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.

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

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

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

Crime is only the worst example, but it is a paradigm for other Labour policy disasters. No one tells the voters that crime is falling: let them stay scared senseless.

One in six people suffer depression or a chronic anxiety disorder. These are not the worried well but those in severe mental pain with conditions crippling enough to prevent them living normal lives.

Thresholds of pain, indignity and incapacity are entirely personal.