"Happy?" splutters a middle-aged man at a polling station in central London, when asked about his feelings on voting in a recent European election. "I'd be happy if I could kick all the bastards out." He is not with the programme. In 1972 the king of Bhutan decided his country would adopt gross national happiness as a goal. At the time it seemed eccentric. But over the past decade, politicians in democracies have started to pay more attention to the idea that they should give priority to the well-being of their citizens. Thomas Jefferson argued that "the happiness of every individual [is] now acknowledged to be...the only legitimate object of government". That view is now mainstream.
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