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.

So what really works? Treatments in jail do some good, but it's mostly too late: finding a family and a job or just growing older make most prisoners eventually give up crime.

But the single overwhelming reason why jails are bursting is longer sentences given for more crimes.

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.

There is all the difference in the world between teaching children about religion and handing them over to be taught by the religious.

Working lives are for the state to influence. Unemployment makes people unhappy. So does instability.

But instead of standing up for reason, our government is handing education over to the world of faith.