Don't sell your huts

So Vanuatu is the happiest place on earth?

The archipelago of 83 islands in the western Pacific is the happiest place on the planet, according to a new "happy planet index" published by the New Economics Foundation (NEF). The UK languishes in 108th place, below Libya, Iran, and Palestine.

Well I've got my beef about that too.

The three biggest unhappiness factors in modern society are rent, debt, and the lies of those in power. And the higher the rent, deeper the debt and more cynical the liars, the bigger is the unhappiness. What can be happy about a place where musicians can no longer afford to live, and greengrocers or fishmongers can no longer afford to set up shop? Where debts are resold behind the debtor's back at a discount he would be glad to receive himself? Where credence in disputes is given by default to the smarter dressed?

If, as many of my friends believe, the UK has gone down the pan, I am sure a lot of that is due to the Englishman's propensity to use his home as a financial instrument. And put himself in hock up to his eyeballs to do so. The only winners in putting housing out of people's reach are the lenders.

At this time of year, my picturesque little riverside village in the South of France fills up with English visitors. You can spot them with their faces glued to the photos in the real estate agent's window. On learning that I live here, one old gentleman looking for a place to spend his retirement, asked me if the area was up and coming, valuewise. He had two houses up for sale in Blighty, and could afford any of the houses here cash down. But he had lost the ability to simply decide if he liked something.

So my advice to the Vanuatu folk, faced as they are sure to be with an influx of well-to-do happiness-hunters, is: hang on to your islands. Let people visit. Let some people come to live. But don't sell them your huts.