An interesting political (really should have a big 'P' and not a small 'p') story emerged over the last few days courtesy of the Conservative Party (I'm pretty sure Labour Party were interested in this a while back) about challenging the common view of what makes us all happy, i.e. putting quality of life over and above the persuit of personal wealth.
In The politics of happiness (BBC News: Programmes) Mark Easton comments on research that attempts to seek out what "might capture the elusive feel-good factor". As I mentioned before it challenges the belief that delivering the best possible quality of life for us all means more than concentrating solely on economic growth.
It's a good article and tackles whether tax, banning advertising, commuting less, encouraging marriage, rethinking the health service, can make people happy. However, for me, there was one glaring omission from the commentary - i.e. control over our lives and control over our working lives (commuting is only one part of working life).
Sadly, the tyranny of the factory/office clock and the demands of businesses keen to suck up to anything that has cash dominate our world and will always clash with what has the potential to make us happy. So, a bit of advice for Mr. Cameron - your plans won't work because of our economic policy and attitude to democracy, but it won't stop you, like Labour did ten years ago, using focus groups to convince us of an inevitable betrayal.
Sadly, the tyranny of the factory/office clock and the demands of businesses keen to suck up to anything that has cash dominate our world and will always clash with what has the potential to make us happy. So, a bit of advice for Mr. Cameron - your plans won't work because of our economic policy and attitude to democracy, but it won't stop you, like Labour did ten years ago, using focus groups to convince us of an inevitable betrayal.
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