Happy Talk

Are you happy? Would you like to tell the Coalition government about it?

The Prime Minister wants to spend £2m of the money he insists the country no longer has on asking Britons how they are feeling. The resulting Index of Felicity will be used to inform us how, despite mass unemployment, repossessions and the denuding of state support for everything from welfare to culture, we are really quite remarkably chipper.

While you are kicking away the ladder, it is always wise to remind the poor fellow desperately clinging to it just how much he will enjoy his fall.

The See Through Coalition

It's been a big week for Mr. Cameron. No, no, no, not the visit to China, where our noble premier is pretending to be interested in that country's human rights record to please the Liberals in his Coalition, but the launch of the Transparency section of the Number 10 website, which gives humble voters the chance to check up on the government, a review of which you can read here.

On an extremely similar theme, Seren Lloyd, who occasionally pens casual frippery for The Good Web Guide on matters pertaining to the internet, has come up with a few suggestions for ways the government can make itself even more open to the public.

As they say in Whitehall, if you can't see through it, it ain't transparent.