Beyond the treadmill society...

In my previous post I drew attention to the new politics of well-being as the Big Idea of the 21st century. Here I provide a brief outline of how we might live in a society where the priority is maximising such well-being rather than maximising the Gross National Product .

The year is 2020. Despite the best efforts of Cameron's Conservatives and the oppositionist Left New Labour is still in office. It has achieved this by cleverly adapting its policies to the well-being agenda that dramatically captured the public's imagination in the later years of the first decade. Initially, the temptation was to dismiss these ideas as left-wing loonery or New Age nonsense (particularly as they were being championed by the touchy feely Tories). However,in the end, wiser counsel prevailed and by showing how only they could deliver on what needed to be done New Labour has reigned supreme.

The first thing to be noticed about this new social landscape is that there is less hurry and scurry. With a better work-life balance, people have time to dawdle and day-dream. Congestion charging and the slower pace of life have much reduced the flow of traffic. The wail of emergency claxons is no longer the backdrop to street sounds. Road and other kinds of rage are a thing of the past. Hospitals are fewer, doctors surgeries are emptier as stress-related illnesses subside.

In the high-street, there is less advertising. Amidst the hoardings that remain are posters proclaiming  that "happiness is not having what you want but wanting what you have", "enough is enough!" and "meet needs not greed".  Some betting and off-licence shops have been replaced by well-being centres, a supermarkets by  a local produce and health food store, a burger-bar by a  healthy eatery. Parks outnumber car-parks and they ,not the pub, are the first port of call to calm down.

In the workplace (where the guiding principle is there's a place for work but work must be put in its place), absenteeism and presenteeism is a rarity. With the spread of co-ownership and greater emphasis on welfare at work, employees are more contented and therefore more productive. Job-sharers are finding that two heads are better than one. Larger numbers in employment working shorter hours mean that there's  even someone to answer that telephone call! And there has been a shift to the relatively lower-paid educational, caring and creative professions as the culture of sensible consumption gains ground.

In the economy at large the changes have not produced the dire consequences that the pessimists feared. Working smarter has, for the most part, offset the impact of reduced working time and global competitiveness has been maintained. Certainly the growth rate is not as high as it could be but it's sufficient to improve material standards without harming the quality of life.

Public spaces are alive whatever the time of day or day of the week. In well frequented cafes and bars, people are engaged in long animated conversations. Binge drinking and other forms of anti social behaviour are in sharp decline thanks to character-building lessons now being taught in the schools. Relationship skills also learned at school and conflict resolution centres are helping them to be nicer to each other.

Subsidised theatres, museums and  art-galleries are milling with enthusiastic  spectators. Generously public-supported sports facilities are in much greater use. Musical groups, dancing, street theatre, arts and crafts are thriving as people have time to get themselves another life away from the workplace - aided by the emphasis in the education system on learning how to live..

People are discovering that their incomes go further as they become more choosy about what they buy and have more time for DIY. Community allotments are flourishing. PTA, and community groups are hives of activity. Political involvement has escalated due to the adoption of EDD (Electronic Deliberative Democracy) where issues are brought to life on-screen with attention-grabbing graphics followed by a balanced debate and electronic voting. Generally, political discourse is being conducted with less personalisation, exaggeration and distortion thanks to the introduction of logical thinking and emotional intelligence into the school curriculum. This is reflected in the media which is now providing a better balance between the good news and the bad news.

At home, gadgets are powered from rooftop photovoltaic panels or mini-wind generators. Less television is being watched, families are not so fragmented into their virtual reality worlds and books are actually being read. People are also finding time for each other and for doing things for themselves rather than  just  buying life over the counter all the time. With getting and spending no longer the dominant activity there is also time for all those extra tasks associated wth "going green" to combat global warming and carrying out other social responsibilities. Helping hands are being extended to the family and the less fortunate as the ethos of "being warm" replaces the ethos of "being cool".

Beyond the treadmill society life is about what REALLY matters!

Comments

[Blairite]

Hamer Shawcross or should that be Tom Watson is taking another potshot at you.

[Stan Rosenthal]

Thanks for alerting me to the said potshot, Blairite. It was, of course, a typical piece of bloggery mockery, to which I responded as follows. "Until we try to realise our dreams we shall have to suffer the nightmares created by cynics like you!" (adapted from the words of H G Wells).

One such nightmare is the escalation of expectations alluded to in my last two posts. Enough is never enough. I had an experience of this yesterday when I gave a pound to a young street beggar, only to be asked for another one to make up the price of a neat, little MP3 player that he had his eye on. Remember when it used to be "Price of a cuppa tea. guv?"