Well-Being: The Common Ground?

Politicians are never afraid to attack an opponent’s policy, even if it’s one they agree on.  So, it’s comforting to see, in the Independent today, that Labour grandee Alastair Campbell is calling for his party to “embrace” the politics of well-being rather than “deride” it. In a rare moment of cross-party praise, he acknowledges that “there is a certain amount of courage required to adopt this approach”, and that “this new approach could lead to a lot of positive change”.

Is measuring well-being a right-wing agenda or a left-wing agenda? Campbell says there is “something profoundly non-Conservative” about it, whilst David Cameron has aligned it with traditional Tory values such as family and choice.  Conservative Home sees it as at the heart of Cameronism.

The data emerging from well-being science suggest that all three main parties can find support for one or other of their policy positions. But, as we will be exploring in a forthcoming pamphlet this spring, it may be the case that measuring well-being leads to a bold new form of politics.