How to boost well-being - and prove it!

This blog, written by Saamah Abdallah of the new economics foundation (nef), is part of the Wikiprogress series on Human Well-Being and Subjective Well-Being.

 

Photo credit:   mikebaird

The Big Lottery Fund has published the final results from their Well-Being Programme evaluation which nef, alongside colleagues at the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES), have been carrying out on their behalf since 2006.

The final report is available online. The headline findings are:

• Proportions of people eating five portions of fruit and vegetables daily increased from 48% at the beginning of the project to 57% at the end. Proportions of primary school children saying they helped their parents with cooking almost doubled from 12% to 24%.
• Proportions of people having high levels of physical activity rose from 23% to 32%. This increase went further at follow-up, three to six months after the end of the project.
• Proportions of people reporting substantial depressive symptoms fell from 33% to 22%.
• Average life satisfaction (on a scale of 0-10) rose from 6.5 at the start, to 7.1 at the end of projects. This coincided with significant increases in people feeling good about themselves, relaxed, close to other people, and all other aspects of personal well-being measured.
• The different aspects were all interlinked. Most striking was that projects which involved physical activity lead to big improvements in terms of mental health and healthy eating.
• Keys to successful projects included having a holistic approach, engaging the target group from the start and incorporating co-production, integrating activities into daily life, and ensuring that they are fun and involve social interaction.

For us, the findings are exciting news. They a) show that people’s experienced well-being can be improved and that these improvements can be sustained (something which some theorists have doubted), b) show that well-being can be used to evaluate a wide range of projects from cookery courses, to therapy sessions, and c) begin to provide evidence on the kinds of activities which work best, and about the inter-linkages between different aspects of people’s behaviour and well-being.

The Well-Being Programme was a £160 million programme funding a broad range of community projects improving mental health and increasing healthy eating and physical activity, delivered by partnerships lead by organisations such as the Soil Association,  MIND, Sustrans and the Greater London Authority.

The evaluation involved the administration of a questionnaire for project beneficiaries which they completed when they started being involved in a project, when they finished, and (where possible), three to six months after they left a project. Our colleagues at CLES also carried out extensive qualitative research, including focus groups and interviews with beneficiaries and project staff. 
The Well-Being Programme recently received a boost of another £40 million,   so some of the projects funded are set to continue. We look forward to seeing further increases in well-being as a result. The findings have also attracted particular attention from the Cabinet Office, who will be looking to see what lessons can be learnt from the evaluation to help realise the Prime Minister’s stated goal of focusing policy on improving well-being 

- Saamah Abdallah
Senior Researcher at the Centre for Well-being  at the nef

 This blog first appeared on 3 September 2013 on the nef blog.

Good news, we're slightly happier.But why?

This post was written by Mark Williamson, Director of Action for Happiness* . This blog is  part of the Wikiprogress Series on Subjective Well-being. 

How satisfied are you with your life? It's a question we've probably all pondered at times. But for the last two years it's also been one of a handful of new "subjective wellbeing" questions which the Office for National Statistics has been asking people all over the UK.

You may be surprised to learn that the UK is now leading the way in terms of officially measuring the wellbeing of its citizens. We're at the forefront of a growing global movement where people are recognising that there's more to a good society than just economic growth - and that we need measures of progress which reflect the quality of life as people actually experience it.

On the 30th of July we saw something rather remarkable on two counts. Firstly, the publication of the very first official year-on-year comparisons of UK wellbeing, a landmark moment in this new era of measuring what matters. And secondly, we had the unexpected news that, as a nation, we've actually become happier and less anxious over the last 12 months. Not hugely happier, but a statistically significant step in the right direction nonetheless.

The proportion of people giving a high life satisfaction score (7 or more out of 10) rose from 75.9% in 2012 to 77% in 2013. And the proportion of people giving a low (i.e. positive) score for "feeling anxious" (3 or less out of 10) rose from 60.1% to 61.5%. That sounds promising, but how has this improvement in average wellbeing been distributed across the population? Well, the ONS hasn't yet provided a regional breakdown, but it does appear that the people with the lowest wellbeing have seen some of the benefit. For example, the proportion of people with a very low life satisfaction score has fallen from 6.6% to 5.8% and the proportion with a very high (i.e. negative) score for "feeling anxious" has fallen from 21.8% to 20.9%. Encouragingly, it's not just a case of the fairly happy folks getting even happier.

