Polly Toynbee
Polly Toynbee
Mary Louisa Toynbee, known as Polly Toynbee, is a British journalist and writer, and has been a columnist for The Guardian newspaper since 1998...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth27 December 1946
allow attempt constant effort greatest happiness number toil
What is all that ministerial toil and effort for, if not a constant attempt to allow the greatest number to live in as much happiness as possible?
happiness pain people
It is now possible to quantify people's levels of happiness pretty accurately by asking them, by observation, and by measuring electrical activity in the brain, in degrees from terrible pain to sublime joy.
happiness water challenges
Is anyone serious about the politics of happiness? David Cameron dipped a toe in the water, using the word lightly, but denying the hard policies it implies. Labour shies away from it, but should take up the challenge.
happiness gdp government
Could a government dare to set out with happiness as its goal? Now that there are accepted scientific proofs, it would be easy to audit the progress of national happiness annually, just as we monitor money and GDP.
happiness real mean
Happiness is a real, objective phenomenon, scientifically verifiable. That means people and whole societies can now be measured over time and compared accurately with one another. Causes and cures for unhappiness can be quantified.
happiness years giving
Inequality makes everyone unhappy, the poor most of all, and that is well within the remit of the state. More money gives less extra happiness the richer we get, yet we are addicted to earning and spending more every year.
against common lords proclaim rise values
My Lords temporal, today is the day to rise up against the regiment of Lords spiritual and proclaim the values of enlightenment, compassion and common sense.
school government church-choir
But how odd that in this heathen nation of empty pews, where churches' bare, ruined choirs are converted into luxury loft living, a Labour government - yes, a Labour government - is deliberately creating a huge expansion of faith schools.
years stronger lasts
The strongest predictor of unhappiness is anyone who has had a mental illness in the last 10 years. It is an even stronger predictor of unhappiness than poverty - which also ranks highly.
people unhappy unemployment
Working lives are for the state to influence. Unemployment makes people unhappy. So does instability.
people want longing
People want the right to die at a time of their own choosing. Too many families have watched helplessly as a relative dies slowly, longing for death.
dying earth care
The best care on earth cannot prevent us all dying in the end.
women mean ideas
Feminism is the most revolutionary idea there has ever been. Equality for women demands a change in the human psyche, more profound than anything Marx dreamed of. It means valuing parenthood as much as we value banking.
art knowing culture
How do you make any sense of history, art or literature without knowing the stories and iconography of your own culture and all the world's main religions?