture or genuine care about society, turning these people inities. It's such a waste of our overall potential, and the problem is the incompetentsem to gain more power and priviledge by the day. I just wish the rest would wake and do something about it. But they've even got that covered, you simply get youre put on you somewhere on some database and no doubt get arrested on suspicionsome trumped up charge which whilst it won't stick the smear will stay, if you chosefight back or expose.

r Assange has just been arrested by the country I was brought up to believe bowswn to no higher authority.

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s t e v l k n e v l7 December 2010 5:53PM

hen I was 5 years old my Mum told me that happiness was the key to life. When Ient to school they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I wrote down

Happy". They told me I didn't understand the assignment, I told them they didn'tderstand life.

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HolyInsurgen t7 December 2010 7:04PM

SELAVY 7 December 2010 8:15AM

Happiness is a million pound bonus whilst others are struggling.

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8/6/2019 Response_ Happiness is a key indicator – but it's not the only one _ Comment

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nse: Happiness is a key indicator – but it's not the only one | Comment is free | The Guardian

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/07/happiness-index-measure-wellbeing-health-education[24/01/2011 01:00:18 p.m.]

appiness is the right to post cynical commentary.

ill, one has to admit the comment is a valid presentation of Western nations' massliefs. Number one on the list: the more money I have, the more everyone else canshat upon from great heights.

he Holy Insurgent of Uncertainty

HolyInsurgen t7 December 2010 7:14PM

s tev lknev l 7 December 2010 5:53PM

When I was 5 years old my Mum told me that happiness was the keyto life. When I went to school they asked me what I wanted to be whenI grew up, I wrote down "Happy". They told me I didn't understand theassignment, I told them they didn't understand life.

What I wanted to be when I grew up...." You can see how children are linguisticallyogrammed from the beginning to be cogs in a market economy. The paradigm isat every child will grow up to have a profession in a market economy. No thought ine paradigm is given to our childrens' emotions or value fulfillment.

he Holy Insurgent of Uncertainty

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g w i l l i k e r s7 December 2010 7:18PM

appiness. Every morning for 21 years I have woken up and said good-morning toy wife. I see her smile and I immediately feel an overwhelming feeling.....happiness. Try measuring it and get back to me.

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HolyInsurgen t7 December 2010 7:21PM

c r a n k y a n k 7 December 2010 11:48AM

Happiness is measured by the degree of conformity to left-wingorthodoxy and the ensuing approval of Guardian readers.

anslation: Happiness is measured by the degree of conformity to right-wingthodoxy and the ensuing disapproval of Guardian readers.

se, why do such people post in CiF?

h e H o l y I n s u rg en t o f U n c e r t a i n t y

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HolyInsurgen t7 December 2010 7:27PM

K a t a l i 7 December 2010 8:19AM

I grow more cynical each day about our noble leaders of all parties.

ou mean "all the main parties". What if there is a party out there that you do agreeith? Will you still vote for one of the main parties because of the belief that votingr a better party is "a wasted vote"?

there is no such party, then increase your happiness by creating and supporting aw one.

he Holy Insurgent of Uncertainty

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A c a m a r 7 December 2010 9:35PM

would be happy to see Cameron and Clegg tarred with feathers, taken through the

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8/6/2019 Response_ Happiness is a key indicator – but it's not the only one _ Comment

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nse: Happiness is a key indicator – but it's not the only one | Comment is free | The Guardian

www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/07/happiness-index-measure-wellbeing-health-education[24/01/2011 01:00:18 p.m.]

h ow i n g f i r s t 5 0 c o m m e n t s | S ho w a l l c o m m e n t s | G o t o l a t e s t c o m m e n t

reets, and then taken to a suitable beach and thrown out of our country.

Roger INtheUSA7 December 2010 11:13PM

y guess is that the objective is to find an index that will show that the currentvernment is doing an excellent job and that a screwed up economy really isn't allat important after all.

the happiness figures start to go down they'll invent a new index - maybe a

riousness index, showing how the society has matured. How it's abandonedvolity and the infantile "pursuit of happiness"

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Roger INtheUSA7 December 2010 11:16PM

* junglederry

7 December 2010 10:01AM

The best things in life are free.........http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEjlKOEjM1M

illiant! Could be instituted as the new national anthem.

aise the lawd and pass the soma.

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ghos t sandAnge ls8 December 2010 12:25AM

e need a General Election

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