[the fact that this comes from Cameron shed more doubt on ideas of "gross national happiness."]
from SLATE: >British Government Defies National Character with Happiness Initiative > The British "don't merely enjoy misery, they get off on it," wrote former New > York Times journalist Eric Weiner in his book on global happiness, The > Geography of Bliss. If that's the case, then perhaps the British conservative > government's move to "officially monitor happiness" will give Brits cause to > crack open a bottle of grump. The conservative Prime Minister will ask the > U.K. government later this month to draw up happiness indicators, including > environmental quality and sense of fulfilment in achieving life goals, that > will inform future policy, reports the Guardian. "The aim is to produce a > fresh set of data," said a British official, "that assesses the psychological > and physical wellbeing of people around the UK. So that's objective > measurements of, for instance, how much recycling gets done around the UK, > alongside more subjective measures of psychology and attitudes." Cameron has > long toyed with the idea of measure "wellbeing" as an alternative to the > tyranny of GDP in measuring national progress. Until now, however, Bhutan was > the only country to implement another measure of national progress: Gross > National Happiness. Now, developed countries are jumping on the bandwagon, > with France and Canada looking to diversify the way they measure quality of > life. Prime Minister Cameron has called wellbeing one of the "central > political issues of our time." > Read original story in The Guardian > [http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/nov/14/happiness-index-britain-national-mood] > | Monday, Nov. 15, 2010 < -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
