Women moan more than men, but it means deep down we are happier

Having removed most immediate existential threats from our lives, from conscription to cholera, the British - like many in the West - have become preoccupied with the nebulous concept of "happiness". The result of focussing on the self-absorbing pursuit of personal happiness? Curiously, but not entirely surprisingly: misery. And so, in time for the high festive season, a new report by the NHS says that Britons have never been more miserable.

It could probably have been left there; but the report was, in fact, about gender, insisting that it's women who are the most miserable. Married women in middle age are most likely to be in the mental doldrums, with 24 per cent aged between 45 and 54 classifiable as mentally ill (the number for men in this bracket is presumably a fair bit lower). Young women between 16 and 24 are twice as likely as their male counterparts to have a mental disorder. But, small comfort, the report states that it all changes when women get to 85; their menfolk have died off seems to have a cheering effect and they become less rather than more miserable than men.

Yes: women have long ended up in marriages with men who ultimately drain them of vitality - widowhood for these is indeed a blessing. Specifically, copious research has suggested that marriage is better for men than women, which hardly seems like rocket science when one considers traditional marital responsibilities. The sheer hard graft of dutifully delivering relentless shifts of paid and unpaid work that shaped so many women's conjugal careers has hardly been a recipe for joy.