So what's going on here? Is this an "Olympics bounce", a reflection of a slightly improving economic outlook or something else? In a separate recent analysis, the ONS explored the factors that most affect our personal wellbeing and identified three that appear to make the biggest difference. The first is whether we perceive our health to be good. The second is our employment status, with unemployment clearly being very detrimental to wellbeing. And the third is our marital status, with people who are married or in civil partnerships being happier than those who aren't. Of these, the most likely contributor to recent improvements in national wellbeing is the slight reduction in unemployment over the last year, which is clearly welcome, although levels remain worryingly high.

But I believe the ONS analysis is missing some vitally important contributors to wellbeing. Research suggests that the external circumstances of our lives generally have a smaller impact on our happiness than our attitudes and actions. And at Action for Happiness, our review of the latest evidence has identified ten areas where actions we take as individuals tend to increase our wellbeing. We call these the Ten Keys to Happier Living. They include having positive relationships and strong social connections, giving to others, being mindful, staying physically active, taking a resilient approach to adversity, pursuing life goals and being part of something bigger than ourselves. These are the real drivers of wellbeing just as much as having a job, good health or being married.

The ONS identified the Jubilee celebrations and Olympics as factors that may have contributed to our boost in wellbeing since last year. I suspect this may indeed be true. But if so, this is not thanks to our love of the Royal Family or our outstanding sporting success. It's because these events encouraged actions which helped us to connect in our communities, to share enjoyable times together and to feel part of something bigger. Although these once-in-a-lifetime events won't be repeated any time soon, there's still so much more we can do to create and maintain those community connections and that positive and outward-looking spirit.

Finally, the ONS has also uncovered some rather startling findings regarding people's levels of anxiety. Some of the most anxious people are those who, you might imagine, have least to worry about. For example, people in higher professional occupations report more anxiety than those in lower supervisory and technical occupations. People with the highest levels of education are more anxious than people with lower educational attainment. And most surprisingly, people who live in the least deprived areas actually report higher levels of anxiety than those who live in the most deprived areas. This is a timely reminder that anxiety, and indeed depression, are classless and affect people from all walks of life. Many of those we hold up as role models and paragons of success are actually trapped in busy and stressful lives where they feel under constant pressure and unhappy. As Arianna Huffington says, it's time for us to redefine what we mean by success.

So this move towards measuring wellbeing should be warmly welcomed. It's a call for governments to place a greater focus on the things that affect people's quality of life - and nothing could be more important. But it's also a reminder for each of us that real success and happiness come from a balanced life, with time to connect with the people around us and to focus on the things that matter.

Mark Williamson is Director of Action for Happiness.

This article was first posted on the Action for Happiness website, here. 

*Action for Happiness is a movement of people taking action in their personal lives, homes, workplaces and communities - to help create a happier society. The movement has tens of thousands of members from a wide range of backgrounds including community leaders, parents, teachers, business leaders, students, policy makers, researchers, health experts and more. Action for Happiness provides information, inspiration and resources to help its members make a difference, all based on the latest empirical scientific evidence relating to happiness, wellbeing and resilience. 

The week in review

Week in review 09.12.2011
Hello, glad you could join us for the Wikiprogress week in review - a handful of headlines that have caught our eyes over the last week. You can find all news articles and blog posts on the progress community in the  Wikiprogress Community Portal. 

On measuring progress
Government drafts 'happiness indicators' to supplement economic data  (The Japan Times 06.12.2011)
At the Asia-Pacific Conference on Measuring Well-Being and Fostering the Progress of Societies, Japan’s Cabinet Office announced a set of indicators designed to gauge well-being based on three major factors — socioeconomic conditions, physical and mental health, and relationships.
See more and contribute to the Wikiprogress article on The Asia-Pacific Conference on Measuring Well-Being and Fostering the Progress of Societies

On inequality
OECD inequality report: how do different countries compare?  (Guardian Data Blog 05.12.2011)
The OECD report on inequality: Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising, released this week shows a rise in the share of top-income recipients in total gross income over the last 30 years in all countries.
Read more and contribute to the Wikiprogress article on inequality

On UK happiness
Richard Layard: And so begins the strange era of feel-good politics... (The Independent 07.12.2011)
Leading progress thinker, Richard Layard, writes about the future of basing policy on how it affects the well-being of the people. He argues that the value lies not in finding the average happiness of the nation, but in what causes people to be happy or unhappy.
See more and contribute to the Wikiprogress article on measuring happiness in the UK

On gender equality

Women and Work – This house believes that a woman’s place is at work (Economist Debate)
Defending the motion in this week’s Economist debate is Linda Basch (President of National Council for Research on Women), who argues work is right for families, communities, the economy and women. Against this motion is Christina Hoff Summers (American Enterprise Institute), who believes women should not have an assigned place and questions what is wrong with the 5 million American women who are full-time mothers.
See more and contribute to the Wikigender article on women and work.



