A post by Pat

Ok, I know they don’t observe Thanksgiving in the UK. I just wanted to make a point. The UK is going to start measuring happiness as a socio-economic metric just like unemployment and crime statistics. The ONS, Office for National Statistics, will start asking people how satisfied they are with their lives including their personal relationships.

David Cameron is very keen on this idea. He wants to create a climate that is more family-friendly and conducive to the good life. Most of us would have our happiness index improve if the government would leave us alone.

This measure that we are setting out today reaffirms the fact that our success is about more than economic growth. It will open a national debate about how together we can build a better life. It will help bring about a re-appraisal of what matters and it will lead to government policy that is more focused not just on the bottom line, but on all those things that make life worthwhile.


Money can’t buy happiness they say. Good thing since Western countries are sinking in debt. Maybe that’s why they want to include happiness in the GDP. Indeed, as the Western economies decline in real product, the GDP might one day be renamed Gross Domestic Perkiness.

And I do sincerely wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow the nanny state arrives.

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4 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tammy Bruce, Donald Douglas. Donald Douglas said: RT @HeyTammyBruce: Happy Thanksgiving On A Scale From One To Ten http://bit.ly/hjPtjl #tbrs […]

  2. noflyzone says:

    if i was any happier, i’d have to be arrested. not to be picky, i think being happy means one would have to have had a lobotomy. perhaps content is a better word.

  3. Maynard says:

    Okay, I’m a degenerate. But when I see the British PM advocating a government study to measure happiness, it echoes in my mind that they’re working up a program to measure, umm, take the first syllable out of the word “happiness” and what does that leave us? And is my dyslexic translation far off the mark? That’s pretty much what governments have come to these days, with the (ahem!) “members” of Parliament poking into our lives where they don’t belong. And all this meddling certainly detracts from the size of my, ah, happiness.

  4. RuBegonia says:

    Perhaps the Brits can hire Bruno, Len, and Carrie Ann to proxy for them so that they have more time to pursue happiness. Hope all carnivorous TAMS are being delightfully intoxicated by turkey tryptophans today – with a bit of Tammy’s special cranberry sauce on the side!

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