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Learn the Secret of Making the Brits Happy

by Hannah Punitha on Mar 10 2008 5:48 PM

An American author claims that nothing works better than misery for a Brit to feel happy.

Former New York Times journalist Eric Weiner writes in his book ‘The Geography of Bliss’ that Brits are never happier than when in the most miserable condition.

The book, which has received rave reviews and is riding high in the bestseller charts across the Atlantic, said that Brits believed that happiness was something for Americans, and that they could only enjoy themselves when they had something to complain about.

"Britain is a great place for grumps, and most Brits, I suspect, derive a perverse pleasure from their grumpiness. For the British, happiness is a transatlantic import. And by transatlantic, they mean American. And by American, they mean silly, infantile drivel,” the Telegraph quoted Weiner as writing in the book.

"For the English, life is not about happiness but getting by," he wrote.

o gather substantial information for his book, the award-winning journalist spent a year travelling the world to find its happiest nooks and crannies.

He passed through Iceland, Holland and Switzerland, Bhutan, and Qatar while travelling.

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He discovered that a town in Berkshire named Slough was full of unhappiness.

"Slough is a treasure trove of unhappiness, buried beneath a copious layer of gloom,” he said.

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“The colours range from deeper to lighter shades of grey. The people seem grey, too, and slightly dishevelled," he added.

However, officials at Slough Borough Council have slammed  Weiner's views, denying that the town was grey and miserable.

"We found it frustrating when Slough became a byword for the epitome of all that was worst about this country but it's actually quite distressing. We now seem to have become an international whipping boy. It's all a big misconception," Andrew Blake-Herbert, the council's director of resources, said.

Source-ANI
SPH/K


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