On growth in India
Putting Growth in its Place (Outlook, November)
Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze co-author this essay on growth and development in India stressing that growth should be a means to development but not an end in itself. India is a unique case, even after 20 years of growth it is still among the world’s poorest nations.
See more and contribute to the Wikiprogress article on progress in India

In the Spotlight: Global Corruption Perception Index reflects Arab Spring unrest
That’s all from us this week. We hope you tune in the same time next week. In the meantime, if anything interesting passes your desk that you would like to see in the next Wikiprogress week in review, please tweet it to us  @Wikiprogress  or post it on our  Facebook page.  

Yours in progress,

Philippa Lysaght

On the Practical Politics of Well-being

By Dr Sorcha Mahoney of the new economics foundation Centre for Well-being.

Last month the Centre for Well-being at nef (the new economics foundation) launched its latest pamphlet: The Practical Politics of Well-being. At the heart of this pamphlet is the idea that the well-being agenda has the potential to resonate across the political spectrum and appeal to those on the left, right and centre ground of politics in the UK. This is important; we believe that no matter which political party is in power, having high well-being for all as a basic orienting principle for policy making and political decision making can help to deliver improved well-being for UK citizens.

In this vein, The Practical Politics of Well-being presents personal contributions from a Labour (left wing), Liberal Democrat (centre) and Conservative (right wing) perspective on the well-being agenda and how this relates to particular party political principles. In his paper, Michael Jacobs argues that well-being provides a new justification and a new language for goals that Labour already espouses, whilst noting the difficulty of creating public support for the provision of public goods – a necessary pre-cursor for high well-being – and the major challenge that well-being science poses to decisions around economic and employment policy. In her paper, Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson argues that liberals and Liberal Democrats have also long appreciated well-being as an important goal of policy, whilst noting that findings from well-being science may bolster certain liberal principles and pose a challenge to others, which implies a need to consider how well-being sits alongside other key liberal values. In his paper, conservative commentator Jonty Olliff-Cooper notes that whilst Conservative backing of the well-being agenda may at first seem strange, conservatives – whichever strand of conservatism they represent – are interested in how the individual’s well-being can be maximised. He argues that well-being offers one possible route to turning conservative thinking into a practical guide for action.

Acknowledging and harnessing cross-party support for the well-being agenda is an important part of ensuring its practical application. In the UK, moves are now well underway to measure well-being at the national level. Last week the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) published its first round of test statistics on well-being from its Opinions Survey, and since April 2011 it has included four subjective questions in its annual Integrated Household Survey, which probes the well-being and circumstances of some 200,000 people in the UK. These questions are about how satisfied people are with their lives, how happy they were yesterday, how anxious they were yesterday, and how worthwhile they think the things they do are. The survey also asks a large number of questions about objective circumstances that are influenced by policy, for example health behaviours, housing, education, household income, employment patterns and benefit entitlements. With such information the way is paved for policy makers and political decision makers – of whichever political persuasion – to ask about the likely impacts of particular policies on well-being, and to make policies and decisions in a way designed to maximise well-being. This in turn implies potential changes to policy, some of which might be painful and resisted, whilst others will be less controversial.

Equally as important, however, is our contention – explicit in the pamphlet – that there is a need to change the central dynamic of our society. The current dynamic is inherently flawed. Without doing this, the danger is that despite small, incremental changes to policy and political decision making, the central dynamic will remain unchanged, and that in this the well-being agenda will be no more than a band aid for patching up the cracks in a fundamentally flawed system.

Whilst the well-being agenda appeals to people across the political spectrum, if we are to take it seriously this will mean not only ensuring that policy-making and political decision making at the margins are driven by well-being evidence, but designing core economic policies with well-being in mind. 

