Nanny Knows Best

Nanny Knows Best
Dedicated to exposing, and resisting, the all pervasive nanny state that is corroding the way of life and the freedom of the people of Britain.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Happiness



I am gemused to see that our coalition government has announced that it will spend around £2M a year measuring our "happiness".

A fascinating idea yet, somehow, I suspect deeply flawed.

Let us start with the basics, ie what exactly is "happiness"?

There are some basic theories that state that humans have several levels of "needs" that have to be satisfied before they achieve "nirvana".

The basic "needs" are:

- Food
- Shelter
- Safety/warmth
- Sex

Once these have been sated, the human "id" (or ego) takes over, and mankind (so the theory goes) looks for fulfillment (or his/her destiny) via intellectual pursuits and "leisure activities that boost the ego and give rise to feeling of self satisfaction/contentment.

Hmmmm, all well and good, yet measuring these key performance indicators (KPI's) is all but impossible.

1 As each new generation is born in the "First World", their aspirations are higher than the previous generation.

Economic, political, technological and social advancement means that each generation expects growth and improvement in their basic conditions. Our grandfathers would have been more than content with a roof over their heads and an indoor privy. The current generation expects nothing less than a 42 inch plasma TV with internet access etc.

2 One person's view of "enough" wrt eg food or sex, is not the same as another's. There are some who can make do with sex once a month whilst there are others, eg certain "celebrities", who cannot get a "boner" unless it's at least 3 in a bed twice a day with half a kilo of coke.

3 It is fair to say that many in the UK are more than sated wrt their food intake, one only has to watch people stuff their faces with all manner of shit from takeaways etc to see that.

Yet, take a close look at many of these face stuffers and ask yourselves are they really happy?

To my view they look terribly unhappy, and are in fact using food to take their minds off their own self perceived misery and self pity.

4 Despite all our social and economic advances, there are still people in this country who do not have a roof over their heads, who live in cold damp rooms and who do not have enough to eat.

Unless their basic needs are met there can be no effective measure of the country's happiness, because they have yet to get to the next level (where "happiness" is meant to kick in).

5 The Orifice of National Statistics will be the organ of the state assigned the task of measuring "happiness". As we know from its lamentable record wrt providing economic statistics whatever numbers it reports are unreliable, out of date and subject to revision.

Having proven that measuring "happiness" is all but impossible, the question that also needs to be asked is whether this really is any of the government's business?

Traditional political models work on the assumption that if the government stimulates the economy, and ensures that there is a reasonable level of "full" employment, then people will be happy. As demonstrated above, "happiness" is a little but more complicated than that.

For sure, money alone cannot buy you happiness. However, abject poverty in the face of conspicuous abundance is miserable.

The real key to "happiness" is a subjective mixture of:

- "wealth",
- "freedom", and
- the expectation/"hope" of self improvement.

These three "keys" to happiness can only come about when a government runs a "plug in and play" environment, whereby the individual can safely go about his/her business (without harming others) in the expectation that the government will not keep changing the rules of the game or stifle initiative and self growth via excessive rules, regulations and taxes.

This means that governments need to focus on downsizing their role in society, and individuals need to become (and be allowed to become) more responsible for their own lives.

Wasting money on measuring "happiness" will not achieve anything tangible, other than a "feelgood" buzz for Nanny.

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8 comments:

  1. Ken,

    I agree with your comments.

    This is a gimmick straight from the Nu-Labour book of shit as written by Messers Blair and Brown; I thought Cast Iron Dave was going to put a stop to this type of nonsense....Budget cuts?,,, I know, let's waste £2m on a pointless exercise....Jobs for the boys?

    My happiness level would rise if I won the euromillions tonight and Cast Iron Dave would roll back the state as he promised....I wonder what happened to the great repeal bill....It's all gone quiet over there!!!!
    I wonder what happened to the bonfire of the quangos; I see we now have a few new ones; again,it's all gone quiet over there!!!!

    I would like to see my happiness level rise if the government stopped all this climate change nonsense and got us out of the EUSSR.
    My happiness level would rise if England became a country I could be proud off again and as a straight, middleaged, white, married male with no kids living at home, I didn't feel like a second class citizen in my own country nor a cash cow for Nanny.
    There are lots of things that would make me feel happier but, the biggest single thing would be rolling back the state both, the UK and the EUSSR....If they kept out of my life and stopped nannying me and robbing me for pointless exercises, such as happiness surveys, I would be much happier.

    Oh and Nanny; stop dressing everyone in Hi-Viz.

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  2. John B Stryge11:37 AM

    Can we expect an influx of consultants from Bhutan?

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  3. Lord of Atlantis3:31 PM

    I thought we were supposed to be in a dire financial mess? If that is so, would it not be better to usae the 2 million quid on protecting essential services, such as health, education or law and order for example, instead of wasting it on this bs?

    Tonk said: "I would like to see my happiness level rise if the government stopped all this climate change nonsense and got us out of the EUSSR.
    My happiness level would rise if England became a country I could be proud off again and as a straight, middleaged, white, married male with no kids living at home, I didn't feel like a second class citizen in my own country nor a cash cow for Nanny.
    There are lots of things that would make me feel happier but, the biggest single thing would be rolling back the state both, the UK and the EUSSR....If they kept out of my life and stopped nannying me and robbing me for pointless exercises, such as happiness surveys, I would be much happier. Oh and Nanny; stop dressing everyone in Hi-Viz."

    I couldn't agree with you more, Tonk! To add to your list, how about repealing the human rights act, in it's present form, a promise that has not been kept (quelle surprise!) or for the old bill, magistrates and judiciary to stop persecuting decent people over trivial matters and to crack down hard on real criminals, with a return to stiff sentences?

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  4. Disgusted, Tunbridge Wells7:18 PM

    My current happiness level: 0

    When will it increase to 10? The day I board the plane with a one-way ticket to sunny climes, knowing full well that that will be my last glimpse of the UK with its lousy weather, grim countryside, chav culture and its Big Brother State.

    NB You won't believe it but my captcha word is "asessed"!

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  5. I feel exactly the same as every one of you. It's all very saying that happiness is a state of mind that you choose to feel. But when we are seeing our freedom stripped away daily, and others receiving the efforts of our hard work, it takes the mickey.

    I'd like to add another to the list that would induce happiness (for me, at least) - an end to the trashy, X-Factor, reality TV show, selfish, failure-praising, pop culture that infects this country.

    Rant over.

    Thanks for a great platform for our rants, Ken ;-)

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  6. Anonymous12:08 AM

    If you think money can't buy you happiness you are shopping at the wrong place.

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  7. I agree with your post. One thing that would improve the average persons happiness would be to abolish tax credits and the endless benifits. I don't see why I should be deprived of my earnt living and yet be held responible for other men's children.

    One thing you should have put on the list was Beer!

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  8. Anonymous9:30 PM

    Cameron is proving everyday just wahat an inept twat he is - this takes the biscuit - because presumably, he thinks he can make us believe it. It is nonsense and we all know it

    ReplyDelete