Brexit and all its subsequent chaos might have been triggered, but apparently, Britons are happier now than before the vote took place!
According to the officialmeasurers of happiness, joy and all things fun, the UK really is loving life. This is according to political pollsters Ipsos Mori, who run a happiness survey every 12 months beginning June. The poll asks people to rate three aspects of their wellbeing on a scale of zero to ten, and compared to June 2015-2016, in 2016-2017, all three rose. Happiness scores went from 7.46 to 7.52, satisfaction with life rose from 7.65 to 7.69, and worthwhileness hopped three points, from 7.84 to 7.87. And as for the people who feel very happy? That number leapt from 31.09% to 35.08%, perhaps proving how many Brexiteers really were enthused by the vote's result, while the figures on anxiety rose from 2.89% to 2.91%.
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The poll really is linked to Brexit, as it asked participants if they expect to be worse or better off following the Brexit vote. Even though 24% of people in October 2016 said it would make no difference to their lives, now 40% say the same. The Office of National Statistics noted, reports The Times, that this perhaps means people are ‘becoming more relaxed about Brexit’ but added that people aren’t actually that clear about what Brexit will do to our way of life.
You’d think, 16 months after the referendum vote, we’d be closer to getting an idea of what had been flogged to us as the biggest decision of our lives would actually do. But maybe we just enjoy the freefall of everything being up in the air? Or perhaps we're just used to it. Young people especially have long been squeezed out of any prospect of enjoying the milestones of life - home ownership, free education - that previous generations have taken for granted. Maybe a lot of younger people - who, for the most part, voted Remain - are so used to the topsy-turvy uncertainties of life in the 2010s that Brexit is, in relative terms, no biggie.
Funnily enough, Ipsos Mori are the same lot who, on the eve of Brexit, predicted a 74% likelihood of the country voting to Remain. And we all know how that went. Or do we?
Currently, Brexit is sort of taking a back seat in British politics, as widespread allegations of sexual harassment by politicians are under various investigations and Theresa May faces a bit of uncertainty in her cabinet following unministerial behaviour from both Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and International Development Secretary Priti Patel. The former's clumsy words may have landed a British woman a five-year extended stay in an Iranian prison, meanwhile the latter took on official-seeming meetings with Israeli politicians while on holiday without seemingly consulting Number 10 about it. If either is sacked, whoever replaces them has to be non-sleazy and ultra diplomatic, which might relegate their devotion to Brexit down the list of employment criteria...
One thing's for sure, if Theresa May, who was bound to struggle after calling an election to win a majority and actually losing many seats, is happy, after all this, then she's a glass half full person, even when the glass is teetering dangerously close to the edge of the table.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.