The week in review

Hello, glad you could join us for the Wikiprogress week in review - a handful of headlines that have caught our eyes over the last week. You can find all news articles and blog posts on the progress community in the  Wikiprogress Community Portal

On the #occupy movement
The New Progressive Movement (New York Times 12.11.2011)
Development Economist Jeffrey Sachs comments on the Occupy Wall Street movement as a turning point in modern history; according to Sachs the last thirty years or ‘Reaganomics’ have ended with the rise of the new progressive era.
See more on and contribute to the Wikiprogress article on progress in the US

On philanthropy
New directions in philanthropy- report from the Bellagio Summit (From Poverty to Power 15.11.2011)
Duncan Green blogs on the ‘Future of Philanthropy and Development in the Pursuit of Human Wellbeing’ summit hosted by the Rockefeller Foundation this week. Green gives a brief scorecard of what’s hot and what’s not according to philanthropists working in development.

On gender equality
Mexican Women Demand Climate Justice (IPS 14.11.2011)
In a recent meeting hosted by Mexicans Against Inequality, issues were raised about the displacement of women throughout Mexico due to ecological disasters such as drought, water scarcity and socioenvironmental conflict.
See more and contribute to the Wikigender article on gender and climate change

On happiness in the UK
The wellbeing agenda isn't navel-gazing, it's innovation and survival (Guardian 13.11.2011)
Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron have both played very significant roles in the development of a well-being agenda; the Stiglitz Commission launched in 2009 and general well-being (or GWB) have been invaluable to the momentum of the global progress movement.
See more and contribute to the Wikiprogress article on the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress

On Visualisation of data: Afghanistan
Asia Foundation Unveils Data Site “Visualizing Afghanistan” for 2011 Survey of the Afghan People (PR Web 17.11.2011)
To accompany the broadest and most comprehensive public opinion poll of Afghan citizens, "Afghanistan in 2011: A Survey of the Afghan People," The Asia Foundation has launched an interactive mapping platform and data visualisation site, "Visualizing Afghanistan." Through "Visualizing Afghanistan," the Foundation is making its Afghan survey data available and downloadable to researchers and the public to use and republish, with citation.

See more and contribute to the Wikiprogress article on the Afghanistan.

In the Spotlight: East Asia and Pacific Children Most Vulnerable to Climate Change – UNICEF Report

That’s all from us this week. We hope you tune in the same time next week. In the meantime, if anything interesting passes your desk that you would like to see in the next Wikiprogress week in review, please tweet it to us  @Wikiprogress  or post it on our Facebook page.

Yours in Progress,

Philippa Lysaght

October 2011 Editor's Choice

Welcome to the latest selection of progress and well-being related articles from Dafydd Thomas of our Correspondents, the Wellbeing Wales Network.

Autumn in the UK is, amongst other things, the time that the party political faithful gather to look back at their achievements and plan future campaigns. An indication of wellbeing’s impact on the political agenda is clear when both the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats want to look at the role of ‘flourishing’ and ‘wellbeing’ in informing public policies. If political advances are being made, then UNICEF UK’s report on child wellbeing makes for some very sober reading on the scale of what’s needed to move from political progress to actual change.

Three years ago, Britain was at the bottom of a league table of 21 industrialised countries on child wellbeing. UNICEF UK wanted to understand why this was the case and commissioned a scoping study to review the data on poverty, family relationships and health in order to consider which factors appeared to account for the between-country differences in child wellbeing.

What the report was able to conclude in comparing Britain, Sweden and Spain was one universal constant. Irrespective of culture, values or country, a child’s happiness is dependent on having time with family and friends and having plenty to do outdoors. Unfortunately the details of the report of these international comparisons paint a very bleak picture of the state of British family life, what we value as a nation and how it all feels for children growing up in this country.

Different reports in different papers had the following comments:
• Income inequalities have a ‘grave’ impact on families and parents;
• British, probably English, children are ‘the most tested children in Europe,’ which adds its own considerable pressures;
• Advertising for material goods aimed at children creates family tensions and unnecessary consumerism;
• Parents are working too hard, are too stressed and have no time for children;
• then salve their guilt buying the latest must have toys or accessories thinking that this makes their children happy.

In the midst of this disheartening situation, Kate Pickett in the Guardian feels there are some ‘grounds for optimism.’ Namely the universal, positive relationship between a child’s happiness, fulfilment and time spent with family and friends. If that’s what’s needed then policies that promote flourishing communities, happy people or child wellbeing could start by focusing on ways to help families find more time to spend together.

