... Indeed, the ideological common ground of the political class has perhaps been nowhere more apparent than in the transformation of wellbeing or happiness from being a free individua'ls pursuit into the object of government policy. So committed were New Labour to making people happy that they appointed a so-called happiness tsar, academic Richard Layard, who urged us to 'change our inner attitudes as much as our outward circumstances'. Likewise, Cameron, from the moment he was elected Tory leader in 2005, repeatedly stated 'that there's more to life than money', and that government should focus 'not just on GDP but on GWB - general wellbeing'. In office, Cameron continued to focus on wellbeing, even promoting a 'happiness index' - to measure just how happy we are.
This article was published by Spiked online on July 19, 2016
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Related article
Richard Layard 'Happiness is back', Prospect March 2005, issues 108
Related links
Richard Layard webpage
Wellbeing Programme webpage
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