The Politics of Happiness

The centre-left are keen to hold up Denmark as a paradigm of collectivist contentment.  According to the story, Danes score highest in national happiness tests because they have more concern for well-being than prosperity, put the common good before individual self-improvement, and willing accept high taxes if public services work well.  The New Labour mouthpiece that is Radio Four loves this...

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Maximum Headroom

I came across a great BBC website recently that I thought I could share with you all.  It’s called Headroom: Unwind Your Mind.  The site contains a cleverly formatted mix of health news, stories, tests and interactive resources.  For instance, there’s a section called MoodScape that allows you to create your own unique animation to reflect your mood.  There is also a MoodSpa to...

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The Five Habits of Highly Passive People

A business colleague told me recently that she thought I was the ‘passive and calm’ type.  I didn’t like it.  I didn’t like it one bit. True, she hadn’t known me for very long and her observations of me were all within one limited situation.   But she’s an astute and experienced person, so I took her comments seriously enough to warrant reflection. Why didn’t I like it? ...

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The Sultans of Happiness

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video I came across a little nugget of gold in the otherwise dross-filled YouTube recently. It’s a live discussion between Mihály Csíkszentmihályi and Martin Seligman on the Charlie Rose show on the subject of happiness. This is a little like overhearing a conversation between Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler talk about playing...

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