Finally an article in the Observer muddies the waters as the cause and effect of food on mood. Indeed, many are quoted as saying that one affects the other and visa versa.

Swedish psychiatrist, Ursula Werneke is quoted as saying “meals give you a chance to stop and take a break from the stress of the day.” Since Ursula and here fellow citizens seem to know a thing or two about their own and children’s wellbeing, that advice sounds worth taking.

The UK riots and social exclusion: Let’s focus on a well society.

The UK’s Coalition Government has done many things since coming to power to try to distinguish itself from the last administration, one of which has been the decision to try and measure community well-being as a way of informing policy decisions.  The Prime Minister, ministers, the Office of National Statistics, commentators and just about everyone else have found it difficult to come to some consensus on what well-being is.  Where everyone can agree is that last month’s riots in many English cities are about as far away from community well-being as you’d ever want to be.

So why have some communities been left looking like war zones? Well-being theory can help identify some of the main issues and hopefully inform the response to what is a very complex problem.

The new economics foundation has developed the Five Ways to Well-being as a self help guide to promote increased individual well-being[1]. The rioters may indeed have the means to keep connected with the people around them, but something is stopping these individuals from learning more, nurturing their curiosity and feeling that doing something for their community is worthwhile in itself.  Similarly, Professor Martin Seligman’s recipe to Flourish[2]  notes the importance of relationships in an individual’s life, like the Five Ways to Well-being.  The other ingredients in Professor Seligman’s recipe include getting involved in something that brings positive meaning to your life or developing a sense of achievement.

Many commentators have highlighted the role that gangs have played in the riots.  Gang culture can bring meaning, achievement and relationships to their members, like any club or social network.  Being in a gang can make you feel very good about yourself and draw you closer to your peers, while insulating you from conditions on the ‘outside.’  This goes to the heart of the very subjective nature of well-being, where gang members would probably report that at least their short-term quality of life has been improved by gang membership and newly acquired material goods.  Those who have suffered at the hands of the criminal rioters would strongly disagree.  It is this mismatch that illustrates perfectly why public policy needs to focus on community well-being rather than individual short term happiness or merriment. 

MacDonald[3] has written about social exclusion, noting that the young adults in his research were very much part of a local community, but that the characteristics of that community, and the behaviours and attitudes required to be socially included within it, could be the very things that made those young people excluded from wider society. Again, like gang membership, this suggests that aspects of wellbeing are setting specific.

Lles Cymru Wellbeing Wales has worked with a number of organisations with the Exploring Sustainable Well-being Toolkit – which has a model of sustainable well-being at its core (See figure 1).  We would argue that the complex underlying problems uncovered by the recent riots need to be viewed through the lens of sustainable well-being in order to help work out what’s going on, rather than narrowly focusing on individuals and their ‘feckless mothers’.  We would also advocate asking people where they are as the first step in informing future policy decisions.  This information would give a real sense of the community’s well-being and help decision makers understand what the issues are at the sharp end of government policy delivery.  Even better, evidence demonstrates that this approach can galvanise a community to get involved and make a positive difference - streets full of volunteers clearing up after the riots illustrate the potential.

Figure 1

All of this might sound a bit fluffy and in sharp contrast to the scenes of destruction played out on the news.  But NEF’s work is founded on the 2008 Foresight Programme’s Mental Capital and Wellbeing Project and Professor Seligman has been commissioned by the United States Army to deliver the world’s most psychologically fit Army under the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness programme.  These principles are applicable to this situation and there is evidence to demonstrate the successes of this approach.

US Democrat congresswomen Patricia Schroeder spent 24 years in the House of Representatives focusing on family and work related issues.  She is quoted as saying “you measure a government on how few people need help.” I would say that a lot of people need a lot of help based on recent events.

Finally, as a father, its distressing to read so many comments about unemployable and worthless youths.  Surely we need to move on from thinking about everyone’s contribution to society in purely economic terms.  We’re currently stuck in the rut of assessing social progress and government success by focusing on the country’s economic activity.  To get more economic growth, we all have to be more ‘economically efficient.’  As a result, if you don’t get the grades, you don’t get the career and have less value to society. That’s going to make a lot of people very scared. It is no surprise that the key focus of the riots was on looting the goods that our society values as the symbols of economic power. At a time when we have a greater gap between the poorest and wealthiest in society than ever before, we also have a media that offers us constant reminders of what flexing that economic power looks like.

