The secret of happiness
Much of the media today reports a survey showing Scots are the happiest people in Britain. Naturally that seems to us a truth as self-evident as the sun being warm and the sea being wet, but we couldn’t help noticing a particular quirk. According to the Scotsman’s piece, with our emphasis added:
“four out of the top ten local authorities in Britain were in Scotland, with the Outer Hebrides, Orkney, Shetland and Aberdeenshire rated highly for life satisfaction, the number of residents who felt happy and worthwhile. Aberdeen was rated the highest-ranking city in Britain for life satisfaction, while London and Birmingham were ranked at the bottom for wellbeing”
In other words, the further away you are from London, the happier you tend to be. We trust that in the autumn of 2014, the people of Scotland will take that maxim to its logical political conclusion.
Surly, moany Aberdonians being the happiest city dwellers in the UK – who’d have thought it?
It probably helps that the oil industry has almost completely sheltered Aberdeen from the economic problems suffered elsewhere, of course. It also feels a bit like we’re not completely stuck in the rat race, whereas cities such as Birmginham and London must be horrendously busy and overpopulated places to live. I wouldn’t even dream of moving to such a place, where I’d likely have to commute for an hour and a half to get to work in the morning and back again at night. I could get a job in Dundee and still get to work quicker than many people in London do.
Perhaps there’s also a lot of satisfaction still floating about at being the club to hammer the decisive 5th nail into the coffin of Sevco’s SPL bid…
Orcadians are such a miserable bunch in person. To read the press over the last few days, you’d think the islands were like something out of an episode of Tellytubbies.
They ain’t. Cold, windy and no-one ever smiles or makes eye contact. Perhaps people are confusing alcoholism with happyness?
Yours,
A miserable Orcadian.
Who’d have thought that The Deen would be the happiest city (it’s a toon) in the UK?
The key aspects of happiness: oil, gulls, rowies, junkies, annoying drunks, violent drunks, dour drunks, Aberdeen Journals and their ongoing persecution of Travellers, the Torry doorbell, the most expensive buses in the country, the Haudagain roundabout, a main street with charity shops and loan shops, wee manies and wifies who clearly disapprove, yon American who shouts about sin outside M&S and the orra navy captain trumpeter who sometimes accompanies him, the inordinate number of American and African missionaries who try to sell you God, the smell of drains in George Street when it’s sunny, the haar that covers it all up on sunny days… Welcome to the Big Shitty.
I had spotted that get away from London thing too. I do think it’s probably a population density thing linked in with being financially better off. (Which is ironic since this is suposed to be a method of getting away from measuring the counrties success in financial terms!)
Interesting that 70% happy is the same as happy. They survey reports people who were 7, 8, 9 or 10 out of ten happy, and even at that it’s only a percentage of people in that area who were happy. Shetland has 82.88% of people score 70% or above which to my mind means the happiest place in Brittain has a happiness rating of 58.016% That’s significantly different to what is being reported and probably more in line with the comments here about Miserable Orcadians (Although the two I know are always very smiley, but maybe it’s just my presence that has that effect on people!)
It’s also possible that a single person living in a bedsit by themself and on the dole could be very happy. Doesn’t sound right does it? But if they were previously in an abusive relationship and homeless then they could be much much happier than they were before. If I was working in a job where I earned the national average wage of 26,000 you might think I’d be happy, but if I’d just been sacked from my 400,000 a year job as a corrupt MP (LOL) I probably wouldn’t be happy with a measly 26 grand… so I suppose I’m saying it’s relative to past exerience. People on thier way up to better things will be happier than people on thier way down. For example, lets ask Aberdeen again in 2050 when the oil has run out…
Oh, and then here’s independence. If we vote no I doubt any of the top ten places for happiness would be in Scotland if a similar survey was conducted just after that result. On the other hnd, vote YES and all ten might be in Scotland!