Ipsos MorI Social Research Institute Summer Event

Ipsos MORI's fourth annual summer conference examined what the British think of happiness - who's happiest, and who's most miserable - and considered the role Government is and should be playing in promoting citizens' happiness or well-being. Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute Chairman Ben Page was joined in a discussion on these issues by Evan Davis, Presenter of Today, Professor Paul Dolan, Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London and Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP, Member of Parliament for Chingford and Woodford Green. "The broken bit of Britain" is how Iain Duncan Smith described the sections of society least likely to be happy. These typically have high levels of family breakdown and co-habitation and are held back by debt, dependency and worklessness. All these issues would need to be tackled together to make a happier society, he said.