The fact of the matter is that promoting constant economic growth is difficult to manage and focuses on the wrong things - just ask the Chancellor.  According to Robert Kennedy in 1968, using economic growth to mark our society’s progress ends up measuring “everything ... except that which makes life worthwhile”.  I hope we can avoid knee jerk reactions or clever sound bites in response to the riots and continue to look at how best to promote more well-being for all of our communities.  Recent evidence suggests this approach is needed more than ever.

Article was written by Dafydd Thomas from Wikiprogress Correspondent, Wellbeing Wales Network.

---

[1] http://www.neweconomics.org/projects/five-ways-well-being

[2] Seligman M (2011) Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being, Free Press.

[3] Macdonald, R & J. Marsh (2005) Disconnected Youth? Growing Up In Britain’s Poor Neighbourhoods, Palgrave Macmillan.

Correspondent "Editor's Choice"

Our new monthly feature will be adding a selection of highlights from our UK-based Correspondent to the ever-growing discussions on well-being and progress.

From Dafydd Thomas of Wellbeing Wales Network.


Mid July saw the Office of National Statistics in the UK launch the results from their extensive consultation regarding a National Wellbeing Index. After receiving 34,000 responses to this national debate, The Telegraph reported that the respondents felt “the most important elements of life for wellbeing and happiness were health, relationships, work, education and training.” BBC Breakfast also pointed out that equality was a key issue in wellbeing, with the nef’s Charles Seaford being quoted saying “national wellbeing depends on quite a high level of equality.”


As the results were published, Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary and head of the civil service, sent guidelines to all Whitehall departments calling for “a culture change” and ordering officials to consider the implications for people’s happiness when drafting new policies. Two areas picked out for special attention were the workplace and the classroom. Sir Gus wanted workers to feel less stressed about the workplace and for children to value more than the latest iPod. The results from in-depth consultations will be published next year. It’ll be interesting to see if that information will affect Government thinking in the future, because it's not that obvious at the moment.


For example, those busy people at ONS also published details on the state of the UK economy. They felt that “the economic mess” wasn’t the Chancellor’s fault, but down to dastardly warm weather, an extra bank holiday and royal street parties as reported by The Independent.


So in summary, GDP goes down when people do things that boost their wellbeing. And policies designed to increase GDP have little effect on the economy … but dramatic effects on health, work, education and training.


Fortunately, the UN General Assembly thinks it's time to change. Surprisingly, it was the China’s People’s Daily which ran the story as the British press and public were focused on events at the News of the World.  It seems that the UN has decided to “pursue …. measures that better capture the importance of the pursuit of happiness and well-being in development with a view to guiding public policies.”  The new resolution calls for a ““balanced approach” to economic growth that would lead to sustainable development, poverty eradication, happiness and well-being of the planet.”  Lhatu Wangchuk, Bhutan’s ambassador to the UN, whose country was a cosponsor of the resolution, said it was “inspired by the belief that we need to begin discussing a topic whose moment has come.”  I couldn't agree more.

Nostalgia – not what is used to be!

From Wikiprogress Correspondent Wellbeing Wales Network - Dafydd Thomas

The Guardian ran an online thread asking if nostalgia could help make its readers happy? The premise for the article was a new report from San Francisco State University where they had examined the personality traits of 750 volunteers to see if those who viewed the past in a positive light had higher overall life satisfaction.

According to the article, in one corner there are the high energy extrovert types with lots of social connections and happier memories as a result.  In the other, stand those “high on the neurotic scale,” with a personality trait “marked by anxiety and irritability.”

It would seem to me that there are whole bunch of issues wrapped up in this study, which haven’t been made any clearer in its conclusion.  Is it just me, but surely a lonely person, with an “irritable and high anxiety personality trait” isn’t happy to begin with.  It’s no surprise surely that their past is bereft of happy thoughts and stimulating company. 

The report concluded that some people are “happier with their lives because they tend to hold a positive, nostalgic view of the past and are less likely to have negative thoughts and regrets.”  There’s hope for the negative amongst us in that “personality can't explain 100 percent of our happiness.” The irritable should savor happy memories, or even “recasting sad ones in an optimistic light” which should make you feel happier!

