Happy talk
David Cameron wants to measure our happiness alongside GDP. The first measure of happiness — the Gross National Happiness index — was instigated by the former king of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in 1972.
— Heavily influenced by Buddhist teachings, it contained questions which might not strike many Britons as being important to their happiness. One asked: ‘Do you know the names of species and plants and animals in the local area?’ Another asked: ‘How would you rate your knowledge of the mask and other dances performed during national/local tshechu?’
— Respondents were marked down on the index if they worked less than seven hours a day, if they had more than a 60-minute walk to the nearest health centre and if they donated less than 10 per cent of their income to charity.
Family size
A newly nominated Tory peer, Howard Flight, apologised after criticising the benefits system for encouraging the poor to have more children. How many more children do the less well-off have?
| Father’s social class | % of children born in 2008 with three or more siblings |
| 1.1 Large employers, top managers | 4.0 |
| 1.2 Higher professions | 3.8 |
| 2 Lower professions/higher technical | 5.3 |
| 3 Intermediate | 4.7 |
| 4 Small employer/self-employed | 12 |
| 5 Lower supervisory/technical | 8.3 |
| 6 Semi-routine occupations | 11 |
| 7 Routine occupations | 14 |
| Source: ONS | |
Foreign-born prisoners
Switzerland voted in a referendum for the automatic deportation of criminals convicted of serious offences. The number of foreign nationals in British prisons has been growing too.
| Foreign-born prisoners | Year | Percentage of prisoners |
| 5,133 | 1998 | 8 |
| 7,719 | 2002 | 11 |
| 10,879 | 2006 | 14.1 |
| 11,135 | 2010 | 13.6 |
| Source: House of Commons Library | ||
Cold comfort
Britain’s low-temperature record is the third mildest in Europe:
Portugal: -16C
Ireland: -19.1C
Great Britain: -27.2C
Netherlands: -27.4C
Greece: -27.8C
Sweden (lowest excluding Russia): -52.6C
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