The 120 Days of Christmas!!

Heading back to the office in the cold wind today, it struck me that why do we have such an excellent mid-winter festival and then make our January and February's look so dreary?

A simple solution that struck me was that people and organisations should keep up their Christmas lights until the end of February. Indeed I think Christmas lights should be on from the beginning of November so the 4 darkest months are lit up!

Now I know that some might argue that in an era of climate change we should not be so wasteful, but the costs to the economy of sickness and mental illness in January and February should make us see the bigger picture. In any case we are rapidly moving to low energy lightbulbs so I think the level of energy usage should not increase for the extra time lights are on.

Richard Layard has written extensively about the science of happiness and has been successful in campaigning for extra government support for Talking Therapies. I don't necessarily agree with him that you can substantially increase overall happiness for everyone in a competitive market economy where change and innovation will always make some people unhappy at any given point. However I do agree with Layard's case that we can make things better for those who may suffer depressive illness. It is also well known that the middle of January is the worst time of the year for this.

Little things such as lighting up the dark days of winter with a continuing display of lights should make everyone feel a little better as they head back from the office in the 8 weeks after the Christmas holidays!

Comments

[Jonathan Upton]

Bring back daylight saving!

[Jonathan Upton]

Bring back daylight saving!