Party report

A rager at the Consul General's apartment

The World Happiness Report is back. Almost every year since 2012 the UN has published an irresistible annual ranking of the world’s countries from most to least happy. The 2026 report named Finland the #1 happiest nation on earth for the ninth year in a row. What a streak.

Because I wrote at bludgeoning length about the above topic last year, I was invited this year to a luncheon at the residence of the country’s General Consul. The invitation didn’t specify or imply an agenda other than “Yet again, Finland is happy.”

Of course I RSVP’d yes—I was tremendously curious to see the apartment of a Nordic diplomat. And mildly curious to see who else had been invited, and for what reason. Plus, it would be fun to write a Party Report about a polite semiformal luncheon. Plus-plus I love the word luncheon. Luncheon luncheon luncheon.