Dominic Lawson: From Pentecost island to modern Britain, the futility of trying to measure happiness

We have allowed ourselves to think happiness is ours by right, whereas in fact we can't find it: it finds us

Published: 06 July 2007

It's good to know that the BBC has not forgotten the great cause of cheering us all up. This week it managed to find space in its main nightly news programme for an item which was not about war, pestilence and famine. Instead we were treated to a lengthy report from Pentecost, one of the 83 Pacific islands which make up the nation of Vanuatu. According to the BBC - and this was the ostensible reason for carting a film crew to such an obscure and remote spot - Vanuatu is "the happiest country on earth". continue...