A recent FT article described vast economic inequalities in the UK, noting Tory electoral success was partially fuelled by promises of spreading wealth to lagging regions. Yet the notion people should want a bigger piece of the prosperity pie is downplayed. The most economically dynamic areas of London, the article notes, are also some of the ‘least happy’. Tera Allas, director of research and economics at McKinsey UK, is quoted saying there is ‘very little correlation’ between economic success and life satisfaction.

The fuzzy idea that ‘money doesn’t buy happiness’ has been a fixture of British political agenda for nearly two decades. Commentators love pointing out that while GDP has risen steadily, people rate themselves as no happier than they did in the 1940s when surveys began. But why single out material wealth? On this measure, absolutely nothing since the 1940s has made anyone happier. So much for the welfare state, the NHS and women’s equality.

Indeed, measuring progress by happiness is looking increasingly dodgy. So why frame social problems as problems of ‘happiness’ at all? For one thing, inadequate housing, precarious work, inequality and poverty are difficult and persistent issues whose solutions are unlikely to inspire widespread agreement. However, we can all agree that making people happy is a good thing. According to UK ‘happiness tsar’ Richard Layard, social problems are all just ‘versions of unhappiness’.