Just three items. First up, an article in the NYTimes about ha-ha smutty British place names, from towns called Crapstone and Penistone and Titty Ho to streets named Butt Hole Road. The gist of the article: get over it.
Second, further proof that the Sceptered Isle's bureaucrats have never been entirely comfortable with the notion that people might, actually, drink to feel happier: a report by England's Office of National Statistics that the mild-mannered Brits are nonetheless drinking too much wine, especially at home. Middle class drinkers are more likely to indulge in what the report calls "heavy drinking," i.e., double the recommended limit of three to four glasses of wine a day for men and two to three for women. Good heavens! Nobody cares what the upper and the lower classes drink, it seems, but God forbid that a "middle class" householder should exceed what some bureaucrat thinks is proper.
Which brings us to the third story. Another British outfit, the New Economics Foundation, reports that Brits are--compared to their neighbors in Denmark, Germany and France--bored but happy. The report blames Britain's "highly individualistic" culture for the boredom. (The wine explains the happiness, says Cornichon.) Trying to explain the results, Nic Marks, founder the Centre for Well-Being at foundation, says, "Governments have lost sight of the fact that their fundamental purpose is to improve the lives of their citizens."
They could start, perhaps, by taking their noses out of their citizens' private lives, whether they live in Wetwang, Crotch Crescent or Pratts Bottom.
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