Steve Richard in the Independent asks whether Cameron’s idea of happiness can last.  His article covers what some commentators wearily titled the fourth re-launch of the Big Society, but it appears as though the Prime Minister is persisting in his interest in wellbeing, its measurement and use as a determinant of policy.

Although the article uses the concepts of happiness and wellbeing interchangeably, what is clear is Cameron’s desire to use measures other than GDP when informing and deciding policy.  If that is the case, Richard questions whether libraries and local post offices should not be subject to austerity cuts because of their value as “local binding agencies” and “valued institutions?” Whether that happens on the ground is a different issue and a real test for the current UK Government.  Downing Street insiders are quoted hoping that “wellbeing becomes as important a factor in determining policy as more orthodox economic measures.” This is certainly something that members of the Wellbeing Wales Network would welcome.

The “and finally” bit of this month’s Editor’s Choice goes to New Zealand Top News Network’s article on Rabbit Awareness Week.  Launched in May and part of an annual campaign, Rabbit Awareness Week tries to increase the general public’s “awareness of the emotional welfare needs of rabbits by encouraging owners to mull over the mental and emotional health of their pets.” 

Well, my awareness of “unhappy rabbits” developing “behavioral problems” that include “purposeless activities” has risen beyond all recognition.  As a youngster, I always thought my pet rabbit was content, just bouncing around the garden. I assumed at the time, that I had a happy rabbit with a “high energy extrovert type” personality.  Even better, Flossy had “lots of social connections” which were mostly cats granted, but it all seemed so much easier and more innocent back then ...

Media review

Recent highlights from the Wikiprogress Community Portal

What a month it has been! It seems every time I open a newspaper, click on blog post or turn on the radio someone is talking about the importance of measuring wellbeing. To my delight, my top 3 favourite news sources: The Economist, The New York Times and The Guardian, have all been a part of the March Media Madness. Here are a few highlights I’d like to share with you.

On China

China announced earlier in the month that ‘happiness’ will be an element incorporated in their growth strategy. Many different news sources picked up on this and we have created a Special Media Review on China’s Move the Measure Happiness. A few of the highlights are listed below:

Don't worry, be happy (The Economist 17.03.2011)

On Japan

All eyes have been on Japan since the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit on the 11^th of March. The economic implications of this have had a fair but of negative media time, but here are a few articles that highlight the importance of measuring and appreciating non-economic indicators of human wellbeing.

Why no looting in Japan? (Aidwatch 15.03.2011)

The Impact of Disaster (NewsWeek 20.03.2011)

On Happiness

There have been loads of news items on the UK’s bid to measure happiness since Cameron’s announcement back in November last year. And a fair bit of coverage on happiness in general. Here are a few great articles on the importance’s of measuring happiness.

Stimulating Happiness (New York Times 14.03.2011)

10 steps to happiness (The Guardian 12.03.2011)

And last, but not least, our dear friend Hans Rosling gives a TED talk on the Magic Washing Machine. To see more news items, see the Wikiprogress Community Portal – updated daily with news and blog items from around the world.

Philippa Lysaght

News Review – how happy is Britain?

The Office of National Statistics in the United Kingdom has released a survey asking 200 000 people to rate their life satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10. It is the UK’s largest household survey and responses will be used as part of the ONS programme to measure national wellbeing. Questions include:

• Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile?

• Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?

• Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?

Wikiprogress has been gathering news items on the UK move to measure happiness since David Cameron’s announcement back in mid-November last year. See the special media review for all related news and blogs.

A few of my favorite articles from the media review that I want to share with you:

Happiness = Work, sleep and bicycles (BBC 25.02.2011)

Statisticians to tackle ticklish issue of happiness (The Financial Times 24.02.2011)

How are you feeling today? Let the Government know in £2m 'well-being' survey (The Mail Online 25.02.2011)

And to finish… a few fast facts on the UK that you won’t find in the media review:

The UK climbed from ranking 108th on the Happy Planet Index (HPI) in 2006 to 74th on the 2009 HPI. The UK ranks 6^th in the world for GDP (IMF 2010), 31^st on the 2010 Global Peace Index and 26^th on the 2010 Human Development Index. The UK has a total population of 61,838,154 (World Bank 2009) and a life expectancy at birth of 80 years (World Bank 2008).

(In case you missed it, Laura Stoll from the Centre of Wellbeing at the New Economics Foundation blogged for us on last week on Measuring our progress: The power of well-being. The nef report)

Philippa Lysaght