DINNER PARTY INTEL: From happiness rankings to spies and presidents
South Africa’s happiness score, US politics, and a real-life James Bond
03 April 2025 - 05:00
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South Africans are half-happy, according to an international Gallup poll that measures the world of feeling good. It scores lives on a scale of one to 10 based on questions asked of respondents. Finland scored the top spot again this year, with 7.7, followed by Denmark and Ireland, each with 7.5. South Africa scored 5.2. The happiest country in Africa is Mauritius, with 5.8, and the unhappiest is Sierra Leone, with 3.8. Unsurprisingly, Afghanistan was the world’s unhappiest country, with 1.4.
2. Patience is a virtue
Journalist Henry Mance has advice for those who are anxious about the latest occupant of the White House. He writes in the Financial Times: “The lesson of the Bush years is that presidential idiocy is temporary. Five and a half years after invading Iraq, America elected Barack Obama as president. Anti-Americanism is akin to amputating your broken leg, instead of waiting for it to heal.”
3. Rewarding spies
Oleg Gordievsky, MI6’s most famous mole in the KGB, who died last month aged 86, is one of only two spies to be awarded a CMG by Queen Elizabeth. The Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George is awarded for distinguished service overseas or for important nonmilitary service to the UK in a foreign country. The other award was, fictitiously, given to James Bond.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
DINNER PARTY INTEL: From happiness rankings to spies and presidents
South Africa’s happiness score, US politics, and a real-life James Bond
1. Unhappy nation
South Africans are half-happy, according to an international Gallup poll that measures the world of feeling good. It scores lives on a scale of one to 10 based on questions asked of respondents. Finland scored the top spot again this year, with 7.7, followed by Denmark and Ireland, each with 7.5. South Africa scored 5.2. The happiest country in Africa is Mauritius, with 5.8, and the unhappiest is Sierra Leone, with 3.8. Unsurprisingly, Afghanistan was the world’s unhappiest country, with 1.4.
2. Patience is a virtue
Journalist Henry Mance has advice for those who are anxious about the latest occupant of the White House. He writes in the Financial Times: “The lesson of the Bush years is that presidential idiocy is temporary. Five and a half years after invading Iraq, America elected Barack Obama as president. Anti-Americanism is akin to amputating your broken leg, instead of waiting for it to heal.”
3. Rewarding spies
Oleg Gordievsky, MI6’s most famous mole in the KGB, who died last month aged 86, is one of only two spies to be awarded a CMG by Queen Elizabeth. The Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George is awarded for distinguished service overseas or for important nonmilitary service to the UK in a foreign country. The other award was, fictitiously, given to James Bond.
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