Personal Blogs

The title is translated from an ancient Greek epitaph I once read: "Χερε", that is, "Be happy".

Please ask yourself this question before you read further.

On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 = not at all happy and 10 = completely happy, how happy were you yesterday?

Now you have answered please read on.

A French philosopher once memorably said, "When a man asks himself whether he is happy, he ceases to be so". This is perceptive but it's not a truth of human existence, more an observation that who, or what, asks you a question may influence − not just how you answer, but also what your answer is. This "framing" is the subject of a sketch from "Yes Minister".

However since 2012 the UK has being collecting statistics about whether people rate themselves as happy − as you did a minute or two ago. The Office for National Statistics publishes the results. Over a third of respondents rated their happiness as 9/10 or 10/10. Isn't that surprising? But knowing it made me feel a little happier.