David Saunders started his PhD in the Centre for the History of the Emotions in October 2016. His research is funded by the Wellcome Trust and intersects with our Living with Feeling grant. You feel friendly towards people. You … Continue reading
This is a guest post by Erin Lafford and the fourth, and final, in this week’s ‘Romantic Voices’ series. Erin is a final-year DPhil student (AHRC funded) at the University of Oxford, writing a thesis on ‘Forms of Health in John Clare’s Poetics’. Her … Continue reading
Watch out folks. There is a murky world lurking behind the scenes, a sinister cabal of policy-makers, psychologists, CEOs, advertizers and life-coaches, watching you, measuring you, nudging you, monitoring your every smile, all to try and make you happy. We … Continue reading
Last month I interviewed Sir Gus O’Donnell for a forthcoming Radio 4 programme about the revival of Aristotle’s idea of flourishing in public policy. Sir Gus is one of the pioneers of a new movement called the politics of well-being, … Continue reading
I’ve just been at a three-day seminar at the Institute for Government, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, to help academics learn how to influence public policy. The seminar brought together 15 academics in disciplines ranging from literary … Continue reading
Here’s a long essay I wrote in the New Inquiry, a US magazine, about how governments are trying to solve the problem of happiness. It begins with a quote from Aldous Huxley’s preface to Brave New World: ‘ The most important … Continue reading
The UN Happiness Conference last week looks to have been a fascinating event. The Prime Minister of Bhutan sent me a giant Willy Wonka-esque invitation, for which I’m grateful, but wouldn’t pay my air-fare, for which I’m lingeringly resentful (not … Continue reading