Every modern government now claims to be in the happiness business. We have well-being frameworks, dashboards and indicators, and a small army of people paid to measure how we feel. What we rarely ask is what happy people actually have in common.
A chart drawn from survey research published by the American Psychological Association answers the question more bluntly than any ministerial strategy. It ranks dozens of everyday statements by how closely agreeing with them tracks life satisfaction, and the result is uncomfortable reading for a good deal of fashionable thinking.